Forest Ecology

The Forest Ecology Kit contains activities, field guides, and samples for helping students understand the complex ecology of local forests.

Activities:

• Who Are You? – Tree ID – Grade 4-9. Use a dichotomous key to identify commonly occurring native trees in the Rogue Valley
• Drawing succession (.pdf) – Grade 5-9. Understand the successional process
• Succession and Habitat Diversity (.pdf) – Grade 5-10. Understand the 5 successional stages and learn about habitat diversity
• Succession Through Forest Exploration (.pdf) – Grade 7-12. Collect data on a local forest and determine what successional stage it is in
• Likeable Lichens (.pdf) – Grade 5-8. Identify different lichens and their relationships with their environment
• Forests for All (.pdf) – Grade 5-12. Faced with various scenarios, students must decide the best way to harvest trees in an area to protect the local surroundings
• What’s Going On? (.pdf) – Grade 3-8. Play a short class game to learn about how everything in a system is connected
• Let’s Eat! (.pdf) – Grade 5-8. Role play the trophic levels of a system to learn how producers, primary consumers, secondary consumers and decomposers interact
• Lichen Air Quality (.pdf) – Grade 6-9. Conduct survey of lichens at study site
• Nature Journaling (.pdf) – Grade 3-8. Create a natural journal with observations and drawings of surroundings

Educational Tools:

• Lichen specimens
• Forest Succession Photographs
• Tree Identification Cards
• Diameter Tape
• Increment Tree Borer

Books:

• Discovering Nature: Ancient Forests
• The Tree in the Ancient Forest
• In a Nutshell
• Discovering your Life-place: a Fist Bioregional Workbook
• How the Forest Grew
• Field Guide to Old-Growth Forests
• Peterson’s Guide to California and Pacific Northwest Forests
• Atlas of Oregon Wildlife
• Pacific Coast Tree Finder
• Jackson County Habitat Guide