Sandra Hildreth paints at the Paul Smith’s College VIC (Photo provided)

PAUL SMITHS — The Paul Smith’s College Visitor Interpretive Center will host a panel discussion on the impact of climate change and carbon sequestration in forests.

The event will be from 6:30 to 8 p.m. Thursday, May 11 and is free and open to the public.

The Adirondack Council’s rewilding advocate, John Davis, will lead a world-renowned panel of scientists on how the climate change crisis will impact carbon sequestration in forests, as well as the discussion between “young” and “old” forests and how each sequesters carbon.

Included in the panel is Lee Frelich, director of the Center for Forest Ecology at the University of Minnesota; William Moomaw, a Nobel Prize-winning climate scientist and professor emeritus at Tufts University; and Bob Leverett, co-founder of the Native Tree Society and senior advisor to the American Forests Champion Tree Program.

“We are grateful to the Paul Smith’s VIC for hosting a talk by three experts in the critical field of forest conservation and climate stabilization,” Davis said. “Prominent scientists William Moomaw and Lee Frelich and old-growth sleuth Bob Leverett will help us understand why the Adirondack Park’s Forest Preserve lands are of tremendous value in providing homes for interior forest species and sequestering carbon.”

“Paul Smith’s College has been studying forest conservation for decades,” said Dan Kelting, interim president of Paul Smith’s College. “This opportunity for our students and the greater community to interact with leading experts in the field reinforces our commitment to understanding and protecting our forest ecosystems.”

The VIC is located at 8023 State Route 30, Paul Smiths, on Thursday, May 11. For more information, visit https://www.paulsmithsvic.org/event.