Learning About Forests Pathway

• Contact your community or state forester to conduct a site walk to explore your school grounds or community forest.
• Research and investigate a local forest ecosystem. What types of plants and animals are found on your school grounds or in a community forest?
• Identify trees using the Arbor Day Foundation’s Tree Identification Field Guide.
• Look for animal signs such as tracks, scat and animal rubbings on trees to help identify what animals are using the forested ecosystem.
• Collect data on plant species in forests (i.e., trees, shrubs, grasses, ferns) over the school year to help students assess change over time and explore interdependent relationships.
• Use GLOBE soil protocols to conduct soil studies to determine types of soil, moisture, micro-organisms.

• Identify what plants and animals are using these micro-habitats.
• Determine how these micro-habitats contribute to the health of the larger system.
• Assess the biodiversity of the micro-habitats to determine their overall health and productivity.

• Design experiments to test plant growth.
• Investigate why leaves change color in the fall.
• Determine ways to assess plant growth through the seasons. Do trees still grow in the winter without their leaves? What about evergreen trees? Do they grow keep growing in the winter?

• Contact your local native plant society or state department of forestry to find out which plants are invasive in your area.
• Learn the appropriate way to remove invasive plants you are targeting, then plan school or community events to remove invasive plants.
• Replace invasive and non-native plants with native trees and shrubs.

• Connect with your local county or urban forester to learn about forest products and where they come from.
• With your local forester, visit a managed forested site.
• Explore how foresters determine tree height, diameter and mark trees to be harvested. Explore what sustainable forestry practices and certification means with groups like the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) or the Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI).

• Check out SciStarter for a variety of tree based citizen science projects.
• Check out the Cornell Lab’s Citizen Science program that offers several projects to engage students in recording bird observations on your school grounds or in forests to help document environmental change.
• Observe how plants change through the seasons using Budburst and help scientists figure out how plant species are responding to climate change in your region.
• Use GLOBE to track phenological changes, take biometric measurements, as well as soil and water quality tests for trees surrounding the school.

• Find out about your local watershed.
• Ask a member of your local watershed organization to come and speak to students about forests and water quality.
• Create a “watershed model” and investigate the cause-and-effect relationships with different land cover and impacts on water quality.
• Participate in a tree planting to reduce runoff in your community.

Explore Learning about Forests: Outdoor Education activities for schools, using nature as a classroom

• Work with your local forester or garden center to determine which native trees are best for your site.
• Apply for free trees to plant on your school grounds or in your community through the National Wildlife Federation’s Trees for Wildlife program.
• Apply for a Project Learning Tree GreenWorks grant to raise funds for tree planting and other forestry related work.
• Explore forest related resources from the Foundation for Environmental Education’s Learning About Forests website.
• Participate in the Global Forest Fund to help offset carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions and planting of trees around the world.

Visit the National Wildlife Federation’s Schoolyard Habitats® program to learn more.