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Along with our friends at the Rensselaer Plateau Alliance, we write today with very sad news for all who love and care for the land and water of Rensselaer County. Many in our community have lost a good friend. Each of us has lost a fervent defender of nature and an expert in local ecology and botany.
On Friday, March 24, 2023, ecologist and botanist David Hunt Ph.D. passed away from cancer, after a brief period of illness. Up until his last weeks of life, he was still busy with fieldwork and meetings on behalf of our local natural areas.
David will be fondly remembered for his encyclopedic knowledge of ecology, an unparalleled level of detail in his field studies and reports, and his readiness to work in all weather conditions, or waist-deep in mud, without a thought.
David will also be remembered for his sincerity, loyalty and friendship, his love of playing games with family and friends, his choice to live without a cell phone or email, and his deep connection to nature. You can read David’s obituary here, and a bio below.
On April 1st, David was buried at his request under a White Oak tree behind his house on the Rensselaer Plateau. On Saturday, May 13th at 10 am, the Friday Field Group, a botany group of which David was a long-time member, will host a memorial walk for David. (See details below.)
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David (front) on a Rensselaer Plateau Traverse Hike with the Rensselaer Land Trust and Rensselaer Plateau Alliance
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Friday Field Group Memorial Walk
Saturday, May 13, 10 am
open to all
Dill Brook Community Forest, Petersburgh, NY. David had recently surveyed Dill Brook, a new Rensselaer Plateau Alliance property, which will become a public community forest when it officially opens. We’ll dedicate this walk to his memory, enjoying what the preserve has to offer, and participants will have an opportunity to share a memory of David.
Directions: Traveling North on NY Rt 22: Just North of Petersburgh, turn left on Dill Brook Road. Park in the lot on your left or gravel area on your right. Traveling East on Route 2: Turn left onto Dill Brook Road and drive until you reach the parking area close to where Route 2 and NY 22 meet. Please do not park along Dill Brook Road. Questions? Contact Tom Phillips at 518 956-2767.
About David
David received his BS in botany from Cornell University and his PhD from the University of Georgia in the late 1980s studying the diversity of oaks in the SE United States. David worked as an ecologist for the Nature Conservancy and then the New Natural Heritage program, where he did extensive fieldwork throughout New York with a focus on high-quality ecological communities in the Adirondacks. In 2001 David left the Natural Heritage Program to work as an independent ecologist and live as sustainably as he could.
David lived on the Rensselaer Plateau for decades, where he tirelessly studied and documented the Flora and Fauna of Rensselaer County. He became the leading expert on its ecology, plants, and natural areas. Among his many accomplishments: David prepared a map of the environmentally critical areas of the county for Rensselaer County Environmental Council in 1998; documented the most important conservation areas of the county for RPI in 2000; compiled the ecological assessment section for the Rensselaer Plateau Alliance’s Rensselaer Plateau Regional Conservation Plan; and prepared biodiversity and ecological information for the Rensselaer Land Trust’s Rensselaer County Conservation plan. David has provided RPA and RLT ecological evaluations of most all of the lands acquired for preserves and easements.
David has consulted with municipalities throughout the county along with many individual landowners providing valuable information for land use planning and stewardship decisions. He has led numerous field trips and workshops for RPA, RLT, and the Friday Field Botany group. David was awarded the 2017 William Niemi Conservation Leadership Award for his work in conservation for Rensselaer County.
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