Welcome to Harvard Forest!

This site is packed with info about Harvard Forest's research, education, events, data, & more. We've made some handy guides to explore the website from the perspectives of educators, students, field researchers, and land stewards/conservationists. Don't see your view? Let us know at hfOutreach@fas.harvard.edu.

Explore my view

News & Highlights
October 30, 2024

Immersive Global Change Ecology Course Expands Experience of First-Years

Image shows the 2024 First-Year Seminar students at the Swift River in Petersham.

Dave Orwig, Senior Forest Ecologist at Harvard Forest, isn't your typical Harvard instructor. A leading researcher examining - firsthand - a variety of disturbances to forests across the northeast, Orwig is acutely aware of these threats, affecting individual tree species, complex vegetative communities, and the web of organisms that rely upon them. Summers spent conducting research at remote, threatened old

October 29, 2024

Schoolyard Ecology Winter Data Workshop Registration Now Open!

Image shows student work created as part of the Schoolyard Ecology Data Jam

Each year, Harvard Forest's Schoolyard Ecology Program hosts a Winter Data Workshop to provide support to instructors participating in the program. This year, two workshop options will be offered! Because of winter weather and the large number of Eastern Massachusetts teachers, a second data workshop will be held in Cambridge at Harvard's Natural History Museum.


Option 1: Full Data

October 23, 2024

Research Spotlight: Leaf Phenology in New England

Image shows a close-up image of a leaf, with cellular-level coloration of greens, reds, and oranges. By John O'Keefe.

Decades-long research by Harvard Forest ecologist John O'Keefe has shown that climate change is altering the timing of New England's fall foliage. For over 30 years, O'Keefe has meticulously tracked the development of leaves, recording when they leaf-out in the spring and when their leaves change color each autumn. This phenological data - still being collected as we speak -

October 10, 2024

Wintersession Internships for Harvard Students Available

6 students and mentors smile in the forest in winter

Harvard Forest Wintersession Internships bring Harvard students (undergraduate and/or graduate) to the Forest in January 2025 for paid, on-site research internships. Interns will work directly with mentors on projects related to Indigenous representation, forest ecology, environmental education, and more (described below). In addition to a paid stipend, room, board, and transportation will be provided to interns at no cost. (See

September 19, 2024

New Grant to Center Indigenous Voices and Values in Harvard Forest's Fisher Museum

Image of two prominent Fisher Museum dioramas depicting land use change during European colonization.

Harvard Forest was recently awarded an Inspire! Grant for Small Museums from the federal Institute of Museum and Library Services to support the development, design, installation, and evaluation of a new multimedia exhibit to center the voices and values of the Nipmuc people, the tribe Indigenous to the land occupied by Harvard Forest.

The Fisher Museum, which includes seven dioramas

September 5, 2024

October 3 & 4: Yadvinder Mahli to Present Bullard Lectures

Image shows Professor Yadvinder Mahli standing in the woods.

The Harvard Forest and the Harvard University Center for the Environment are delighted to co-present the second Charles Bullard Lectures featuring Dr. Yadvinder Mahli CBE FRS1, Professor of Ecosystem Science at the Environmental Change Institute, School of Geography and the Environment, and Senior Research Fellow at Oriel College, University of Oxford.

The annual Charles Bullard Lectures were established

Explore Our Work

IN THE WOODS

Focus on Phenology
https://harvardforest.fas.harvard.edu/other-tags/phenology

LONG-TERM STUDIES

85 Acres, 116,000 Trees
https://harvardforest.fas.harvard.edu/other-tags/mega-plot

STUDENT PROGRAMS

Winter Opportunities for Harvard Students
https://harvardforest.fas.harvard.edu/undergraduate-students

CONSERVATION SCIENCE

Envisioning the Future Landscape
https://harvardforest-prod.ats.cloud.huit.harvard.edu/policy-land-use

JOIN OUR TEAM!

Jobs & Fellowships Open Now
https://harvardforest.fas.harvard.edu/employment

Wildlife Cam

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Raccoon
Raccoon at Night
Wildlife Trail Cameras at Harvard Forest - Feb/March 2016
Wildlife Trail Cameras at Harvard Forest - Feb/March 2016
Wildlife Trail Cameras at Harvard Forest - February 2016
Wildlife Montage - February 2016
Turkeys with young grazing
Turkey with Young Grazing
Young Moose Browsing
Moose Browsing
Deer Browsing
Deer Browsing

Webcams

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Witness Tree
Witness Tree
Hemlock Tower NE
Hemlock Tower NE
Below Canopy
Below Canopy
Harvard Farm North 2
Harvard Farm North 2
Barn Tower
Barn Tower
EMS Tower
EMS Tower
Hemlock Tower SW
Hemlock Tower SW
EMS Tower 2
EMS Tower 2
Harvard Farm North
Harvard Farm North
NEON Bottom of Tower
NEON Bottom of Tower
Barn Tower 2
Barn Tower 2
Neon Top of Tower
Neon Top of Tower

Real Time Data

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8. Snowpack
8. Snowpack
2. Radiation
2. Radiation
3. Wind Speed
3. Wind Speed
5. Stream Discharge
5. Stream Discharge
7. Water Temperature
7. Water Temperature
4. Precipitation
4. Precipitation
6. Wetland Water Level
6. Wetland Water Level
1. Temperature & Humidity
1. Temperature & Humidity

Events at Harvard Forest

See a list of our upcoming seminars & events:

Spring Seminar Series

Future Events

Initiatives & Partner Organizations

Leaf