Eytan Stanton (2024)
The Mosholu Teaching Forest
The Mosholu Teaching Forest (MTF) is an emerging grassroots effort led by local artists, educators, environmentalists and students to transform a forested section of neglected parkland in the Norwood section of the Bronx, New York into a center for ecological, educational and community development. With the support of the JLS Prize, Eytan will apply the analytical, collaborative and representational design skillset he has honed at Berkeley to advance the collective visions of the MTF. Organizing stewardship opportunities that establish trails, remove trash and manage invasive species will increase biodiversity and improve public access to the 20 acre urban forest. Developing outreach materials to include non-English speaking community members will strengthen this collectively organized effort. Site-specific curriculum development with environmental educators, ecologists and teachers at eighteen local schools will foster community stewardship and cultivate healing relationships with the forest ecology, thereby challenging the social and public health impacts of institutional marginalization in Norwood.
Biography
Born and raised in the Bronx, some of Eytan’s formative experiences include coming of age in NYC’s skateboarding scene with his brother, exploring the city through culinary adventures with his uncle Yoyo, and sketching/printmaking with his mentor and friend, multi-media artist Nicky Enright. Over the course of two gap years he apprenticed at various regenerative farms and ecological design institutes, worked conservation gigs, and helped organize a grassroots community garden and food justice network in his neighborhood during the pandemic. His recent leadership experiences at the Berkeley Student Cooperatives and department of Landscape Architecture have enriched and expanded the traditions of community-led ecological stewardship he first cultivated back home. As a third generation Bronxite, the opportunity to support urban ecological efforts in his community will bring this newfound skillset full circle to where the seeds were first planted.
