Views of Declining Hemlocks from On High

Photos by David Foster

The views from the Eddy Flux towers in a hemlock stand at Harvard Forest may be providing a good last look at the hemlock forest while it is reasonably intact. According to Harvard Forest director, David Foster, " the foliage is beginning to take on that gray cast of moribundity, light levels are increasing in the understory, and trees are beginning to die as their crowns thin.  But, the forest is still striking as is the view from the top of the tower, though the leaders of tallest trees are showing decline."

For more information on  Eddy Flux tower research, go to: 
http://harvardforest.fas.harvard.edu/research/towers

For more information on the Woolly Bully Schoolyard Study tracking the Hemlock Woolly Adelgid go to: 
http://harvardforest.fas.harvard.edu/woolly-bully-invasive-pest-hemlock-woolly-adelgid

Graphs of Spring 2014 Budding

By Schoolyard Teacher, Maryanne Rotelli, Hollis High School, New Hampshire

How do your budding times compare?  

Students Search for Tiny but Deadly, Woolly Bully; The Hemlock Woolly Adelgid

Holyoke Catholic H.S. students examining the Hemlock Woolly Adelgid closeup 

Students looking for Woolly Adelgid egg sacs

Measuring the section of the Hemlock branch that contains Hemlock Woolly Adelgid Egg sacs

Photos by Lise Letellier

The tiny insect these students seek is not harmful to humans but it is responsible for wiping out large numbers of one of our most common forest trees. Hemlock trees make up almost one quarter of all of Massachusetts' forests, and as such are considered a foundation species of our native forest. Students are tracking this little bug that is sucking the life out of many of our hemlocks, and sharing their findings with Harvard Forest Ecologist,  David Orwig.   

Holyoke Catholic H.S. Teacher Lise Letellier, and her students, along with hundreds of students throughout New England are contributing information about the presence of this invasive Pest, the Hemlock Woolly Adelgid as part of the  Harvard Forest Schoolyard Ecology project: Woolly Bully.  

These images show students searching for the egg sacs covered in white wool -like covering that indicate the presence of tiny insects called hemlock woolly adelgids. Right now, hundreds of students are out investigating their schoolyards and woods as part of the data collection they will contribute to this regional Schoolyard study, led by Harvard Forest Ecologist, David Orwig.  

See which schools are participating and link to their data at: 

Schoolyard Woolly Bully field site map.

See more about Dr. Orwig's Hemlock research at:  http://harvardforest.fas.harvard.edu/other-tags/hemlock-woolly-adelgid-hwa

See more about the Woolly Bully Schoolyard Ecology project at:  http://harvardforest.fas.harvard.edu/woolly-bully-invasive-pest-hemlock-woolly-adelgid

TEACHERS, to join this Schoolyard study, complete the registration form at: Schoolyard Eco Summer Registration Form

Name These Trees.....

Photos submitted by Maryanne Rotelli, Hollis, N.H.

More Buds Bursting

We're starting in Belchertown.Aspen has already burst.  Red Maple is close on its heels, birch is promising, even the oaks are puffy.Crazy week ... 165 2nd graders, 40 high-schoolers and a whole mess of chaperones = one successful field trip across the street and a whole lot of happy people (except for that one case of poison ivy!)

Louise Levy

Belchertown, Ma.

Yes spring is coming to Drumlin Farm and Lowell slowly. At Drumlin Farm the Black birch has just burst and the sugar maple is very puffy in some buds and not as much in others. I have noticed at great difference among sugar maples, even those side by side!  Our box alder leafed out last week as did the silver maples in Boyce Field. In Lowell, the sugar maple at the Robinson School all buds puffy and at Freshman Academy in Down town Lowell the red maple is puffy too.

Sally Farrow

Lincoln and Lowell

National Climate Assessment (U.S. Global Change Research Program) released the Third National Climate Assessment  

A 60 person Federal Advisory Committee (The “National Climate Assessment and Development Advisory Committee” or NCADAC) has overseen the development of this report.  

Climate change, once considered an issue for a distant future, has moved firmly into the present. Corn producers in Iowa, oyster growers in Washington State, and maple syrup producers in Vermont are all observing climate-related changes that are outside of recent experience. So, too, are coastal planners in Florida, water managers in the arid Southwest, city dwellers from Phoenix to New York, and Native Peoples on tribal lands from Louisiana to Alaska. This National Climate Assessment (NCA) concludes that the evidence of human-induced climate change continues to strengthen and that impacts are increasing across the country.

Read the full report.  The NCA is now available for download on the http://globalchange.gov website.

HF Schoolyard Teacher Awarded for Excellence-2014

Schoolyard Teacher Donna Cochrane Honored at State House 

 During a State House ceremony on Tuesday, May 6th,Energy and Environmental Affairs (EEA) Secretary Rick Sullivan recognized Schoolyard teacher, Donna Cochrane of North Attleboro H.S. among other awardees at the 20th Annual Secretary's Awards for Excellence in Energy and Environmental Education. 

