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October 25, 2017

New Insights on Forests in a Changing Climate

A map of New England.

How will climate change affect New England forests over the next century? According to a series of new studies from HF Senior Ecologist Jonathan Thompson's lab, the answer is a mixed bag. In some respects, climate will exert an even greater impact than we thought: longer growing seasons will mean more tree growth and carbon storage. In other ways, climate

October 24, 2017

Conservation Leader to Offer Public Seminar

A landscape that includes trees, mountains and fog.

On November 14 at 6:30 p.m. in the Fisher Museum, national conservation leader Rand Wentworth will offer a free public seminar on best practices for leadership in the complex process of conserving land. The event is open to the public, and especially geared towards community leaders, landowners, conservationists, and students.

Wentworth is the Louis Bacon Senior Fellow in

October 6, 2017

Study: Warmer Forest Soils Release More Carbon, Accelerating Future Warming

Harvard Forest soil warming plots.

A new study in the journal Science reports on 26 years of data from the world’s longest-running forest soil warming experiment, based at the Harvard Forest since 1991. It suggests that in a warming world, a self-reinforcing and perhaps uncontrollable carbon feedback will occur between forest soils and the climate system, adding to the build-up of atmospheric

September 28, 2017

Pits and Mounds: Diminished Elements in a Second-Growth Landscape

Birch trees growing on a withdrawn root mound.

Pits and mounds might be considered the charismatic microtopography of the forest. These features, vividly nicknamed 'pillows and cradles,' are formed by the uprooting of trees. In most forests, these features contribute important habitat diversity while varying soil processes. A new study in the journal Forest Ecology & Management, led by HF senior scientist Audrey Barker

September 19, 2017

New Report: Forests, Funding, and Conservation in Decline across New England

A report titled "Woodlands,Farmlands and Communities"

The Harvard Forest, Highstead, and authors from around New England have released a new report called “Wildlands and Woodlands, Farmlands and Communities," which broadens a 2010 Harvard Forest vision for conservation to permanently protect forests and farmlands as natural infrastructure that sustains both people and nature in the region. 

The report was released to the

September 6, 2017

Linking Science & Art: Hemlock Hospice

Hemlock Hospice art installation.

On Saturday October 7th, from 12 noon until 4 pm, the Harvard Forest will host an opening reception for the Hemlock Hospice art installation on the Prospect Hill Tract and feature prints, drawings and sculptures in science-communication in the Fisher Museum. This exhibition is the work of interdisciplinary artist and designer David Buckley Borden’s year-long collaboration

August 31, 2017

How Do We Measure Carbon?

Atticus Stovall with Faro Scanner

We know that forests store carbon, but how do we measure the carbon stored in trees without cutting them down? An international group of LiDaR (Light Detection and Ranging) scanning experts and forest scientists gathered at the Harvard Forest this August to compare scanning and destructive sampling methods to calculate tree volume, mass, and carbon. 

Most researchers use equations that estimate mass (and

August 29, 2017

Improving Approaches for Scientists and Stakeholders to Co-design Environmental Scenarios

A group gathers together outside to discuss ideas.

Planning for the future involves overcoming uncertainty to anticipate the unknown. An increasingly popular approach for developing future plans while managing uncertainty is scenario development, whereby several consistent and coherent storylines are developed to reflect different hypotheses about how the future might unfold. In a new paper published online in the journal Ecology and Society by Marissa McBride

August 23, 2017

Science Policy Exchange Launches New Website

Science Policy Exchange new website screen shot

The Science Policy Exchange has launched a new website, science-policy-exchange.org, to communicate our mission, feature our three initiatives, and share our resources, including publications, reports, policy briefs, videos, infographics, media coverage, and public comments on policies that effect our atmosphere, land, and water.

Harvard Forest is a founding partner of the Science Policy Exchange, a collaborative of six world-class

August 14, 2017

New NSF Grant for Public Engagement at LTER Sites

Research at Harvard Farm

Researchers from the Harvard Forest, Hubbard Brook Research Foundation, Michigan State University, Boston University, and CUNY were awarded $1.67 million from the National Science Foundation for a new project, Embedding Public Engagement with Science at Long-Term Ecological Research Sites (PES@LTERs). The team will collaborate with scientists, including partners in the Science Policy Exchange, to integrate public

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