CONNWOOD FORESTERS, INC.
PROVIDING FORESTRY SERVICES SINCE 1945
LORI DARGIS LICHTENAUER
Lori Dargis Lichtenauer is the current office manager and forester for Connwood Foresters Inc. Lori has a nontraditional forestry background paired with a passion for birds. She graduated from SUNY New Paltz with a degree in Environmental Geochemical Science in 2015. After graduating, she worked as a field technician on ornithological research projects in Connecticut, Indiana, Illinois, Texas and Australia. Many of these projects involved state or federally endangered bird species (cerulean warbler, golden-cheeked warbler) and their habitat preferences at different life stages. She returned to graduate school in 2018 where she studied female canyon wren singing behavior in Colorado's front range and the Chiricahua mountain region of Arizona. She published two papers related to her Master's thesis work. Lori graduated in May of 2020 with her Master's in Biology, and shortly after was hired as a seasonal technician with the State of Connecticut's Forestry Division for two seasons. Lori came to Connwood in December of 2022 and is a licensed forester in Connecticut. She is originally from northern New Jersey, and currently lives in Danbury, CT, where she enjoys any outdoor activities, but her favorites are birding and fly fishing.
Contact:
Email: Lori@connwood.com
Phone: 860-638-9142
TIM HAWLEY
Tim Hawley serves as board chair and interim president of Connwood. Tim has served on Connwood’s board of managers since 1998. He is a graduate of Wabash College and the Yale University School of the Environment. Tim developed and implemented a comprehensive multiple use forest management plan for the South Central Connecticut Regional Water Authority. As a member of the CT RC&D Forestry Subcommittee, Tim revised the CT Logging and Water Quality Best Management Practices pocket guide. He is active in the Society of American Foresters, recently serving as lead author of “Southern New England Forest Management in an Era of Climate Change,” a position statement adopted by the Yankee Chapter of SAF.
Tim’s forestry career began on Great Mountain Forest, splitting firewood, shearing Christmas trees, maintaining forest roads, and completing timber stand improvements. He has worked in the spruce-fir forests of northern Maine and helped fight the 3400-acre 1977 Baxter State Park Fire. Tim briefly taught vocational agriculture at his alma mater, Housatonic Valley Regional H.S., and then worked for CT DEEP as a service forester several years before joining the Regional Water Authority. Tim holds Connecticut and Massachusetts professional forester licenses, is an approved forester in New Jersey, and is nationally certified by the Society of American Foresters.
ZACH MARCINIEC
Zach recently graduated from the University of Vermont where he received his Bachelor of Science in Forestry and concentration in Plant Soil Science. At the University of Vermont he learned about the ecological processes that forests go through and how individual forest types function. He have worked with the State of CT's Department of Energy and Environmental Protection agency in their Forestry Division as their seasonal resource assistant. At the DEEP he inventoried portions of each Eastern state forest as well as marked timber for harvest and kept up with boundary line maintenance. Zach holds a Supervising Forest Products Harvester license and is working towards a Forester's license at Connwood. Outside of work he enjoys working on antique equipment and vintage automobiles.
STEVE OWENS
Steve is an important part of the Connwood team as the technical lead. Steve has owned and managed his tree service company for many years and brings a wealth of knowledge from correct felling techniques to how to identify chaga on a yellow birch tree. He is a self proclaimed woodsman, and we wouldn't argue with that! Steve is an integral part of boots on the ground management that every woodlot needs. Steve holds a Supervising Forest Products Harvester license. Additionally, he manages our shiitake mushroom farming and takes the lead for Christmas tree sales (when he isn't in his tree stand.)
PETER LESMERISES
Peter Lesmerises is a part-time Eastern Region Forester for Connwood Foresters. Peter has been a major factor to Connwood's success over the last decade and has been lending his wealth of knowledge to our new staff. He not only brings a unmatched work ethic to the table, but his careful attention to detail and expanse of tacit knowledge makes him a true asset to our forestry team. Peter began his studies in Forestry achieving a B.S. from the University of New Hampshire. After college Peter joined the Peace Corp, working in Guatemala managing a tree nursery and teaching soil conservation classes. Upon his return he worked as a forester in Virginia, learning the ins and outs of the industrial forestry market, then moved to Connecticut and worked as a procurement forester in Connecticut for 22 years. Peter is a Licensed Forester in Connecticut and Massachusetts and NRCS TSP certified.