This summer Smokey House Center is launching the Future Foresters Apprenticeship, a ten-week, hands-on training program for college-aged youth, focused on sustainable forestry practices, climate adaptation, and ecosystem resilience. This immersive experience equips participants with technical skills and industry connections needed to address regional forestry challenges and support long-term ecosystem health.

It’s late summer, teetering on the edge of fall, and farmer Caleb Smith is at the base of Dorset Peak, bunching up portable sheep fencing. The towering mountain, part of the Taconic Range, looms above the valley, where his sheep, despite their large flock size, appear like flecks in the sprawling landscape.

Providing local students the opportunity to engage directly with nature and research, Smokey House Center welcomed students from fourteen local schools this spring, including Bennington College, The Dorset School, Burr & Burton Academy, Maple Street School, MEMS, Sunderland Elementary, Long Trail School, and more.