Larry Burns lives where forest and shoreline meet—among the hemlocks, Oaks, and dunes of Grand Haven, Michigan. As Professor of Psychology at Grand Valley State University and Assistant Director of Urban Forestry for the City of Grand Haven, Larry works at the intersection of science, stewardship, and community memory. His leadership in crafting Grand Haven’s 1–10–100 Year Forestry Management Plan reflects a lifelong belief that trees are not merely biological structures, but living reminders of hope, history, and healing.

TSN Conference 2026

January 23rd, 2026 (Friday) // 11:20 am – 11:45 am // Room 105 // Proactive Thinning for Beech Bark Disease at the Advancing Front: Treatment Considerations and Decision Rules // In a challenging environmental landscape, unconventional approaches to engage people in conservation are urgently needed. Our panel of science and art students and professors will share perspectives on teaching and research practices to provide new insights into environmental issues and creative conservation solutions. As educators, we’ve created an interdisciplinary program that provides students with experiences that bridge science and art, fostering creative problem solving. Science students learn to communicate not only facts but also stories and data visualizations that engage audiences. Art majors learn about ecological processes and ideas that can be fertile ground for artistic exploration. As researchers, we use scientific and conservation evidence, artificial intelligence, and kinetic imaging to tell stories of bird extinctions. Together, we practice making our disciplines more relatable to each other and by extension, more relatable to the public.