At the annual meeting SAC members voted on our slate of officers for the coming year. Bruce Cushing and William Burke were re-elected to the offices they held, chairman and secretary respectively. We would like to welcome two new officers to fill vacant positions.

Brayton Pendell, Vice Chairman

Forestry has been a passion of mine from an early age. I grew up on nearly two hundred acres of primarily forested land in the town of Crown Point, in Essex County. I spent a majority of my childhood and adolescence exploring the outdoors which included hunting, trapping, riding ATV’s and hiking. When I became of age, I started helping my father cut timber. We sold timber for firewood, for pulpwood to International Paper Company, and to various sawmills in New York and Vermont. I loved the outdoors and really enjoyed cutting timber and decided I wanted to pursue a career in forestry. I graduated from Paul Smith’s College with an AAS in Forest Technology in 2003 and with a BS in Industrial Forestry Operations in 2005. After graduation I spent a few years in private industry working for a forestry consultant which was an invaluable experience. I moved on from that position and have spent the last 18 years working in a few different roles for the New York State DEC. Most of that time has been spent working for the Saratoga Tree Nursery. Currently I am the Senior Forester at the facility, and I absolutely love every day there. I now live in Glens Falls with my wife Christina, my son Zachary and my daughter Lilah. We still own the property in Crown Point, where the primary use is for recreation and firewood production. I am excited about being part of NYFOA, as this organization has the potential to have huge impacts on forestry all across New York State. I admire the mission of NYFOA and can’t wait to meet more members and hear their stories and visit their properties.

Mary Marchewka, Treasurer

In 1997, I purchased two lots for a total of 53 acres in Easton. I named the property Dough Haven Farm and formed an LLC. I was putting all my dough(money) into the place and thought of it as a haven (getaway).

I have a BA in Biology and wanted to get educated on what I had purchased and how to own a forest. I reached out to NYS DEC to have a forester visit the property. Ron Cadieux came and walked the wood lot, asked what my goals were, explained that the lot had been heavily logged and I needed a management plan to meet my goals. He gave me lots of literature and information and told me to become further educated by joining NYFOA SAC and Tree Farm organizations. He wrote a management plan and I joined the organizations. I became the SAC treasurer, attended meetings, went to many events, met many other private landowners and got to see the results of people managing their woodlots.

I worked the NYFOA booths at the fairs and Woodworkers show and continue to do this type of educational outreach with my husband David.

A 3-acre clear cut was performed, along with water bars installed on main trails through a FLEP grant. A portable sawyer was hired on 4 occasions and the resulting pine, aspen & oak lumber was used in building structures on the property.

In 2012, I helped organize the retirement celebratory party of three DEC foresters at the Gideon Putnam. I stepped down from the treasury position shortly after.

In 2016, after many years of hiring foresters to mark for timber stand improvement, TSI work we decided to use the resulting logs not only for firewood and timber but for growing specialty mushrooms. After much education, research and hard work, we have approximately 600 logs in production and many Aspen totems. We offer workshops twice a year on farming mushrooms and educating people about Agroforestry techniques. We hold different types of agritourism events at the homestead. More information is on our website at DoughHavenFarm.com

In 2021, David & I took Cornell Master Forest Owner, MFO program and have completed several visits with private landowners sharing what we have learned. Both David & I have taken Games of Logging classes and recommend others take this valuable course.

In November of 2023 I retired from my career with NYS and am very happy to be able to invest more time with the organizations I have benefited from, especially NYFOA.

We are hoping to have our first harvest of timber within the next two years and host a woods walk to demonstrate the results of our more than 25 years of working a management plan.