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February 2012

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February 27, 2012

125 Acres of Conserved Land Acquired and Further Protected by Harvard Forest

A road through the woods of Harvard Forest

The future of approximately 125 acres of land adjacent to Harvard Forest has changed from potential golf course development to scientific research and public access thanks to a lengthy conservation and legal saga that began with trees unlawfully harvested from Harvard Forest land in 2007. Read the press release and learn more about Harvard Forest's role in local

February 9, 2012

New Harvard Forest Website Launched

Screenshots from the new Harvard Forest website

The new Harvard Forest website represents months of effort by Harvard Forest staff and our web development/design consultants, Digital Loom.

We welcome your feedback.

The site has a new look and additional content, including:

February 9, 2012

Conservation Finance Report Presented at the MA State House

Hot air balloons by Mt.Sugarloaf

The Massachusetts Commission on Financing Forest Conservation, which includes David Foster, Director of the Harvard Forest, and James Levitt, Director of the Harvard Forest Program on Conservation Innovation, presented its final report to the Mass. Secretary of Energy and Environmental Affairs (EEA), and several state legislators, at the State House on February 13.

Read the press release from the

February 10, 2012

NEON Construction Announced to Begin at HF in Spring 2012

National Ecological Observatory Network,Inc. logo

Today the National Ecological Observatory Network--a continental-scale, 30-year research initiative with funding from NSF, DOE, and NASA--announced that it will begin construction at Harvard Forest in spring 2012.

The Forest is the core site for NEON's Northeastern domain, and will be one of the first of 21 sites built around the country (construction at the Ordway-Swisher Biological Station in Florida will

February 1, 2012

2nd Annual Harvard Forest Winter Break Week a Success

Debby Kaspari leading art workshop

Ten Harvard students with concentrations ranging from Linguistics to Biology participated in the immersive Harvard Forest Winter Break Week, "Reading the New England Landscape," from January 15 to 20. Harvard researchers in Paleoecology, Atmospheric Sciences, Natural History, Conservation, and Landscape Design led daily field walks and hands-on activities; renowned artists including former Bullard fellow Debby Kaspari led art and illustration

February 1, 2012

2012 Maple Syrup Forecast

Maple Sugar Bucket

For a long time, botanists have known that freeze-thaw cycles in spring determine sap flow in maple trees. Sugar content in the sap also varies from year to year, but less is known about why. One possibility is that plants only have so much sugar to go around, so years when trees make lots of seeds are followed by years

February 1, 2012

Middle-Holocene Hemlock Dynamics in Northern New England

A group pond coring on canoes

A new paleoecology study by Emerson College/HF scientist Wyatt Oswald and HF director David Foster describes multiple episodes of eastern hemlock population decline ~6,000 years ago in New England. These events precede a major and more often-studied hemlock population decline 5,500 years ago. All of the decline events coincide with indicators of abrupt climate change. The sensitivity of hemlock populations,

February 1, 2012

Highlights from an International Research Collaboration

International Graduate Students

From September 2011 to January 2012, European graduate students Anne-Céline Granjon (France) and Nicky Lustenhouwer
(Netherlands) conducted research at Harvard Forest as part of a collaboration between Harvard University and the Erasmus Mundus Master Programme in Evolutionary Biology (www.evobio.eu). Anne-Céline worked with HF ecologist Kristina Stinson, focusing on the response of common ragweed to climate change. She studied the