Harvard Forest

Public Event: Charles Bullard Lecture: Sarah Hobbie (Petersham)
2025-10-03 11:00 - 12:00 (America/New_York) | Harvard Forest – Fisher Museum, 324 N. Main St, Petersham, MA, 01366, United States
All are welcome to join the Harvard Forest for a lecture by Dr. Sarah Hobbie: “Three Decades of Studying Nutrient Effects on Decomposition: What Have We Learned?”
The lecture will take place on Friday, October 3 at 11:00am EDT at the Fisher Museum in Petersham, Mass., or register (fast and free!) for the Zoom webcast.
Learn more about the Charles Bullard Lecture Series.

Public Seminar: Richard T. T. Forman - Town Ecology: Concord, Thoreau and Onward
2026-02-25 11:00 - 12:00 | Harvard Forest – Main Building, 324 Main St, Petersham, MA, 01366, United States
Harvard Forest’s seminar series features cutting-edge research in ecology, land-use history, and climatic change, and its applications to conservation biology, environmental policy, forestry, and management of terrestrial, aquatic, and marine ecosystems. Seminars occur during the fall and spring on Wednesdays from 11:00 am to 12:00 pm Eastern Time unless otherwise noted.
Seminars are presented in hybrid format; in-person attendance is welcome and a livestream option is available via Zoom. Seminars are free and open to the public. For Zoom link and password, please contact Joshua Plisinski.

2026 Harvard Forest Ecology Symposium
2026-03-12 09:00 - 17:00 | Harvard Forest – Fisher Museum, 324 N. Main St, Petersham, MA, 01366, United States
For 35 years, the Harvard Forest has hosted an Annual Ecology Symposium to bring together research collaborators to share progress and develop synergies.
This year’s Symposium, themed New Perspectives on Temperate Forest Ecology, will be held March 12, 2026, in the Harvard Forest Fisher Museum and also streamed publicly online.
Schedule
Coming in person? Register by March 2. You will need to log in first (creating an account takes about 1 minute).
OR
Can’t make it to Harvard Forest? Register for the Zoom Webinar
We typically have around 100 people in attendance in person, including our collaborators, students, foresters, and conservation professionals.

Public Seminar: Ashley Lang - Beyond MAOM? Rethinking classifications of soil organic carbon for modeling change
2026-04-02 11:00 - 12:00 | Harvard Forest – Main Building, 324 Main St, Petersham, MA, 01366, United States
Dr. Ashley Lang is a postdoctoral researcher in the USDA Forest Service- Forest Inventory and Analysis Program.
Harvard Forest’s seminar series features cutting-edge research in ecology, land-use history, and climatic change, and its applications to conservation biology, environmental policy, forestry, and management of terrestrial, aquatic, and marine ecosystems. Seminars occur during the fall and spring on Wednesdays from 11:00 am to 12:00 pm Eastern Time unless otherwise noted.
Seminars are presented in hybrid format; in-person attendance is welcome and a livestream option is available via Zoom. Seminars are free and open to the public. For the Zoom link and password, please contact Joshua Plisinski.

Public Seminar: Steve Langdon - Shingle Shanty: Research, Monitoring, and Climate Resilience in a Boreal Peatland Complex in the Adirondacks
2026-04-15 11:00 - 12:00 | Harvard Forest – Main Building, 324 Main St, Petersham, MA, 01366, United States
Steve Langdon is Director of the Shingle Shanty Preserve and Research Station.
Harvard Forest’s seminar series features cutting-edge research in ecology, land-use history, and climatic change, and its applications to conservation biology, environmental policy, forestry, and management of terrestrial, aquatic, and marine ecosystems. Seminars occur during the fall and spring on Wednesdays from 11:00 am to 12:00 pm Eastern Time unless otherwise noted.
Seminars are presented in hybrid format; in-person attendance is welcome and a livestream option is available via Zoom. Seminars are free and open to the public. For the Zoom link and password, please contact Joshua Plisinski.

Evening Lecture: Bullard Fellow Research Showcase
2026-04-15 18:00 - 19:30 | Harvard Forest – Fisher Museum, 324 N. Main St, Petersham, MA, 01366, United States
A “lightning round” of brief presentations by Harvard Forest’s diverse range of visiting Bullard Fellowship scholars will include short presentations on local wildlife (coyotes and salamanders), climate signals found in tree rings, art-science collaborations, forest biodiversity, and more.
A reception with refreshments will follow.
Presenters are:
Dr. Ivy Abiem
Dr. Lisa Brooks
Nancy Lowe
Dr. Dario Martin-Benito
Dr. Ahmed Siddig
All are welcome. No RSVP is necessary.
(Photo by Scott Foster.)

Public Seminar: Iveren Abiem - The ecology of a montane forest in West Africa
2026-04-22 11:00 - 12:00 | MA
Iveren Abiem is a Lecturer in the Department of Plant Science and Biotechnology at the University of Jos in Nigeria.
Harvard Forest’s seminar series features cutting-edge research in ecology, land-use history, and climatic change, and its applications to conservation biology, environmental policy, forestry, and management of terrestrial, aquatic, and marine ecosystems. Seminars occur during the fall and spring on Wednesdays from 11:00 am to 12:00 pm Eastern Time unless otherwise noted.
Seminars are presented in hybrid format; in-person attendance is welcome and a livestream option is available via Zoom. Seminars are free and open to the public. For the Zoom link and password, please contact Joshua Plisinski.

Public Seminar: Rebecca Snell - From Seeds to Stands: Modelling Regeneration Processes in Forest Ecosystems
2026-04-29 11:00 - 12:00 | Harvard Forest – Main Building, 324 Main St, Petersham, MA, 01366, United States
Rebecca Snell is Associate Professor & Graduate Chair in Environmental and Plant Biology at the Ohio State University.
Harvard Forest’s seminar series features cutting-edge research in ecology, land-use history, and climatic change, and its applications to conservation biology, environmental policy, forestry, and management of terrestrial, aquatic, and marine ecosystems. Seminars occur during the fall and spring on Wednesdays from 11:00 am to 12:00 pm Eastern Time unless otherwise noted.
Seminars are presented in hybrid format; in-person attendance is welcome and a livestream option is available via Zoom. Seminars are free and open to the public. For the Zoom link and password, please contact Joshua Plisinski.

Charles Bullard Lectures with Michelle Mack
2026-10-08 17:00 - 18:30 | MA
Dr. Michelle Mack is a Regents’ Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences and the Center for Ecosystem Science and Society at Northern Arizona University, and the lead PI of the Bonanza Creek LTER (Long-Term Ecological Research Program) located in the Alaskan boreal forest. She is an ecosystem ecologist who studies the impacts of climate and disturbances, such as wildfire and abrupt permafrost thaw, on the dynamics of Arctic and boreal ecosystems. She is a fellow of the Ecological Society of America and the American Geophysical Union and has contributed to scientific reports for policy makers and the public, such as the US National Climate Assessment.
She will present two public lectures as part of Harvard’s annual Charles Bullard Lecture Series — in Cambridge on the evening of October 8, and in Petersham (and on Zoom) on the morning of October 9.
