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April 9, 2020

Online Resources for Scholars & Educators

screenshot of virtual French Road trail, showing a wooden boardwalk through ferns and trees

Harvard Forest has developed an ever-growing list of online resources for students, educators, and researchers.

Explore:

April 6, 2020

Second Global Earth Observatory Census Reaches Milestone

Map of the most abundant tree species in the ForestGEO plot, shown in patches of blue, red, and green

The primary work of the second census of the Harvard Forest Global Earth Observatory is complete, with 6,992 new woody stems mapped, tagged, and measured - adding to more than 116,000 stems mapped in the initial census. 

The area is re-censused every 5 years by a dedicated crew of researchers led by Forest Ecologist Dave Orwig. The census tracks not only

March 20, 2020

Harvard Forest Remembers Colleague David Kittredge

David Kittredge rests both hands against the bark of a large white pine tree in Pisgah State Forest

The lives of countless Harvard Forest staff, students, and colleagues past and present have been enriched by the life of David Kittredge (1956-2020), a great friend of the Harvard Forest and a champion of forests and conservation everywhere.

In addition to a 30-year career as faculty in the Environmental Conservation Department of the University of Massachusetts, for over 20 years, Dave

March 18, 2020

Schoolyard Ecology Featured in "Resilient Forests" Series

Two middle school students stand in a forest measuring the height of a tree

The Harvard Forest Schoolyard Ecology program is the newest focus of a year-long multimedia series on resilient forests by Northern Woodlands. The new film features students and teachers at Killingly Intermediate School, a public middle school in Connecticut that has participated in Harvard Forest's "Our Changing Forests" citizen science program since 2018.

The film follows teachers Mike Morrill and

February 24, 2020

March 17 Ecology Symposium Rescheduled to September

Audience view of a full room in the Fisher Museum at the 2018 Harvard Forest Symposium, with 3 speakers at a podium at front

UPDATE: The 2020 Harvard Forest Ecology Symposium, originally scheduled for March 17, has been rescheduled to September 2020.

The program will include morning science talks by graduate students and post-doctoral fellows, a round of lightning talks by the lead scientists for the major experiments in the Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) Program, and an afternoon focused on Harvard Forest's approaches

February 20, 2020

Harvard Forest Plays Key Role in Regional Food Summit

Screenshot from Food Summit livestream showing speaker Brian Donahue at podium at left and report cover of New England Food Vision at right, which shows a diverse group of young people harvesting garden food

In the months leading up to the New England Food, Farms, Fisheries, and Forests summit on February 19, HF Director David Foster and HF Research Associate Brian Donahue met regularly with with leaders at Harvard, the American Farmland Trust, and Harvard Pilgrim Healthcare to create a first-of-its-scale program that would explore food production, health, sustainability, and social justice with

January 21, 2020

Study: Climate (Not Humans) Shaped Early Forests of New England

Openland and stone wall

A new study in the journal Nature Sustainability overturns long-held interpretations of the role humans played in shaping the American landscape before European colonization. The findings give new insight into the rationale and approaches for managing some of the most biodiverse landscapes in the eastern U.S.

December 19, 2019

Climate Teaching Tool Co-Produced by Local Teacher & HF Scientist

screenshot of Data Nugget website showing title (A window into a tree's world) and image of scientist Neil Pederson extracting a tree-ring core from the trunk of an evergreen tree

A new teaching tool for middle, high school, and university classrooms guides students in using Harvard Forest tree-ring data to answer questions about local climate change. The lesson plan was produced by Elicia Andrews, a teacher at Quabbin Regional High School in Barre, MA, who also participates in the Harvard Forest Schoolyard Ecology Program. Andrews was supported in

December 16, 2019

Study: Invasive Insects Increase Likelihood of Logging on Private Land

close-up on the ends of 20 cut logs stacked in winter snow, some with tracking numbers spraypainted on them

A new study in the journal People and Nature, led by a team of scientists from Harvard Forest, UMass, and Duke University, surveyed hundreds of forest landowners in New England and found that future invasive insect outbreaks could increase the likelihood of forest harvest on private land. 

Based on survey responses, the team grouped landowners into three types, characterizing their

December 1, 2019

Harvard's "Wired Woods" Featured in Resilient Forest Series

A research tram on cables glides over the top of dense, green vegetation in a recently clear-cut forest

Harvard Forest land and research is the newest focus of a year-long multimedia series on resilient forests by Northern Woodlands.

Listen as Harvard Forest Senior Ecologist and Deputy Director Aaron Ellison walks radio producer Erica Heilman through our "wired woods," and up to the top of our 92' research tower, discussing how scientists use experimental forests to measure change over time.

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