Anna Funk🌻

Career & Internships » HF&G Holden Forests & Gardens is not just a great place to visit, it’s a wonderful place to work. Discover the opportunities now available for potential

Please share!

Learn more & apply here: holdenfg.org/career-and-i...

Anyway, here are some quick facts: Full-time, grant-funded through December 2026 with potential for renewal. In-person at Holden Arboretum (Kirtland, OH) or U.S. Forest Service office (Delaware, OH) with regular fieldwork across the region. Apply by December 31. Not sure on salary but you can ask!

As a perk, whoever steps into this role will likely work with me quite a bit! So that's a bonus! Well, that, and, you're literally helping secure the future of our forests. Hard to say which is more compelling... 😇

This means training people, facilitating research partnerships, maybe writing grants, while also managing things like candidate tree monitoring and seed orchard development. In other words, it's a big, complex role that requires resistance breeding skills, organizational skills, and people skills.

The coordinator will continue to build this network of folks from federal and state agencies, NGOs, universities, etc etc. The collective goal is to find, breed for resistance, and eventually replant pest-resistant trees. The Collaborative's goal is to support the people making that happen.

The Collaborative leads critical regional efforts saving ash, elm, beech, and hemlock from invasive pests threatening their survival (think: emerald ash borer plus newer pests bothering different species).

Great Lakes Basin Forest Health Collaborative » HF&G Our forests are in trouble. Invasive insects and diseases threaten critical species like ash, elm, beech, and hemlock, especially in the Great Lakes Basin

Holden is seeking a Forest Health Coordinator to take the reins on the Great Lakes Basin Forest Health Collaborative.

See: holdenfg.org/great-lakes-...

YOU GUYS. Come work with me! Holden Forests & Gardens is hiring! 🧵

the feeds are very UGH today but "Birds! 🦉" remains pure #birds

Beyond Events and Newsletters: Why Traditional Public Outreach Isn't Enough | Ampliflora Your science or conservation organization hosts events and sends newsletters, so why isn't anyone new showing up? Learn why traditional public outreach falls short and what strategies you actually nee...

"I'm raising awareness!" you tell me, as you divert some of your limited bandwidth into "public outreach."

OK, but: Awareness that accomplishes what? With which specific audience?

Without those answers, "raising awareness" won't work. Here's why (and how to fix it): ampliflora.com/public-outre...

I can't wait to listen to this!!! I am so obsessed with the music and general americana in the show (whomst among us isnt)

Your windshields should be absolutely covered in a sticky mess of bug splats/insect carcasses every time you drive across open country forcing you to stop periodically at gas stations to use their wet squeegees to try and clean up your view of the road at night

Basic light pollution diagram showing four different streetlight set ups ranging from more light pollution on the left to less light pollution on the right. The most pollution option, labelled "very bad" is a street lamp with a round uncovered bulb on top, making a sphere of light in the air. The next option, labelled "bad" has a tiny cap on top, that limits the upward pollution a bit. The "better" option is mostly uncovered on top, limiting pollution above the streetlight. The final option, labelled "best" has a full shroud overtop, limiting the light to only below the streetlight, where it is needed for pedestrians and vehicles.

Lots of folks captioning aurora photos like "for a few minutes we didn't think about politics"

guess I'm built different, every time I'm out trying to see night sky stuff I frequently think about how much light pollution is entirely preventable with just a tiny bit of regulation

Forests and Gardens Magazine » HF&G Published quarterly, Forests & Gardens magazine keeps members up-to-date on research, horticulture and community forestry news, upcoming

Anywho, find the Fall 2025 Forests & Gardens issue here: holdenfg.org/forests-and-...

Thanks for reading byeee ✌️

“We say a lot that it feels like Lord of the Rings. Just these giant trees you can’t wrap your arms around,” Sarah Carrino-Kyker, who does a lot of work there, told me. So jealous!!

(Image: Thranduil’s Halls by John Howe)

Besides being important to research, old growth forests are also just awesome to see.

(Bonus photo: Me in a cool forest that is not an old growth forest, as usual.)

It’s how we know what we’re aiming for with forest management and restoration efforts, and it’s how we know what is lost if we keep degrading the land.

It’s critical that these types of places are studied — we need to know the actual differences between these healthy ancient stands and the forests we have today.

There are two of them at the Holden Arboretum (in Ohio) — Stebbins Gulch and Bole Woods — and the science team at Holden has the great privilege of having them on-hand for their research.

In the fall issue of Forests & Gardens magazine, I wrote about why old forests like this matter.

By some estimates MO has about 800 acres of high quality old growth, and only one site in the OGFN. ONE! (Big Oak Tree State Park.) Anyway, you get my point.

For reference, I looked up how many old growth forests there are in Illinois, where I grew up. According to the Old Growth Forest Network (OGFN) registry, there are five. “But Anna,” you say, “Illinois is not a foresty place.” OK, fine, let’s do Missouri:

When you see a forest near you, it was probably logged at least once in the past — if not completely plowed and planted in agriculture at some point. The trees you see today are what has grown back.

“Old growth” means the site has never been disturbed, never been anything other than a forest. And in most of America (and lots of other places too) these types of places are really, really rare.

Letttttt’s talkkkk abouttttt old growth forests. Depending on where you live, you may have never actually set foot in an old growth forest. (I mean, I’m pretty sure *I* never have, and I was a field ecologist for a number of years.)

"I allow spiders the run of the house. I figure that any predator that hopes to make a living on whatever smaller creatures might blunder into a four-inch square bit of space in the corner of the bathroom where the tub meets the floor, needs every bit of my support." -- AD, Pilgrim at Tinker Creek

Even before I was a writer, I was always certain that if you could say the exact same thing in way that is more accessible and more engaging to read, you should. Scientists are also humans, so why wouldn't scientists want to enjoy reading manuscripts instead of slogging through them? Be the change!

You thought the pictures from last night were incredible? Look at this!

Anna stands on her head in the lawn while a small child looks on, impressed.

If you want to impress a small child, I highly recommend a headstand.

I'd like to share a personal anecdote that underscores just how entrenched the myth of the "welfare queen" has become. Because all sorts of people have bought into it.

I'll be as concise as possible.... 🧵