Learning the Language of the Trees – Workshop w/ Dr. Neil Pederson

Click here to register for this event. Registration fee is $50 and will be limited to 15 individuals.

This is a 2-part workshop, with the first session taking place on Saturday 8/13, the second the following day on Sunday 8/14. Both sessions will run from 9:00a – 12:00p.

Tree rings provide precise annual and seasonal information on climate, ecology, and competition over several centuries. In this tree-rings and ecology workshop, participants will learn the methods that scientists use to learn the language of trees.

By the end of the workshop, participants will learn how to interpret the information we get from tree rings over the long lives of trees and have experience coring a tree.

In this course we will:

• Visit the forest at Reedy Creek Preserve, hiking the Umbrella Tree Trail on Day One, to discuss ecology, read the landscape history, and learn how to identify the external characteristics of old trees
• Mount the core samples and have a short lecture on the many of the things that can be interpreted from tree rings
• Conduct final prep on Day Two of the samples collected the prior day, learn the laboratory techniques used to process cores, and then finish the workshop
• Conduct lab work to age the trees and interpret their stories along the Umbrella Tree Trail

Dr. Neil Pederson’s research focuses on climate/forest dynamics and disturbance ecology. Neil earned his Ph.D. in forest ecology at Columbia University. He has been a forester, professor, and research professor before working at the Harvard Forest. Neil focuses on the ecology of temperate, mesic forests including the eastern U.S., Spain, East Asia, and the Colchic Temperate Rainforest in Turkey and the Republic of Georgia.