By David Beers

Mike Zarfos started his new position as executive director of Great Mountain Forest (GMF) at the end of
February. It has been a lively time for Zarfos and his family; in addition to moving from Washington,
D.C., to Connecticut, they are expecting a baby in April.

Zarfos grew up in Deep River, Conn., where he worked leading outdoor activities at the wooded 740-
acre Incarnation summer camp. His delight in that experience led him to study biology in college,
culminating with a Ph.D. in conservation biology. During his studies, Zarfos worked as a university
instructor of natural history and field ecology at SUNY’s College of Environmental Science and Forestry.
This included codirecting the Cranberry Lake Biological Station in the Adirondacks.

Zarfos says he is focusing first on taking it all in at GMF, including a firehose of institutional knowledge.
His immediate to-do list also includes seeing as much of Great Mountain Forest as he can. Zarfos plans
to concentrate on working off GMF’s strengths and its existing momentum in educational programing,
research and forest stewardship. He wants to honor and build on GMF’s historical legacy when setting
priorities for activities, staff, fundraising and budgets. One part of that, he maintains, is assuring that
staff are doing what they enjoy and are good at, while getting the support and materials they need.
Zarfos would like to provide similar support for volunteers in the future.

While nothing is definite yet, Zarfos expresses a desire to expand educational programing, partnerships
and funding to increase the positive impact of GMF. Some specific program ideas include artisanal
sawmilling, witch hazel harvesting, sugaring, photography, videography, long-term forest monitoring
and other ongoing research projects.

Zarfos already has a long list of partnerships he’d like to foster: the Norfolk Land Trust, Town of Norfolk,
Norfolk Foundation, Town of Canaan, local schools and libraries, Aton Forest, UConn, Carey Institute of
Ecosystem Studies, Yale University, Northwest Community College, Natural Resource Conservation
Service, U.S. Forest Service, Connecticut Forest and Park Association, Connecticut Land Conservation
Council, Northwest Land Conservancy, CT DEEP and the national, Connecticut and Massachusetts
Audubon organizations.

He may be new to Norfolk, but Zarfos is certainly at home in a forest. He says he is eager to meet more
Norfolk residents and invites anyone to stop by the office at 10 Station Place and say hello.