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October 2012

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October 16, 2012

New Grant to Aid Research on Soil Microbe DNA

Serita Frey collecting soil samples

The Joint Genome Institute of the U.S. Department of Energy recently granted Harvard Forest researchers Jeffrey Blanchard (UMass), Kristen DeAngelis (UMass), Linda van Diepen (UNH), Serita Frey (UNH), and Jerry Melillo (MBL) a Community Sequencing Program award.

The award will cover the processing costs for sequencing 3 terabases of microbial community DNA and RNA gathered from Harvard Forest soils.

October 16, 2012

Study Offers Alternatives for Forest Management after Storms

The Harvard Forest hurricane pulldown area

A Harvard Forest study soon to be published in the journal Ecology highlights 20 years of data from a forest disrupted by a major hurricane simulation in 1990. Although post-storm management strategies generally involve removal of dead and damaged trees, the Ecology study suggests that forests recover more readily when they are left alone.

October 16, 2012

International Conference: Solving Small-scale Forestry Issues

International conference field trip group co-organized by Harvard Forest

In an international conference co-organized by Harvard Forest researcher and University of Massachusetts professor David Kittredge, more than 90 specialists from 18 different countries convened at UMass Amherst in late September to share research results, identify future research themes, and discuss solutions inherent to small scale forests and forestry that can benefit landowners, society, and the

October 5, 2012

Harvard Forest Post-Doc Earns Prestigious Banting Fellowship

Baltimore checkerspots butterfly

Greg Breed, a Harvard Forest post-doctoral fellow, has begun a 2-year fellowship at the University of Alberta to continue his research on butterfly population dynamics. Banting fellowships are granted by the Canadian federal government "to build world-class research capacity by recruiting top-tier Canadian and international postdoctoral researchers at an internationally competitive level of funding."

Learn more from the

October 1, 2012

MassLIFT-AmeriCorps Orientation and Trail Project at the Forest

Trail crew team 2012

Twenty MassLIFT-AmeriCorps members started their year of service this September with a four-day orientation at the Harvard Forest.  The MassLIFT (Massachusetts Land Initiative for Tomorrow) program, founded and led by Mount Grace Land Conservation Trust, trains and supports its members to sustain and often initiate conservation-related projects across Massachusetts.

The September orientation included a tour of