Primetime Documentary Leverages Harvard Forest Expertise

A new BBC/NBC documentary series, The Americas, recently premiered in the US with a first episode featuring a majestic red oak (Quercus rubra) tree next door to the Harvard Forest. The location was not a coincidence. Producers initially contacted the Forest in 2021 based on past filming work hosted here. They were looking for a stand-out autumn tree with clear space around it for collecting drone footage - not easy to find in the dense canopy at Harvard Forest. 

The spouse of a Harvard Forest Outreach team member heard the request and suggested an oak tree from an adjacent property, Cutthroat Brook -- a publicly accessible area owned by long-time friends and collaborators of the Forest -- sharing with the producers a photo of her daughter in front of the tree in autumn (shown to the right).

The producers responded - "That oak is INCREDIBLE!" - and the collaboration for the documentary began. Over a period of several years, scientists and students from the Forest answered questions about oak tree physiology, phenology, and more. HF Senior Ecologist Neil Pederson brought his team to core and age the tree (thumbnail image above), and Professor Crystal Schaaf brought a team from her lab at UMass Boston to scan the tree with LIDAR for additional understanding see her team below).

Of all the elements included in the 10-part documentary series spanning two continents, actor Tom Hanks, the series narrator, has freqeuently described in interviews his awe over what he learned from the tree segment of the documentary (see below). We share his awe over the incredible work trees do, and are delighted to see this story reaching the broader world!