Get to Know You Games and College Woods

        I am nearing the end of my second day in the University of New Hampshire Summer Institute in Environmental Education.  As a new graduate student to a brand new school, the last two days have been both exciting and exhausting.  Our co-hort is made up of seven students with very different backgrounds, but we all are excited to share our knowledge and work together in what will be an intense but hopefully enlightening and exciting experience.
Our first morning was spent with ice breakers and setting expectations for the course. As someone who has facilitated many teambuilders, it still amazes me how well they work and we immediately started communicating with each other better and solving the problems presented to us. In my future work, I hope that no matter how busy and time constrained my schedule is, I will be able to incorporate ice breakers and team building activities into any program that I run.

    After lunch we walked out to College Woods. What a resource that the campus has right in its backyard! It was great see faculty and students out for a walk or jog and to hear how much it was utilized in a variety of both undergraduate and graduate classes.
  Out in College woods we did a great activity where we were set out to find a tree that interested us.  My tree had what looked like long tentacles that extended down from the central trunk of the tree. After observing the tree for 10 minutes we sat down and started writing everything we observed. Now you will have to bare with me and my sketches but this is what the bottom looked like:

 I learned later that my tree was a Black Birch and the "tentacles" were caused by the tree growing over a decaying log or stump that then rotted completely away. We also were asked to come up with a personal name for our tree. I named mine Chicken Foot. This was a neat idea because while it feels a little silly at first, not only did it help you remember which tree you were looking at should you step away, but it helped to build a bit of a personal connection with the tree. I really liked this and think it would be a fun activity with young children, especially if we made some sort of "tree adoption" certificate.

  After this activity we got to practice some forestry techniques. We learned how to make a sample plot using a compass and tape measure. Then using a special tape measure we learned how to take the diameter of a tree at breast height.  We also learned how to identify a tree using a field guide.  Even though it seemed like we had SO many trees to count in our plot at first, we got into a rhythm and it moved pretty quickly.  Tonight's reading focused on how fire affects forests and how even centuries later we are able to see the lasting affects of fires.