Thank you for visiting Harvard Forest!

This website is packed with information about Harvard Forest’s research, education, events, data, and more. We've made some handy guides to exploring 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.

News & Highlights

May 31, 2023

New Report Offers First Ever Accounting of Forever-Wild Land

A bull moose drinks from Sandy Stream Pond in Maine in autumn

While 81% of the land in New England is forested, only 3.3% of that land has been legally protected as forever-wild: land that can never be developed or logged and thus holds an unmatched capacity to store carbon, protect biodiversity, and sustain the lives of plants, animals, and humans.

A new report co-authored by scientists at Harvard Forest, Highstead Foundation,

May 31, 2023

Old-Growth Forests: Elders Under Threat

Photo shows large old growth tree. By Liz Thompson.

By Emily Johnson

For over a century, Harvard Forest researchers have been studying old-growth forests to better understand our past and prepare for our future. And for millennia, the People of the Dawnland – where the sun first touches the North American continent – have been in relation with these respected elders in ways far beyond measure. In more

May 25, 2023

Summer Interns Arrive to Advance Research Projects

Photo shows students and mentors in front of Harvard Forest's main building

This week, in addition to the chorus of tree frogs and the bloom of pink lady's slippers, 21 undergraduate students arrived at Harvard Forest. Hailing from universities across the country, students began their 11-week Summer Research Program internships in which the pursuit of mentored team projects will span topics that include root microbes, seedling regeneration, forecasting carbon, and

May 5, 2023

Grad Student Opportunity: Summer Digital Learning Specialist

A dozen Harvard Forest winter interns and mentors smile in a conference room front of a screen

The Harvard Forest Schoolyard Ecology team is seeking two part-time, remote Harvard graduate student interns to create an interactive web feature that will allow K12 classrooms to interact with our innovative and award-winning Witness Tree Media Project. The two students will work with our team to develop this resource over a combined period of 150 hours (75 hours per

April 13, 2023

Bullard Spotlight: Exploring Harvard Forest's Ectomycorrhizae with Jenny Bhatnagar

Photo shows Jenny Bhatnagar examining mycorrhizael fungi

The growth of trees in Harvard Forest depends heavily on ectomycorrhizal (EM) fungi, which colonize the roots of live trees, but there is currently no well-curated database on EM fungal abundance and diversity at the forest. To address this, Bullard Fellow Jenny Bhatnagar is compiling data from different fungal herbaria to create the first longitudinal dataset of fungal

April 13, 2023

Survivors: An Event to Celebrate Old Growth Forests (April 26)

Photo of an old growth tree by Liz Thompson.

Join Discover Maynard's "Week of Trees!" event on April 26, where speakers will discuss human dimensions and perceptions of old growth forests.

Featured speakers include Nipmuc cultural steward André StrongBearHeart, who will discuss landscapes from an understanding of traditional cultural values, Harvard Forest researcher Neil Pederson, who will reflect on what old growth forests represent from a western