The next Generation of Citizen Scientists are Ready to Monitor A Forest Giant on the Edge

Harvard Forest Ecologist,David Orwig, and Mentor Teacher, Kate Bennett, prepared a new group of teachers to get students out tracking the tiny Hemlock Woolly Adelgid, an insect that is causing a major shift in New England's forest right now.  

Teachers practiced labelling study trees and measuring new growth of hemlock trees at their branch tips to record on the Harvard Forest field data sheets that their students will use at their schoolyards this fall. 

 

The white "woolly" egg sacs of the invasive Hemlock Woolly Adelgid were barely visible this time of year.  These egg sacs will be easier to spot from November through early Spring, when students will go back outside to record presence of woolly Adelgid to report to the Harvard Forest Schoolyard Ecology study.

Dr. Orwig showed teachers the thinning of the Hemlock trees at Harvard Forest that has occurred since the Woolly Adelgid arrived several years ago.  

Teachers were able to see the new growth of  black birch saplings beginning to replace the dying hemlocks. We hope they will bring back the message to their students that "the forest never doesn't change".  As one species declines, another fills its place in the forest. Change is the one constant.

 

What Woolly Bully Teachers valued about the Summer Institute:

• Being able to go out and actually look at the trees and experience what we will do with the students was key for me. It's so helpful for me to actually do what I will be doing with the students instead of just reading a protocol .

•   Many things. 1.Observation crosses many areas of study. 2.So much specific, scientific knowledge that I find fascinating.

• I learned so much in a short time during today's workshop. The most valuable thing I learned is the importance of the hemlock to our environment.

• How easy it can be to implement a field study. How important the preteaching, set-up, and demonstrations will be before heading out into the field.

• I gained the knowledge I need to implement this study in my school. I especially valued the time we spent walking in the forest and talking about the woolly adelgids and hemlocks.

To learn more about Woolly Bully Schoolyard Ecology, go to: 

 Woolly Bully Schoolyard Ecology Webpages

Senior Ecologist, Dr. David Orwig's Webpages

Hemlock; A Forest Giant on the Edge  

Graph of Survey Results from teacher survey at the Summer Institute for Teachers at Harvard Forest

Thanks to all who contributed to guiding teachers to prepare for getting students doing real science based on real issues with help from real scientists....