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 Harvard Forest - Petersham, MA Posted by:  NorStar
N 42° 31.945 W 072° 11.382
18T E 730800 N 4712720
The Harvard Forest was acquired by Harvard University in 1908 and used as an experiment station by the University's School of Forestry.
Waymark Code: WMRYA2
Location: Massachusetts, United States
Date Posted: 08/21/2016
Views: 1
In Petersham, north of the center of town is the Harvard Forest.
The American Guide Series Book for Massachusetts has the following for this location:
Between 8.1 m. and 10.5 m. is
Harvard Forest, a 2100-acre tract, including 1000 acres maintained as a bird refuge. it was acquired by Harvard in 1908 and used as an experiment station by the University's School of Forestry. In October the rich variety of foliage shows at its best in the varied hues of autumn.
-- American Guide Series: Massachusetts - A Guide to Its People and Places, p. 601
The Harvard Forest still exists and has three tracts. Visitors are welcome at the Prospect Hill tract off Mass. Route 32 - there is a sign from the highway. The Fisher Museum contains dioramas originally built to illustrate forest and land use succession and ways to maintain forests - they are well worth seeing first hand. There are trails to go on, including a new nature trail with signs showing aspects of the woods - including hints of the past.
Check the web site for when the museum is open. The trails are accessible daily. There is no fee, but donations are accepted.
The following is from the Harvard Forest Web Site:
The Harvard Forest is a department of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS) of Harvard University. From a center comprised of 3,750 acres of land, research facilities, and the Fisher Museum, the scientists, students, and collaborators at the Forest explore topics ranging from conservation and environmental change to land-use history and the ways in which physical, biological and human systems interact to change our earth.
Since 1988, the Harvard Forest has been a Long-Term Ecological Research Site, funded by the National Science Foundation to conduct integrated, long-term studies of forest dynamics. Since 2011, the Harvard Forest has been the Northeast Core site for the National Ecological Observatory Network.
Research faculty at the Forest offer courses through the Harvard College Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology (OEB) and the Freshman Seminar Program. Close association is also maintained with Harvard's Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences (EPS), the Kennedy School of Government (KSG), the School of Public Health (SPH), and the Graduate School of Design.
Web Site:
Visit Site
Book: Massachusetts
Page Number(s) of Excerpt: 601
Year Originally Published: 1937
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