Author: Clarisse Hart

New Film Features Phenology Research on WGBH, Screens at HF on Nov. 10

Posted on by Clarisse Hart

A 2026 short documentary film by Harvard Forest educator Ben Goulet-Scott (Harvard OEB PhD ’21) and filmmaker Matt Shelley-Reade was screened at festivals across New England this year. The film first aired on public television via WGBH on October 1.

Now, the film will be screened at a special event on November 10 in the Harvard Forest Fisher Museum, followed by a Q&A with filmmakers Ben Goulet-Scott and Matt Shelley-Reade, with Dr. John O’Keefe, an emeritus researcher and educator at Harvard Forest, whose long-term research project is the subject of the film, and Greta VanScoy, the researcher who has recently taken over the measurements.

Join us for this glimpse of the inspiring back-story to the Forest’s most-downloaded dataset, a remarkable 37-year look at the changing timing of spring bud-burst and autumn leaf-drop in 30 trees at Harvard Forest.

Applications Open: 2027 Winter Internships for Harvard Students

Posted on by Clarisse Hart

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

Read highlights about the work of our January 2025 interns, January 2024 interns, January 2023 interns, and January 2022 interns.

2027 Wintersession Internships will run from January 6-22, 2027.

To apply, see required application materials at the bottom of each project description. All applications are due through the Crimson Careers portal or directly to Higher Education Coordinator, Ben Goulet-Scott <bgoulet@g.harvard.edu>, by the end of the day on November 5, 2026.

(Photo by Karina Chung)

Harvard Forest Director Contributes to National Climate Assessment Roadmap

Posted on by Clarisse Hart

Harvard Forest Director Jonathan Thompson is a co-author of an important new synthesis, “Research priorities for robust climate assessments in the U.S.,” published jointly in the American Geophysical Union journal Earth’s Future and the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society as part of the AGU/AMS U.S. Climate Collection.

The work draws on contributions from a large national team of scientists, including many formerly tasked with producing the Sixth National Climate Assessment. In April 2025, the White House dismissed roughly 400 volunteer scientists, economists, and experts who had already begun drafting that report. 

The paper identifies research advances made since the 2023 Fifth National Climate Assessment and lays out priorities for future assessments. The authors argue that as climate impacts accelerate, scientific assessment must accelerate too, and call for a connected network of U.S. climate assessment efforts.

Thompson contributed to the paper’s forests section, which highlights how intensifying wildfires, insect outbreaks, and drought are driving tree mortality and could push forests from carbon sink to source. They identify research into forest resilience and the dynamics of compound disturbances as key priorities.

Photo courtesy of the U.S. Climate Collection of the American Geophysical Union.

Summer Research Program Featured as Launchpad for Scientists

Posted on by Clarisse Hart

A news feature published in Harvard’s FAS Current this month explored the impact of 30+ years of the Harvard Forest Summer Research Program in ecology, highlighted the goals of program leaders, and spotlit the experiences of 3 summer interns.

This year’s cohort of 20 undergraduates included three Harvard College students as well as students from many other schools–Brandeis, Bowdoin, Mount Wachusett Community College, three campuses of the University of Massachusetts, Cornell, Western Michigan University, and the University of Puerto Rico at Cayey.

Their projects examined topics such as the effects of soil warming on salamander body sizes, the performance of sap flow sensors, the ecology of forest edges, and the root systems of black tupelo trees in swamps.

Read the article.

Learn more about the HF Summer Research Program in Ecology.

October 8 & 9: Dr. Michelle Mack to Present Bullard Lectures

Posted on by Clarisse Hart

The Harvard Forest and the Harvard Salata Institute’s Center for the Environment are delighted to co-present the fifth annual Charles Bullard Lectures featuring Michelle Mack, 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.

The annual Charles Bullard Lecture series was established by the Harvard Forest in 2022 to honor and learn from renowned scholars of forest ecology and conservation. The Lectures are supported by the Charles Bullard endowment and are closely associated with Harvard’s long-running Bullard Fellowship, a distinguished scholar-in-residence program for forest research.

Lecturers offer two presentations: one lecture taking place in-person on the main Harvard campus in Cambridge, Mass., and a hybrid lecture presented both in-person and online at the Harvard Forest in Petersham.

Megafires in the Far North: From Global Impacts to Local Solutions 

October 8, 2026 | 5:00 p.m. | Biological Labs Lecture Hall (1080), 16 Divinity Ave., Cambridge

REGISTER TO ATTEND THIS EVENT IN PERSON.

Increasing wildfire, ecological legacies, and the future of the Alaskan boreal forest 

October 9, 2026 | 11:00 a.m. | Harvard Forest Fisher Museum (Petersham) and on Zoom

REGISTER TO ATTEND THIS EVENT ON ZOOM.

