Michael Bald founded his company, Got Weeds?, to open the 2011 growing season with non-chemical invasive species management approaches for landowners in central Vermont and New Hampshire. Eleven years later, the company continues to conduct training, consultation, planning, monitoring, and project implementation across much of New England. With nearly twenty years of experience controlling terrestrial plants manually and mechanically, Mike has explored and honed in on “the danger plants”, solarizing as a refined technique, safety in the working landscape, and local / community empowerment. He appreciates the importance of site specificity, transitions over extended time frames, and a deeper understanding of resource stewardship.
Mike relies on a BS in Biology from the University of Notre Dame, four years of service in the Army Corps of Engineers, and nine years with the US Forest Service for grounding and professional perspective. In the face of our present crises (global warming, the disconnect from nature, and habitat degradation), this balance is vital to the maintenance of spiritual / mental health, our meaningful engagement with communities, and our notions of successful stewardship. Mike proudly supports organizations such as the Northeast Organic Farming Association, the Ecological Landscape Alliance, Rural Vermont, Irish Seed Savers, and The Stewardship Network.