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Students benefit in many ways by taking field trips to forests. Improved academic performance, increased participation in outdoor recreation, and a better grasp of natural resources management are some of the advantages. However, trips are not easy for teachers to organize and lead. Declining budgets, on-campus schedules, and standards of learning are but a few of the constraints. With this in mind we studied the use of forest field trips among high school science teachers in the Southern Piedmont of the United States. We asked them if they have ever led a field trip to a forest for instructional purposes and measured their perceived constraints, teaching characteristics, natural resources training and extra-curricular activities, and proximity of their school to a forest. Binary logistic regression was used to model the relationship between these data and whether a teacher had taken a class on a forest field trip. Teachers also were asked to comment about trip constraints. Under half had led a forest field trip and qualitative data suggest that constraints such as time, money, and standardization are significant. However, model results indicate that walking distance to a forest, confidence in teaching topics related to forests, and participation in natural resources school programs predict field trip use (chi[superscript 2] = 127.81). Findings will help develop strategies for incorporating forest field trips into secondary science curriculum.

Abstract: Long-term (24-year) research regarding harvesting in bottomland hardwoods was conducted to determine the effects of different timber harvests on a water tupelo (Nyssa aquatica L.)-baldcypress (Taxodiumdistichum L. Rich.) swamp. The study is located in the Mobile-Tensaw River Delta in southern Alabama. Disturbance treatments were clearcut followed by: (1) helicopter extraction (HELI), (2) skidder simulation of ground-based extraction (SKID), and (3) complete removal of coppice and seedbank regeneration with glyphosate herbicide (GLYPH). An adjacent portion of the original forest stand provided a reference condition (REF). The overall project goal was to determine long-term treatment effects on aboveground and belowground biomass accumulation patterns in the regenerating stands. Previous studies on this site at stand ages 7 and 16years indicated that SKID treatment areas had the largest aboveground biomass accumulations while HELI treatments had greater species diversity. Twenty-four years after disturbance, results followed the same pattern with SKID treatments having more above- and belowground biomass accumulation (242.6Mgha−1) while HELI treatments had less biomass (173.6Mgha−1). GLYPH treatments are recovering (86.8Mgha−1) and are progressing through an herbaceous–shrub–scrub–pioneer tree succession pattern. SKID and HELI treatments appear to be progressing towards original stand species and biomass accumulation. The resiliency of the site following disturbance appears to be due to soil physical properties, sediment accumulations, and vegetation adaptations to flooded conditions. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]