Karam Sheban Email and Phone Number

The Northeast Forest Farmers Coalition (NFFC) is a partnership of community members, farms, universities, nonprofits, businesses, and other organizations with the shared goal of growing forest farming opportunities and education within the Northeast region.

• Coordinate all active research on Yale’s 11,000-acre forest system• Assist in active and ongoing forest management and operations at the Yale-Myers forest• Design and conduct agroforestry research and operations on the School Forest system, from maple syrup production to silvopasture and understory plant cultivation• Facilitate the Ingalls Field Ecology Program at the Yale-Myers Forest in Eastford, CT

Contributed to a body of research on American ginseng, culminating with a new program on the cultural life surrounding the plant at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival in Washington D.C. in 2020. Research is housed at the Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections at the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage (CFCH).

Graduate teaching fellow for F&ES 692a: The Science and Practice of Temperate Agroforestry, taught by Dr. Joseph Orefice, Director of Forest and Agricultural Operations at the Yale School of the Environment.Concepts covered included forest farming, silvopasture, alley cropping, windbreaks, and riparian forest buffers.

Worked with rural landowners to develop diverse, sustainable income streams from privately owned forestland, in order to build regional economic and environmental resiliency. In my role as Forestry Program Specialist, I helped lead in the design of a certification structure for forest farmed herbs, to transition industry supply chain from wild-harvested to sustainably cultivated herbal material.

• Planned and facilitated landowner-focused workshops and events• Lead and coordinated forest herb restoration plantings on National Forestland • Wrote, edited, managed, and executed all Forestry program grants• Developed and implemented diverse peer-to-peer education strategies within the Non-Timber Forest Product (NTFP) sector• Developed sales strategies for hand crafted, locally produced wood products• Coordinated and fulfilled annual forest herb planting… Show more • Planned and facilitated landowner-focused workshops and events• Lead and coordinated forest herb restoration plantings on National Forestland • Wrote, edited, managed, and executed all Forestry program grants• Developed and implemented diverse peer-to-peer education strategies within the Non-Timber Forest Product (NTFP) sector• Developed sales strategies for hand crafted, locally produced wood products• Coordinated and fulfilled annual forest herb planting stock sales• Planned and executed youth education programming • Assisted with landowner site visits and compilation of management plans for landowners• Communicated with external and internal partners on all Forestry programming • Oversaw program outreach• Managed data collection on regional forestry operations, personnel, and resources Show less

Worked on all aspects of production for an award winning, live public-affairs radio show with over 50,000 listeners. This included generating relevant and topical show ideas, contacting and booking as well as interviewing and prepping show guests, writing scripts and web copy, producing and archiving the podcast, and screening listeners’ calls. Each show addressed pressing topics of local, regional, national, or global significance, and featured experts from around the world.

Worked in Dr. Allison Snow’s plant ecology lab, in the department of Evolution, Ecology, and Organismal Biology, studying the competitiveness and reproductive fertility of switchgrass within the context of its potential as a biofuel. Assisted masters and PhD candidates with organizing and conducting field work to assess cultivated switchgrass’ competitiveness relative to native species. Provided in-lab support, as well as data compilation and copy editing.