Daphna Gadoth Co-leads an Interactive Educational Field Tour of MSU's MacCready Reserve

Daphna Gadoth (FCCP), Jarred Saralecos (MSU Forestry), & Jason Darling (Darling Forestry, LLC) led an interactive educational field tour of MSU’s MacCready Reserve for a group of high school students and provided insights on silviculture & climate change.

People gathered around trees participating in a tree coring exercise at MacCready Reserve.
Students participate in a tree coring exercise at MacCready Reserve. Photo by Daphna Gadoth.

Daphna Gadoth, Senior Research Assistant for FCCP, joined Jarred Saralecos, Instructor of Forest Education and Outreach for the MSU Department of Forestry, and Jason Darling, owner of Darling Forestry, LLC to lead an interactive educational field tour of MSU's MacCready Reserve for a group of high school juniors and seniors currently enrolled in a Conservation Biology course led by Allie Spring of the Kalamazoo Nature Center.

The tour provided students with practical insights on the links between silvicultural practices and climate change, as well as on the role of forests in Michigan’s future. Students were led through a managed forest while Gadoth, Saralecos, and Darling shared their experiences and perspectives on how forest management decisions are made in Michigan, as well as the implications of these silvicultural choices in the context of a changing climate.

During the tour, the students participated in a tree coring exercise to learn about the practice of dendrochronology and were shown how to read tree cores for information regarding a tree’s age, growth, and climatic or environmental changes it has experienced during its lifetime. The tour concluded with a discussion of the various career pathways available in forestry today, including professional skills that are seeing increasing demand in forestry such as mapping, design, communications, new technologies, and urban forestry. The students were provided with resources to help them in their career development as they consider their next steps after high school.

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Walking into the woodlot at MacCready Reserve. Photo by Daphna Gadoth.

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