Norfolk has a peculiar penchant for forests, with approximately 85 to 90 percent of its rugged terrain blanketed by working forests, biological field stations and state parks. Thousands of acres of that land were conserved and dedicated to scientific study by two early pioneers in forest stewardship, Dr. Frank Egler and Ted Childs.
Both men were brought to Norfolk as youths, Egler with his family in the 1920s, and Childs in the early 1930s. Childs and his family eventually conserved and studied 6,400 acres in Great Mountain Forest, while botanist Egler amassed the 1,500 acres that became Aton Forest.
2026 is Aton Forest’s centennial year and a series of events and an exhibition—Celebrating the Spirit of Frank Egler’s Aton Forest”—will commemorate the achievements of Egler and his wife, conservationist Happy Kitchel.
The celebration begins Friday afternoon, July 10, at 4:30 p.m. when Aton Forest president and chief steward Billy Gridley, speaks at the Hub, reflecting on what defines Aton Forest today and what its future holds following the recent acquisition of Kitchel’s 965-acre Spaulding Pond Preserve in South Norfolk.
Gridley will also use the occasion to launch his recently published book, “The Spirit of Aton Forest: Frank Egler, Rebel Ecologist in Pursuit of Science and Natural Area Protection.”
Following Gridley’s talk, festivities will continue during this week’s Friday Nights on the Green event, with Aton Forest presenting the fiddler, singer and songwriter Kathleen Parks.
Complementing the Hub exhibition are subsequent lectures by Dr. Susan Masino of Trinity College, who will speak on “Nature & Brain Health: Minding the Gaps,” on Sunday, July 12, at 4:00 p.m. at Battell Chapel, and Dr. James Lendemer of the New York State Museum, who will present the Aton Forest Science Lecture II & Walk, on Friday, July 17, also at 4:00 p.m. He will deliver a 45-minute program at the Hub on “Mason Hale’s Aton Forest Lichen Collection: 70 Years Later Report,” followed by a walk in the forest.