“Investigating and Protecting Our Water and Woods”

North Attleboro H.S. teacher, Donna Cochrane has engaged her students in active field research, data collection, and analysis of the local watershed and woodlands for over 6 years.  Donna has a strong motivation to connect her students to the natural world around them; to help them to investigate and come to know the trees and waterways in ways they have never known before.  Donna has partnered with the Watershed Access Lab at Bridgewater State University for 8 years and with Harvard Forest for 6 years.  Through these partnerships, Donna is able to leverage the expertise of professional scientists for the benefit of her students’ education

As active participants in the Harvard Forest Schoolyard Ecology Program and the Phenocam Network, Donna’s students are able to participate in an authentic field ecology study that provides them direct experience in important science skills including data collection, measurement, observation, data analysis. As questions or issues arise in these school-based studies, backup support is available from Harvard staff. Another kind of partnership is at work here as well; Donna and her students are part of a larger network of over 1,400 students, who are all contributing to the same scientific study; Buds, Leaves and Global Warming, led by researcher, John O'Keefe.  Together this network of students and teachers form a learning community.  Teachers are able to bounce ideas off of each other, and share resources in person at Harvard Forest workshops and larger science teacher conferences.  Teachers also share activities and lesson plans on the HF website. Donna has participated in every level of Harvard Forest workshops and this year, presented at the National Science Teachers Association Conference. 

Donna is one of only four K-12 teachers participating in an international Phenocam network.  This study, led by  Harvard University researcher, Andrew Richardson, uses web cams, which allow for automated, near-surface remote sensing of canopy phenology across the United States, Canada, and Europe. Both the field study and the Phenocam study help students monitor the length of the growing season over time, in order to best analyze how climate change is impacting the timing of leaf out and leaf drop of local trees. By comparing images of their canopy to others throughout the world, students can learn a lot about how the timing of leaf out in their local area compares to the timing and rate of change in other places.

Are Your Buds Bursting Yet?  

Updates from schoolyards in  New Hampshire, Massachusetts and Maryland:

New Hampshire: 

• Mostly trees are beginning to flower here in Northeast Kingdom.  Norway maples and box elder are the trees that have begun puffing.  I had to take on some more trees this year because 6 were cut down!  So I now have what I think are beech trees. 

-MaryAnn Postans, Hanover,New Hampshire

• Here in Hollis, NH the red maples have budded along with the white and yellow birches, red oak and shagbark hickory are very puffy. This stand of trees gets full sunlight for most of the day as they are east facing and there are no obstructions to shade them.

-Maryanne Rotelli, Hollis, NH

 Massachusetts:

• very slow here in central mass but we're doing a tues and fri visit since it is finally warming up!

-JoAnn Mossman, Ashburnham, Ma.

• Very puffy but not out yet in Ashburnham

-Kate Bennett, Ashburnham, Ma.

• Birch leaves are out, the maple are very puffy, and the oaks are puffy.

-Melanie McCracken, Groton-Dunstable, Ma.

• As of last week, there was only one tree with buds almost ready to “pop.”I am sure that there will be more changes this week. Based upon the data from last year, we are at least two weeks behind, but we have made four observations so far. We will be doing our next observation tomorrow.

-Chuck Skillings, Holden, Ma. 

• We went out again today. The black cherry was leafed out last week. The red maple has flowered and leaves are very close! The speckled alder also has some leaves. And we have our first Tulip Poplar leaf today- tiny!

- Jane Lucia, Northampton, Ma.

•  We have been going out once a week since before Easter vacation; No buds yet! We had a couple of trees "puffy" . We will go out again this week, but it is AP testing week, so many of my students are not in classes. Also, someone decided to prune about 4 of our study trees; and they removed our tags on the rest. The branches were cut so high that we cannot even access a branch on them. : (  I may be down to 6 trees afterall is said and done.

-Carol Bruell, Chelmsford, Ma.

• only the cultivated species, the Crab apples are fully leafed out, and did so over vacation.  Cherry trees started last week, Maples, have flowered,  hawthorns and hornbeam are getting ready.

-Lise Letellier, Holyoke, Ma.

• We actually mostly missed our leaves opening - happened over break. :-(

- Kira Jewett, Holyoke, Ma.

In Springfield our birch and black cherry have burst. The sassafras has flowers but not leaves. The others range from still closed to puffy.

-Carol Rosenthal, Springfield, Ma.

• The students and I have been discussing the fact that this is the first year we didn't "miss" bud out because it happened over Easter/spring break.

-Maria Blewitt, Reading, Ma.

Maryland: 

• Here in Baltimore, we missed it! It occurred before, during and after the week of the spring break. We had multiple-day residential trips those days so we missed the opportunity. We visited the park last week and Trees are already green. However, we still have our data for fall. 

-Willy Herrera, Baltimore, Maryland

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Photo taken from: Google: Reference: Beagle Project http://www.beagleproject.org/pdf/phenophases.pdf
as found by teacher, MaryAnn Postans.

Spring Phenology-2014-Related Article

You call this spring?

Endlessly waiting for ‘leaf out,’ flowering in Boston and beyond

May 1, 2014 | Popular

By Alvin Powell, Harvard Staff Writer

After a harsh winter and an April reluctant to warm, New Englanders are keeping their eyes peeled for signs of a lasting spring. Among them is Elizabeth Wolkovich, a Harvard assistant professor of organismic and evolutionary biology who observes changes in trees and other plants with more than casual interest.*

* copied from the Harvard Gazette...  see the rest of the article at:

Harvard Gazette Phenology article