Irvington Woods Park “Changing Forest” Long-Term Ecology Research
Program Overview: Students will learn how to implement research-based field studies in Irvington Woods Park using Harvard Forests Long-Term Ecological Protocols. This program will take place over the first half of the academic year from (September 2023 to February 2024) where students will be collecting data from field sites, interacting with researchers from Harvard Forest, and sharing their data with the Harvard Forest’s Schoolyard Ecology Data Base and the Village of Irvington.
Maximum Students: 20
Grade: 9th - 12th
Cost: 125.00 per student
Length: Sept. 21 - Jan. 18th
Requirements: Students must commit to 5 of the 17 sessions during the Fall/Winter (Sept. - Jan.) program.
Description:
This is a research-based volunteer program that is in partnership with Harvard Forest, where students will be helping to develop, monitor, and evaluate short and long-term ecological research plots in the Irvington Woods Park focused on the monitoring of invasive species, the decline of the American beech trees from Beech Leaf Disease (BLD) and learning more about the role and function of the trees in the IWP their role, history, and impacts they service the woods and the larger ecosystem of Irvington.
Students will learn about best practices in arboriculture, urban forestry, and applied research protocols around how to set up Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) sites and the tools and applications that professionals and researchers use to evaluate, visualize, and interpret ecological data.
Dates/Times: This program will meet afterschool on Thursdays (3:15 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.).
For more information, please get in touch with cjreilly@irvintonny.gov