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January 3, 2024

March 5: Growing Solar & Protecting Nature with Jonathan Thompson

This solar farm was built in Mendon, MA. The property was previously undeveloped forested land and partially used for farming. The total system size is about 4.1 MW DC. Photo by Lucas Faria.

Resarch Discussion: Growing Solar, Protecting Nature

Tuesday, March 5, 6:00-7:30pm
Fisher Museum at Harvard Forest
324 North Main Street
Petersham, MA 01366

Massachusetts needs more solar energy to meet its goal of reaching net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. But so far, much of the solar energy deployed in central and western Massachusetts has been built at the expense of forests, farmlands,

January 3, 2024

Bullard Spotlight: Comparative investigation of heterogeneity across the natural sciences, social sciences, and humanities

Image shows Bullard Fellow Zhanshan Ma with Harvard Forest Senior Research Fellow in Ecology Emeritus Aaron Ellison

By Zhanshan (Sam) Ma

During his Bullard Fellowship, Zhanshan (Sam) Ma - CAS 100-Talents endowed professor and PI of Computational Biology and Medical Ecology Lab, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) - is working with Harvard Forest Senior Research Fellow in Ecology Emeritus Aaron Ellison to review and synthesize the literature on heterogeneity

December 20, 2023

First-Year Seminar Students End Semester with Symposium

Image shows the 2023 First-Year students standing on a stile at the Harvard Farm.

Each fall, Harvard first-year students have the opportunity to take Research at the Harvard Forest-Global Change Ecology-Forests, Ecosystem Function, the Future. Led by Harvard Forest Senior Forest Ecologist Dave Orwig, this First-Year Seminar Program course immerses students in an active field research setting and provides interactions with several leading global change scientists at Harvard Forest.

December 7, 2023

Harvard Student Opportunity: Spring 2024 Internship in Indigenous Land/Food Sovereignty

a forest view with variously sized boulders along the forest floor

Spring Remote Internship: Connecting Indigenous Community Health and Land History/Futures

Open to currently enrolled Harvard undergraduates and graduate students (including international students)

APPLICATIONS FOR THIS POSITION ARE NOW CLOSED.

Mentored by: Cheryll Toney Holley, Harvard 2023-2024 Bullard Fellow and Sonksq (female chief) of the Hassanamisco Nipmuc Band

Additional mentors: Andrea Smith, sub-chief for Tribal Heath & Wellness, Hassanamisco Nipmuc Band; with support from Emily

December 6, 2023

Eddy Flux Researchers Convene at Harvard Forest for AmeriFlux's 2023 Annual Meeting

Image shows attendees of the 2023 AmeriFlux annual meeting at Harvard Forest

Last month, Harvard Forest hosted the AmeriFlux Annual Meeting, where nearly 100 researchers converged to discuss their work using eddy flux tower data from throughout the world. The longest continually running tower of its kind, Harvard Forest’s Environmental Measurement Station Eddy Flux Tower has been collecting data on the exchange of carbon dioxide and evapotranspiration between the atmosphere and

December 5, 2023

Tree Ring Lab Identifies Champion Elder

Image shows a zoomed in section of the Eastern Hemlock's tree core.

This summer, at a forest dominated by Eastern Hemlock in northwestern Pennsylvania, Harvard Forest’s Tree Ring Lab team, led by Neil Pederson and David Orwig, confirmed the oldest-known Eastern Hemlock to date. This tree, discovered by team field scout Erik Danielson, turns out to be at least 651 years old.

With over 3,000 Hemlocks cored over the past 50 years, Eastern

November 30, 2023

Witness Tree in Action

Image shows Schoolyard Ecology instructors practicing the Witness Tree tool next to a large tree.

On Tuesday, November 28th on Zoom, members of the Harvard Forest Schoolyard Ecology community gathered to learn about exciting developments in how the Witness Tree project has been translated for classroom use.

Under the guidance of the Harvard Forest team Clarisse Hart and Katharine Hinkle and collaborators Dr. Tim Rademacher, Dr. Taylor Jones, and Dr. Joy Winborne, two recent

November 14, 2023

Fall at Harvard Forest: A Flurry of Visitors

Photo shows 2023 Freshman Seminar students, instructor Dave Orwig, and guest Jackie Matthes atop a Harvard Forest research tower.

Each fall at Harvard Forest, the slowing production of chlorophyll is met with a quickening pace of visitors. While our foliage was a bit less vibrant this year due to weather extremes, the seasonal influx of visitors to the Forest was no match to previous years.

Since the onset of the fall semester, the research and outreach staff at Harvard Forest

October 17, 2023

Bullard Spotlight: Social-Ecological Frameworks with Rinku Roy Chowdhury

Photograph shows Dr. Rinu Roy Chowdhury

Forests, across a wide range of geographic, ecological, and social contexts, are common pool resource systems characterized by distinct forms of governance, with diverse implications for sustainability and resilience. Rinku Roy Chowdhury has been researching aspects of land use and socio-ecological resilience for several decades. Her work uses geospatial as well as qualitative approaches to help illuminate how individual agencies

October 3, 2023

New Publication Offers Strategies to Address Ash Loss

Image shows the report cover, which is a look up at the trunk and leafless canopy of an ash tree

The impacts of ash mortality in the region have been multifaceted, with the emerald ash borer leading to ecological, cultural, and economic loss. Seeing this decline firsthand, Harvard Forest Senior Ecologist Dave Orwig and a team of researchers have created Managing Northeastern Forests Threatened by Emerald Ash Borer, a publication that describes adaptive strategies available to address

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