How do your Forests Change this Year?

 An Update from Our Changing Forests Field Sites

Killingly Intermediate School Photos provided by Ben Silberfarb on behalf 

of Northern Woodlands 

Reports from the Field

Tyngsborough, MA

Used our plot today for a lab where we measured dbh/id'ed trees and then plopped the DBHs into a spreadsheet to calculate carbon sequestration- so cool! Tomorrow we're going to calculate the carbon emissions of our vans and minibuses and try to figure out if our forest (scaling up to the forest from Josh's maps- we have about 102 hectares) absorbs the emissions from them. Cool! (Note the market basket bags covering sneakers, haha).

          

Reported by Teacher, Tara Alcorn
Greater Lowell Technical High School

Student Questions for Project Coach, Fiona Jevon:

 Another report from Tyngsboro, MA:

My class just had an awesome session with Fiona. She was fantastic and looked at their data, gave them feedback, and answered their questions. We also got to walk out to one of our plot sites with her. I've attached a copy of the document where they generated their questions for her so that you can see what they asked. We spent about 20 minutes on questions.

Thanks!

Katharine Hinkle

Innovation Academy Charter School
72 Tyng Road
Tyngsboro, MA 01879
khinkle@innovationcharter.org

https://sites.google.com/innovationcharter.org/mshinklesclasses2018-2019/home

Notes from Project Coach :

10/11/19  Things are going well! I set up plots with Kim at Lexington Montessori on Wednesday after having a blast with Katherine and her students at Innovation Academy. I have now visited every new teacher at least once, and I *believe* everyone has a photo and gps coordinates. 

10/2/19 For the Brockton teachers we bundled a site set-up visit (in the am) in with students visiting and collecting data (pm) so they may  be all set. I'm so glad we are reaching lots of students :) 

Elicia Andrews, one of her students, and I set up one plot at Quabbin Regional High School. She is hoping to set up another plot nearby, which I am hoping to come back and help her with (maybe we more of her students!)

9/18/19  Yesterday at Killingly Intermediate School with Pam Ames and Mike Morrill went great. We first worked with a smaller group of 8th graders who collected data from the plot (including some additional measurements!). We then had a large (40ish) group of 7th graders who were visiting the plot for the first time. I introduced them to the project and they made lots of great observations and questions. The two videographers were extremely nice and everything went very smoothly on that end. Marge and I also found a nearby site for Pam and Mike to set up an additional plot, and I believe they are hoping to get that one up and running this fall as well (yay!)


Killingly Intermediate School Photos provided by Ben Silberfarb on behalf of Northern Woodlands


9/10/19  So far I've done two trips. We set up 2 plots at Acton-Boxborough High School, both with some Hemlocks that are still alive but probably have Woolly Adelgid. They are also close to some of the trees used for the phenology project.

We also set up 2 plots at Innovation Academy in Tyngsboro: one is hardwoods, the other is in a Hemlock grove near some Woolly Bully trees!

Fiona's September Project Coach Schedule:

Fiona  Jevon
Harvard Forest

Data Collection in Peabody, MA:

Here  is our plot data collected today.  We went out in September, but the data was not complete.  We did a second count today, October 10
Plot 1 Tree 1 42cm
Plot 1 Tree 2 23cm
Plot 1 Tree 3 48.5cm
Plot 2 Tree 4 13.3cm
Plot 2 Tree 5 16.5cm
Plot 2 Tree 6  56.2cm
Plot 2 Tree 7 12cm (I think this tree was recorded inaccurately before) 

 

Photos of students measuring in the plots provided by Teacher, Diane Bugler



I will add data to the page hopefully this weekend.   I am hoping to add a third plot in a couple of weeks.


Diane Bugler
Captain Samuel Brown School
Peabody, MA  01960

Killingly, CT:  

Sending along some photos of our photo shoot with Ben (Filmmaker from Northern Woodlands),  Fiona (Harvard Forest Project Coach) and Marge from CT Audubon. They were able to see our students at work in our original forest plot. They (students) can been seen using DBH tape and Tangent Height Gauge. Marge assisted Mike and I in measuring out the 2nd forest plot and Fiona is coming on October 24th to help us properly identify the trees and work with students on our initial measurements.  Additionally, we have received funding from The Last Green Valley to create an interpretive nature trail system that connects both forest study plots. Once it’s complete, this could be another opportunity for Ben to return to Killingly!

Killingly Intermediate School Photos provided by Ben Silberfarb on behalf of

 Northern Woodlands 

Pam Ames
Killingly Intermediate School

Fiona and I just finished up at the intermediate school. It really was a wonderful morning. Not just great weather, but great students and teachers too. I think everything went well!