Climate warming is causing wildfire activity to increase in boreal forests and arctic tundra of the Far North. Fires are burning more deeply into thick organic soils and destabilizing permafrost, releasing carbon to the atmosphere that has been stored for centuries to millennia. At a global scale, these wildfires are impacting people through production of smoke and the release of greenhouse gasses that contribute to climate warming. At a local scale, increasing wildfire activity is creating new risks and vulnerabilities for local people that depend upon these ecosystems for their wellbeing.  In this talk, Dr. Mack will discuss the ecological mechanisms that drive this positive feedback between wildfire and climate warming.  She will explore how ecosystems and local human communities in Alaska are responding to increasing wildfire, and how we can employ emerging ideas in forest and fire management to reduce fire activity and promote human wellbeing. 

Both lectures are free and open to the public.

Registration Open: Autumn Bus Trip for Harvard Community Members

Posted on by Clarisse Hart

Harvard students, faculty, fellows, and staff are welcome to sign up for a free Community Bus Trip to Harvard Forest on Saturday, October 17, 2026.

Register for the wait-list here! **October 8 update: The trip is now full and we are only accepting wait-list registrations.**

The 4 hours spent on site will be guided by educators and scientists at the Forest, including:

  • an overview of Harvard Forest’s interdisciplinary research and education programs
  • a brief, interactive tour of the Fisher Museum
  • a ~2-mile guided field tour on uneven dirt roads with low to moderate incline:
    • explore several of the Forest’s signature climate research experiments
    • optional: weather-permitting, climb a 92′ research tower
    • learn local plant and wildlife ID
    • discuss the Indigenous and colonial history of the region
    • discuss modern efforts in climate policy, land management, environmental education, and Indigenous community collaboration (such as the Manchage Manexit Trail)

Bus trips will depart Harvard Square at 10:00am and return to campus by 6:00pm. Attendees must bring their own lunch and snacks; Harvard Forest is a rural area and there is no way to purchase food or drinks here.

Registration is first-come, first-served, except that first-time visitors and graduating students will be prioritized if registration is over-subscribed. **October 8 update: The trip is now full and we are only accepting wait-list registrations.**

Photo by Scott Foster.

New Harvard Course Links Ecology and Policy

Posted on by Clarisse Hart

A brand new Harvard course will be taught fully at the Harvard Forest in Fall 2026, adding a new on-site course option to the Harvard Forest Freshman Seminar, which has been taught here for the past 50 years.

OEB 110, “Forests, Carbon, and Climate: From Ecosystems to Policy”, will be open to Harvard upperclassmen and graduate students. The course is taught by Dr. Jonathan Thompson, Director of Harvard Forest and a landscape ecologist whose research focuses on long-term forest ecosystem change, land use, and climate policy. Dr. Thompson is the lead author of the Massachusetts Land Sector policy.

Harvard Forest Senior Scientists will contribute field instruction and guest lectures in their areas of expertise, including eddy covariance and tower-based flux measurement, long-term ecological research plots, and experimental global change research. Additional guest lecturers will include representatives from conservation organizations, state and federal agencies, land management professionals, and carbon credit firms.

Learn more about the course.

Photo by Greta VanScoy

Study Shows Foundation Species Have an Afterlife

Posted on by Clarisse Hart

Trees are foundational to the structure of an ecosystem while they are alive. But new research shows that when they die — due to extreme events like storms or wildfires — the physical remains of these species continue to shape the ecosystem. 

The study, published today in Science Advances, and co-authored by HF Senior Ecologist Audrey Barker Plotkin, focuses on “foundation species” – those that create habitats, protect against environmental stress, and control biodiversity.

Foundation species have been a subject of long-term study at Harvard Forest for decades, with the declining Eastern Hemlock tree (Tsuga canadensis) a core example in northeast US ecosystems.

Barker Plotkin explains, “Hemlock loss has cascading consequences for water cycling, soils, and habitat for fish, birds, and other wildlife. Our research shows that forest recovery differs when dying hemlocks are left in the forest versus removed, and this study asked a new question about how dead hemlocks help or hinder regeneration of new hemlock trees.”

In the study released today, a research team from around the Americas analyzed and combined datasets on foundation species from 10 diverse ecosystems, ranging from temperate and subarctic forests to tallgrass prairies and coral reefs. 

The team found that the remains of five foundation species promoted recovery. Standing dead eastern hemlock trees in long-term experiments here at Harvard Forest support the establishment of new saplings. Layers of old oyster shells provide the surfaces young oysters need to settle and grow on tidal flats. In subarctic forests, standing burned trees release seeds that help regenerate the forest. 

In Harvard Forest research plots, many more hemlock saplings establish in the shade of their dead elders than when those dead trees are removed. As Barker Plotkin points out, though, “Young hemlocks are still vulnerable to the insect pest that is causing hemlock decline, but the new saplings have a chance to persist while humans develop better methods to protect these trees.”

Four of the case studies in the new study showed that dead organisms slowed or prevented recovery. In tropical forests, fallen canopy debris can limit light and space, preventing seedling survival. One ecosystem, a kelp forest, showed a neutral response.

