What we do to the Forest We do to Ourselves

Abstract

Studying forest ecology provides a rich example for students to engage with systems thinking and relate many interacting parts to understand a bigger picture. This unit emphasizes interconnectedness in a way that includes the students themselves as one crucial piece of the puzzle. The structure allows us to spend a significant amount of time outside, at sites in the forest. Returning to the same sites and making many observations in the same area can help build a respectful and reciprocal relationship to place.
The forests of this region are significant to me in my life, and just as I share them with my own children and spend time in the forest to find peace and rejuvenation, I look forward to spending time learning in the forest ecosystem with my students.
In framing forest health as it relates to human health, the ethical question about our responsibility to restore altered forests becomes more interesting. I want students to feel empowered knowing that the conditions of the forest right now are likely to change, and that this will depend on how humans choose to manage them or not. We can use the stories the forest tells us in order to create and implement landscape restoration plans.