Forests, Carbon, and Climate: From Ecosystems to Policy
A Field-Intensive Course at Harvard Forest
OEB 110 at Harvard College, Fall 2026
Fridays – Full Day
Advanced Undergraduates or Graduate Students
Course Overview
This field-intensive course immerses students in the science and policy of forest carbon, using Harvard Forest (HF) in Petersham, Massachusetts as a living laboratory. Students will travel by van each Friday 70 miles each way to Harvard Forest spending much of class time in the field and in direct dialogue with leading researchers, land managers, and policymakers. The course builds progressively from hands-on measurement of forest carbon processes to regional-scale analysis to real-world climate policy application, equipping students with both scientific fluency and policy literacy at the critical interface of forests and climate. Students will learn how to collect and analyze data, extract policy-relevant conclusions, and formulate data-informed policy recommendations.
Learning Objectives
By the end of the course, students will be able to:
- Explain the role of forest ecosystems in the global and regional carbon cycle
- Interpret data from eddy covariance towers, long-term forest inventory plots, and global change experiments
- Describe how disturbance, climate change, and land use alter forest carbon dynamics at stand to regional scales
- Evaluate how forests are represented in climate policy, including carbon markets and state land sector frameworks
- Engage critically with stakeholders across science, conservation, land management, and policy
Course Structure
The course meets every Friday, with students departing campus by van and spending the full day at Harvard Forest. Weekly sessions combine field instruction, lab and data activities, and guest engagement.
Module 1 — The Forest Carbon Cycle (Weeks 1–3)
Students are introduced to Harvard Forest as an ecological system and to the fundamental concepts of forest carbon uptake, storage, and release.
Module 2 — Measuring Carbon: (Weeks 3–7)
Students engage directly with Harvard Forest’s long-term monitoring infrastructure, guided by senior scientists. Topics include eddy covariance flux measurements, long-term forest inventory plots, and global change experiments including the Soil Warming and Drought Experiments. Students learn how these complementary methods reveal carbon cycle dynamics across time scales.
Module 3 — Scaling Up: Forests, Land Use, and Climate Change (Weeks 7–11)
Students step back from individual measurements to examine forest carbon dynamics at regional to global scales, using remote sensing, modeling, and synthesis approaches. Topics include how forest aging, disturbance, and land use change, including development and alternative energy siting, shape carbon stocks and fluxes.
Module 4 — Forests in Climate Policy (Weeks 11–14)
Students examine how forest carbon science translates into policy, from local to global scales. Topics include the Massachusetts Land Sector policy, IPCC Agriculture, Forestry, and Other Land Uses (AFOLU), forest carbon protocols and offset markets, and the role of conservation in meeting state net-zero goals. Guest lecturers drawn from conservation organizations, state agencies, land management bodies, and carbon credit firms bring real-world perspective to course concepts.
Instructional Team
The course is taught by Dr. Jonathan Thompson, Director of Harvard Forest and 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.