Fall Forest Ecology

Each of the last three years, 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade students from Winn Elementary have met me at the Chippewa Watershed Conservancy's Audubon Woods Preserve to learn about forests.  This trip always takes place in the spring.  This year, we decided to have the 4th and 5th grade students do both the spring trip and (for the first time) a fall trip.  A major focus of this trip was to have the students identify, draw, and collect leaves for a classroom leaf collection.  Here are a few photos from the day.

Despite some early concerns with the weather, it ended being a beautiful fall day.  In addition to the colorful leaves, fall in Mid-Michigan is the prime time for fungi.

 

One pleasant surprise on the day was finding Sassafras trees growing in the forest understory.  Although this species is found in Mid-Michigan it is much more common further south.