Letting nature recover on its own — when dead organisms promote regrowth — can reduce the need for expensive interventions, while targeted action can prevent long-term damage when legacies are harmful.

(Photo of hemlock trees from the Harvard Forest Hemlock Removal Experiment, by Audrey Barker Plotkin)

Research Outlines Market-Based Strategies to Protect Maine’s Last Mature Forests

Posted on by Clarisse Hart

Old-growth forests are among the rarest habitat types in eastern North America, comprising less than 0.5% of eastern U.S. forests. Recent LiDAR mapping identified more than 400,000 acres of mature forest across northern and western Maine, including forests with exceptional biodiversity, carbon storage, and ecological resilience. However, most of these forests are privately owned, rendering their future uncertain.

A report released this week, led by Jonathan Thompson, Director of the Harvard Forest, and supported by Research Assistant and co-author Joshua Plisinski, provides a roadmap for leveraging market-based strategies to conserve habitat on ecologically rare private timberland — an important challenge for conservation biology globally.

“Maine has a rare opportunity to conserve some of the East’s last mature forests,” says Thompson. “What makes these forests ecologically valuable is the same thing that makes them economically valuable. Because these forests exist largely within private working landscapes, successful conservation will depend on approaches that work for landowners as well as conservation goals.”

More broadly, researchers in the Thompson Lab have been studying Maine’s forests to understand how a recent, large-scale transition to investment-based forestland owners has affected forest ecosystems. Thompson was able to further develop these ideas during a recent Lone Mountain fellowship at the Property and Environment Research Center (PERC) in Bozeman, Montana. 

Read the full report.

See a Harvard Climate Brief about the report.

“Listening to the Forest” on May 9: All Welcome!

Posted on by Clarisse Hart

All are welcome for a free, family-friendly afternoon of original music on Saturday, May 9, from 2:00 to 3:00 p.m. at Davis Memorial Hall (3 West. St., Petersham, Mass.).

The program features original music by Music Haven students and composer Matthew Suttor — Program Manager at the Yale Center for Collaborative Arts and Media (CCAM) — performed by the Haven String Quartet.

Listening to the Forest, a Resounding Nature project in collaboration with Harvard Forest, helps young people listen deeply — to their communities and to the natural world. By uniting music, science, and technology, students transform real forest data into original compositions, giving voice to nature through art.

The compositions draw on the Listening to the Forest mobile app, which turns data from Harvard Forest’s flux towers, biodiversity plots, hydrology stations, and trail systems into site-specific sound.

The program is free and open to the public, presented in collaboration with Yale CCAM and Harvard Forest, with support from Yale Planetary Solutions.

Book Aims to Bring Back Botanizing, to Great Acclaim

Posted on by Clarisse Hart

Ben Goulet-Scott, a leader in the Education Team at Harvard Forest, has co-authored a new book, Let’s Botanize, and it recently received a glowing review in The New York Times.

Ben and his co-author, Jacob Suissa, met in 2017 as doctoral students in Harvard’s Dept. of Organizational and Evolutionary Biology. They launched Let’s Botanize on Instagram in 2021, and its popularity spurred them to create the Let’s Botanize educational nonprofit.

Ben and Jacob, two young men, stand smiling in button-down shirts in front of the green trees of a forest.

The book and the non-profit pose botanizing as an active past-time, harkening back to earlier centuries, but serving the present, looking to “combat the climate and biodiversity crises by spreading curiosity, knowledge and appreciation of plants.”

Goulet-Scott explains, “As graduate students, Jacob and I really enjoyed the hobby of botanizing, but we felt there weren’t many resources explaining or promoting the hobby to a wide audience. As our Let’s Botanize platform grew, we started dreaming about writing a book that would introduce people to the hobby. When we finally got the chance to write a book, Jacob’s experience as a botany professor and my experience as an educator at Harvard Forest were instrumental in shaping how we present plant biology as both scientifically rigorous and accessible to all.”

We are planning a series of events about the book at Harvard Forest in spring and summer 2027.

Explore the book.

Follow the project on Instagram and TikTok.

Celebrate Earth Day with Harvard Forest’s Bullard Fellow Showcase

Posted on by Clarisse Hart

On April 15 from 6:00-7:30 p.m., a public “lightning round” of brief presentations by Harvard Forest’s current Bullard Fellowship scholars will celebrate the wide range of ecological inquiry that is helping to strengthen our understanding of the globe. Five presenters will discuss changes in local wildlife, forest biodiversity, tree ring research, and art-science collaborations.

The event will take place in the Harvard Forest Fisher Museum at 324 N Main St., Petersham. All are welcome and no RSVPs are necessary.

Harvard Forest and the Fisher Museum are dedicated to ensuring an accessible and welcoming environment for all visitors. If disability accommodations can assist with your experience at Harvard Forest, please contact hfvisit@fas.harvard.edu or 978-724-3302, preferably at least one week in advance of your visit. 

Photo by Scott Foster.