Science Kits: 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