September 2017: Forestry

Trees provide timber, food, energy, clean air, habitats, recreation, and resources for humans and animals. This month, learn about Wisconsin’s forests and examine how trees are like living history books, reflecting changes in their physical environment. Play in our tree hollow, practice hands-on tree identification and urban forest monitoring, and check out our Good Oak: Tree Cookie Timeline exhibit and Digital Docent walking tour.

Visit during our public hours to engage with hands-on exploration stations, experience interactive theaters, explore our grounds, enjoy drop-in self-guided activities, and discover the natural world around you!

September’s special features and activities (free or included in admission):

• Nina Leopold Bradley Family Phenology Center:
  Tree ID Station – Learn how to identify local trees by their bark, wood, and leaves, count tree rings, and more!
  A Good Oak – This display tells the story of Wisconsin’s natural history through the tree rings of a red oak tree, downed in a 2015 windstorm in Monona’s Woodland Park. Starting at the present, traverse back two centuries following different species and local inhabitants.
• Science on a Sphere: Forests, Fires, and Change
  These datasets lead viewers on a narrated global tour of vegetation, fire detections, and the extent, gain, and loss of annual global tree cover.
• Immersion Theater: Climb Inside a Tree 
  Step inside the trunk of a tree to follow the path water takes from the deepest roots to the very top.
• Exhibit Touchscreens: Forestry and Climate
  Learn about Wisconsin’s great forests and how impacts such as extreme weather, changes to growing conditions, and invasive species threaten the trees, and the people and animals who depend on them.
• Tree Inventory Scavenger Hunt: After exploring our exhibits, pick up a Tree Inventory Scavenger Hunt at our front desk and hit the trails to learn about identifying, analyzing, and inventorying ALNC’s urban forest.
• Digital Docent Walking Tour: Using your smart phone, learn about trees and other species on ALNC’s grounds and discover how changes in climate affect our environment. Don’t forget to snap photos of the fall colors and trees you identify and upload to our Siftr album!
• Plus, play in our Woodland Nature Nook, pick up a Family Trailside Backpack, and more!

We would like to thank ATC and DuPont for supporting our monthly exhibit themes. There is always something new to discover at ALNC!