Board Member (Darien, CT & East Haven, VT)
Walter Norman was born in Connecticut where he now lives with his wife, two children and two dogs. As a young boy Walter followed the weather closely, looking forward to extreme weather events and storms – most of all Snow Storms. Although Walter never became a meteorologist, his love of the weather did lead him to his profession of the last 24 years, Commodities Trading, where following weather is mandatory as it greatly affects demand for natural gas and electricity.
Walter’s love of the weather fit well with one of his other childhood loves – skiing. Family ski trips to Vermont in his youth planted the seeds of what would become his passion in adult life-managing his property in Vermont. The property, which has been dubbed the MooseHaven Forest is 1600 acres of Forest on East Haven Mountain in East Haven, VT. Walter, always a nature lover, has used the property for 20 years now for hiking, snowshoeing, skiing and mountain biking. While originally thought to be a place to escape to enjoy his passions the land has been much more to him than that. It has introduced Walter to the plethora of issues facing our Forests. Through working with Foresters, loggers and organizations like Kingdom Trails and the Northeast Kingdom Backcountry Coalition, Walter is learning how to balance the needs of the Forest and the wildlife who inhabit it, with the needs of the community and those who depend on the Forest for their livelihood.