Marge Porter
Ct. Audubon

Acton-Boxborough Regional High School, MA

We used our two sites this fall to help students learn how to make observations and then to form good scientific questions based on those observations. We had five different teachers engage about 250 students in this activity. It was really nice to have a controlled area for them to work from so they could then easily share their observations and questions with others. We will be taking smaller groups out in the Spring as part of our Citizen Science project to take measurements and make more observations.

Erin BenGiovanni

Explore More ....Related Links:

Northern Woodlands webpage  for more Forest outreach articles and links.

Our Changing Forests Project Webpages for protocols, field sheets and related resources for this Schoolyard Ecology project.

Our Changing Forests School and Town LandUseChangeMaps

view and download GIS maps for all participating schools/towns in the OCF Schoolyard project.

Save the Date!  

Thursday January 9, 2020  Looking at Data Workshop for Teachers at Harvard Forest. Email Pamela to register.

                                              

Fall Field Work; Over 4,000 students Getting Outside for Science

More students than ever are getting outside to investigate the Growing Season, Invasive Insects, and Forest Dynamics in the Northeast this autumn, as part of Harvard Forest Schoolyard Ecology projects. 

Killingly Intermediate School Photos provided by Ben Silberfarb on behalf of
 Northern Woodlands 

Kate Bennett has a question for all of you about color change this week…

“It really seems like the leaves changed really fast over the weekend before this past weekend. Did anyone else see that?”

• Deerfield, MA .  Jill Craig at the Bement School replied  "Yes! 

• Hanover, NH. Maryann Postans from Hanover High School replied, My husband and I were in Worcester MA on September 21st and the colors were vibrant.  Then we drove back up to VT and there was color but not vibrant.  I commented on this with my students.  You would think color would turn 1st in the northern regions.  To answer Kate's question, I have not seen a fast change.  I think we are reaching peak now in VT but it's not as beautiful (vibrant) as last year.  As I drive along the highway every day, it was gradual up here. 

• Belchertown, MA. Louise Levy from Belchertown High School said,   The leaves around Amherst and Belchertown took a real turn in the middle of last week. The change was dramatic and quick, and went along with some of the most glorious Fall days I can remember!

• Ashburnham, MA.  JoAnn Mossman from Overlook High School said,  Yes!  I've noticed a really fast change in my sugar maples this past week!  The birches seem a little slower than past years. Everything else is pretty much on schedule.:)

Students collecting leaf data for
Buds, Leaves, and Global Warming
Gloucester, MA

.

• Gloucester, Ma.  Dan Thomases, O'Maley Innovation Middle School reports:  

• What I feel like I'm noticing this year is a different pattern on Cape Ann.  
•  I took the kids out again today, and surprised that even the Ash tree hasn't changed color much. The whole tree is somewhere between 20-30% The kids wrote "1.
• "The sugar maples and red maples started changing a week and a half ago or so. The ashes didn't start to change until this week.This seemed out of order, but I haven't started recording these things until now... and sadly we don't have a sugar maple or red maple that we can reach branch/leaves of here. There are sumacs and a tullip poplar changing as well in my area that I noticed recently... Otherwise, it's on the brink about to shift... I think.... I think it's all pretty fun to see and notice!

• Petersham, MA.  Summary of  verbal report from Dr. John O'Keefe, Harvard Forest:  

• It makes sense that there would be more color change this past week as there were 1 or 2 particularly cold nights that trigger leaves to begin removing chlorophyll from their leaves, revealing the other pigments.   It seems to be a good foliage year.  The weather has been ideal for producing lots of color and there haven't been any big wind storms to pull the leaves off the trees early.  In general, Dr. O'Keefe is seeing that we are 'on track' regarding timing of leaf color and leaf drop, meaning it is not a particularly early or late fall from what we can see now. 

• Pamela asked Dr. O'Keefe about some Sugar Maples which did not appear to be having a "good foliage year" but instead turned yellow or brown and crumply in early September and many fell early.  He replied that some trees are more impacted by the dry conditions we experienced since mid July .  Most trees did not experience drought conditions due to the high amount of rain in the Spring.  Some trees are more sensitive to dry conditions due to shallow rootedness, including Maples.  Others, such as Oaks, are deep rooted and much more tolerant of dry conditions.  

Other Reports from schoolyards include:

• Westwood MA. Mike McCarthy, Thurston Middle School:  Here's links to my updated  websites for each project (Buds, Leaves and Global Warming as well as Our Changing Forests):

School Science/project-bud-burst-webpages-2019-McCarthy

School Science science/our-changing-forests webpage-McCarthy

Plot layout of 2019 Our Changing Forests Study Plots

• Gloucester, MA. Dan Thomases, O'Maley Innovation Middle School : We've been out a couple times so far. Once with Caitlin's group and once with mine. We're going again once more before the end of the week, and probably once a week until their off or all turned,

• Brooklyn, New York. Elisa Margarita, Brooklyn Technical High School :  Same here in NYC- turning brown.  Some yellow and orange but more of the brown. 

