New Partnership with Blackstone Watershed Collaborative to Support High School Forestry Program

Harvard Forest is excited to partner with the Blackstone Watershed Collaborative (BWC) to provide educational tours as part of their "Building Worcester's Future Foresters: Youth Workforce Development in Urban Forestry" grant. This Rooting Resilience award, granted by River Network but currently under review by the federal government, will allow BWC to partner with Worcester Technical High School in piloting a new Urban and Community Forestry track from 2025-2027 as part of their Environmental Technology track. Training 30 students annually over three years, the new program will allow high schoolers to receive the Urban and Community Forester Certification from the Society of American Foresters.

In addition to classroom learning, students will participate in place-based learning through regular field trips across a variety of settings, including urban forests in Worcester, traditional ecological knowledge of Indigenous-stewarded land, and field trips to Harvard Forest. Students will explore hands-on forest management techniques, the history of land use in New England, and study what makes a forest resilient for both humans and nature through Harvard Forest's long-term ecological research practices.

Harvard Forest is thrilled to support Worcester Technical High School's new workforce development program and partner with the Blackstone Watershed Collaborative in this initiative. 

Funding for this project is pending federal review.