The March 2026 episode of Shenandoah Valley Ever Green presents perspectives on the systems connected to forests and trees. From the wilderness of Shenandoah National Park to the city-center of Richmond, human interaction with forest resources offers engaging stories of how we co-exist with the natural world.
JMU professor Ehren Moler provides some baseline information on trees and forests as organisms. The impressive range of natural activities may surprise you.
WMRA reporter Randi B. Hagi describes the Shenandoah Borderlands Project, a newly established preserved area that protects forested land bordering Shenandoah National Park. (Scroll down to see a photo of the newly protected forestland, shot from the Moormans River Outlook.)
Virginia Public Media reporter Patrick Larsen presents the value of urban forestry with a tree-planting initiative underway in Richmond. Reforest Richmond held their annual tree week in November and focused on providing shade at bus stops around the city.
In Rockbridge County, Boxerwood Gardens are promoting shade around the city of in Buena Vista, VA, and offering unique experiences to high school students interested in environmental advocacy work. Our reporters visit a native tree giveaway in downtown BV.
Outdoorsman and dad Trey Smith is back, offering 3 winter hiking tips, sharing how you can safely traverse trails in potential ice and snow.
Ever give a thought to the network of utility poles that hold aloft power lines and telephone cables all over our towns? You’ll see utility poles in a new light, where they come from and the ecological impacts of the utility pole industry, through our report on harvesting and stockpiling poles for their essential use.
Joy Reeves from the Rachel Carson Council shares details on the wood pellet industry and the threat it poses to environmental health in the southeast United States as well as its global impacts. (See below a link to a short documentary called “Wood Pellet Wasteland: Inside the Fight to Stop Big Biomass,” in our web extras.)
And we’ll close the March episode with a close-to-home solution: caring for our own habitats through the consumer recycling program in Harrisonburg.
Reporters: Alex Baker, Isaac Bobrwitz, Charlie Bodenstine, Zach Maguire
Co-Hosts: Kimberly Aikens, Lilly Johns, Tim Thomas Sound Editing: JMU Libraries Media Production Services All music for the program is performed by the group “Many Nights Ahead” with recording by Gene Bowlen at Cross Keys Studios.
Graphic Artist: Annie McGowan
WEB EXTRAS:
Forests as an Organism
Global Forest Watch is a website administered by the World Resources Institute which allows users to monitor changes to forest coverage. This platform provides near-real-time information to users all around the world, giving us crucial information on illegal deforestation, fire threats, and other harmful activities. Users are able to track forest gain/loss, land use, biodiversity, and other data on climate patterns, giving detailed publicly available information which is easy to analyze. Global Forest Watch is used by a wide range of people for many different purposes, particularly in environmental monitoring and protection.
https://www.globalforestwatch.org/
The Shenandoah Borderlands Project
The Shenandoah Borderlands Project is working to preserve land bordering Shenandoah National Park. Scroll down to see a photo of acres of newly protected forestland, shot from the Moormans River Outlook.
You can find a link to all of WMRA Reporter Randi B. Hagi’s stories collected here: https://www.wmra.org/people/randi-b-hagi
Buena Vista Tree Giveaway
Here’s a collection of Alex Baker’s photos from Nov. 2025 tree giveaway, part of the “BV Cool Trees Project”
A Climate “Boondoggle”
The Rachel Carson Council (RCC) has assembled a short documentary: “Wood Pellet Wasteland: Inside the Fight to Stop Big Biomass.”
According to the RCC: “The film exposes how industrial wood pellet production devastates forests, worsens climate change, and harms overburdened communities, all under the guise of “green energy.”
You can view the film on YouTube > https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DhHT_vJTTK8
Recycling in Harrisonburg
The recycling program in Harrisonburg is a role model for other cities across the state. You can see the “heat map” and other descriptors about the program from the Dept. of Public Works.
https://www.harrisonburgva.gov/trash