Education

Harvard University: Arts & Sciences: Forest Sciences

Category Art and Social Sciences, Biological Sciences, Harvard University, USA, Undergraduate
Tags Arts, Forest, Harvard University, Sciences

Research and instruction in forest biology and ecology are centered at the Harvard Forest located in the town of Petersham, Massachusetts, some 70 miles west of Cambridge.

The Harvard Forest has been a center for ecological research and education since 1907 and was designated as one of 21 national centers for Long-term Ecological Research by the US National Science Foundation in 1988. Research in this project focuses on forest ecosystem response to natural and human disturbance and stress and involves studies in physiology, population, community, and ecosystem ecology. The Forest consists of approximately 1,200 hectare representative of the “transition hardwood” forests of central New England which have received a wide variety of silvicultural and experimental treatment, the history of which is thoroughly documented. Additional research sites owned by the Harvard Forest include the Pisgah Tract, an eight-hectare remnant of virgin forest centered in the 6,000 hectare Pisgah State Park, southwestern New Hampshire, and the Matthews plantations, 40 hectare of plantations and second growth forest in Hamilton, north of Cambridge.

Facilities at the Harvard Forest include laboratories for nutrient analysis, physiological and population ecology, isozyme and pollen analysis; greenhouses; herbarium; -computer laboratory, including Geographic Information Systems; library; and the Fisher Museum of Forestry. Living quarters for staff and students are available in apartment houses owned by the Forest.