Capstone Project: The History Writers of the Forest presentation at the Urban Woods event

By Darla Burns

The annual Urban Woods event, which celebrates trees as one of our most valuable natural resources, was held on Saturday, February 24 at the Anita B Gorman Center. Lisa Gann and Darla Burns contributed to the event by sharing their capstone project on Dendrochronology, which is the study of tree rings, also known as the “History Writers of the Forest”. By studying tree rings, we can learn about past weather trends, date archaeological sites, and find clues about what happened in a particular area such as forest fires, drought, and so on. It’s a great way to show that we can learn a lot from nature and our surroundings if we know what to look for. The activity involved investigating tree rings and creating individual tree cookies based on the age of the participant.