Thursday April 25, 2024 
August Mindful Walk
RENSSELAER COUNTY – Albert Family Community Forest – Saturday, August 7, 10 am – 12:30 pm. Forest Bathing is a Japanese wellness practice that welcomes us to take in the forest atmosphere with all our senses. Kripalu-Certified Mindful Outdoor Guide Sandy Wilson will guide our group to engage with nature in the present moment, as we experience it through all of our senses, to appreciate the complex wonders we often don’t notice when we are rushed or distracted. During this walk, we will be sauntering slowly on gently rolling forested trails. No experience is necessary — beginners are welcome! Learn more & register at www.rensselaerplateau.org
Not The Last of The Mohicans: A History of The Stockbridge-Munsee Community
RENSSELAER COUNTY – Thursday, August 26, 7 PM via Zoom. With Heather Bruegl, Director of Cultural Affairs for the Stockbridge-Munsee Community. James Fenimore Cooper’s The Last of the Mohicans paints a narrative that has stuck throughout history. Learn about who the Mohican Nation is today, and their rich history. Rensselaer County and the Rensselaer Plateau are the ancestral homelands of the Stockbridge-Munsee Mohican People. Heather is a member of the Oneida Nation of Wisconsin and first line descendant Stockbridge Munsee. Learn more & register at www.rensselaerplateau.org.
Native History Walk
RENSSELAER COUNTY – Albert Family Community Forest. Sunday, Aug 29, 11:00 am – 12:30 pm. Come to Albert Family Community Forest for a guided nature walk with ethnoecologist Justin Wexler of Wild Hudson Valley. We will see the forest and wetlands through the lens of Hudson Valley indigenous culture, exploring the natural world through Mohican and closely-related Algonquian languages.Participants will come away with a greater understanding of the indigenous land use history in the area (and the region as a whole). Justin Wexler, co-founder of Wild Hudson Valley, has been studying local native folklore, language and ethnoecology for two decades. Register at www.rensselaerplateau.org.