• Killingly, CT. Pam Ames from Killingly Intermediate School:  Marge Porter (Ct. Audubon Society) was here last week adding a second plot! So about 80 some odd students in each plot!!!  We have them in groups of 3 or 4 and they each have a role when we go out to the plot.

Killingly Intermediate School Photos provided by Ben Silberfarb on behalf of
 Northern Woodlands 

• Fitchburg, MA.  Emily Chamas from Applewild School:  We have gone out to the site and worked on tree ID, but have not measured the DBH yet. Our art teacher, Sara Sanford, will be joining us this year, as students are working on a science/art project on invasive plants in New England. 

• Lincoln and Lowell, MA.  Sally Farrow, Drumlin Farm, Lincoln and Lowell High School:   Tomorrow and next week we have Lowell High School and Greater Lowell Tech coming. We will be doing vernal pools and buds with them. 

• Westfield, MA.  Mary Reed from St. Mary's Parish School:  The study is going smoothly except that my Elm tree died over the summer and so I still have 4 trees to work with right now. I have a smaller class this year so they fit fine on the 4 trees. The kids are really excited about it and are doing a good job. I did a new activity this year with having the students observe leaves under the microscope and then drawing what they saw. I will include those papers in this year's books.We only have a little bit of color change so far. We will observe again on Friday.

 


Find the blank student sheet on our website at:  Drawing through the Microscope Leaf Worksheet-Reed.docx

• Tewksbury, MA. Janet Gordon, Tewksbury High School:   Field work was Good until the rains this week! My class does not meet every day (or even at the same time of day) and we have had showers every time we have attempted to go out this week. Next week we will go out twice, if it rains again Friday morning. Our trees start changing color later than yours, typically.  I suspect being closer to the warm temperatures of the ocean at this end of the state has some impact. Friday night there is a predicted frost coming so that we may see some color change next week.

• Southbridge, MA.  Lori Primavera and Colleen Casey from Trinity Catholic Academy:  We are doing okay here at TCA.  We have been out twice and expect to go out a third time this week.  Our trees are better than what they were last year at this time.  We still have some evidence of the gypsy moths or other with many of the leaves being partially "chewed".  Overall, the trees look good but we noted that the leaves seem to be changing sooner or drying up and falling off.  We have a few branches that have lost a couple of leaves already.  We have had great discussions on why we think this is happening! Looking forward to seeing everyone soon! 😊

    

        

• Brockton, MA. Rachel Calderara from Wildlands Trust, partnering with Brockton HS:  We have set up study sites at the Wildlands Trust Brockton Audubon Preserve and the City of Brockton Stone Farm Conservation Area. It has been difficult to identify an area at Brockton High School for a study site, but we are hopeful that we can have one set up by next fall. We collected data with the students at Stone Farm Conservation Area on Tuesday, Sept. 24, and are going to collect data at Brockton Audubon Preserve with the students this afternoon. 

                   

Questions from  Teachers to Harvard Forest Staff  related to Schoolyard Field Work:

• I introduced two new trees to follow as one of our trees is not doing so well. I think it is an American Basswood, but I want to double check. Can you help me with the identification? Laura Luetjen, South Hadley High School, MA

In reply to the following question about leaf drop, I asked some Ecologists at Harvard Forest about ID based on 2 photos.  Three scientists agreed that this was indeed a "Tilia" but not sure if it is an American or European variety.  It is difficult to confirm a tree identification based on a photo.  Scale, texture, habitat, etc. all are better put into proper perspective by seeing the tree in person.

Here is the link to Go Botany online key to see the difference:

 https://gobotany.nativeplanttrust.org/genus/tilia/

Our scientists thought is likely either a Tilia Americana or Tilia Cordata...what do you think?

• “Quick question regarding whole tree color code....as the colored leaves fall off, the tree then looks more green. Is it ok if the ranking goes from a color code of 3 back to a 1 if the non-green leaves blow off (after a windy day) or do we keep the color code at the maximum (i.e. once it reaches a 3 it stays at a 3 until it moves to a 4)?”  Pam Sheldon, The Bancroft School

Pamela Snow replied : you do not want to go back to a code number below where you were before leaves blew off. It should be at least 3 in the example above.   Consider the ones blown off as having changed color already.  If this is still confusing, let me know.

Belchertown HS Teacher replied:  Thanks for that reminder ... it is not intuitive for the students.


COMING SOON:

• Northern Woodlands is developing a video that will feature the Our Changing Forests project as seen at Killingly Intermediate School. Connecticut Audubon and Harvard Forest staff may also be included...Film Maker, Ben Silberfarb,  in conjunction with Northern Woodlands is putting this together. We hope to share it with you when it is ready! 

• More Photos and Project Updates from Schoolyards -Send yours anytime!

• Date for upcoming Harvard Forest Data Workshop for Teachers