Hi students! I want us all to have some practice using this blog before I leave for my forestry project beside the Chesapeake Bay in Maryland. I will be near the city of Baltimore and I'll also be near America's capitol, Washington, D.C. Many years ago, when I was 19, I worked at a sailing school in the Chesapeake Bay. I learned to operate a sailboat that summer and after students would learn skills in the classroom, I would take them out in a small sailboat to practice. You might also be interested to know that my mom and step dad have a boat that they keep in the Chesapeake Bay. Even though I'm familiar with the Bay and some of the towns and cities near it, I have never been in its forests so I'm excited to see a new landscape there!

I'll be staying at a place called the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center (SERC). I will be helping scientists who are experts in the study of forests. I'm going to be their student and I will teach you about the things I will be learning! What I know now is that we will be conducting lots of 'tests' to see if this forest is healthy or if it is in danger? We will be studying the trees, leaves, roots, soil, animals and weather in a area called a hectare (this means a measurement of 10,000 square meters). All of these elements of the forest will provide clues about its health. Can you imagine how weather might affect a tree? What do you think it would mean if there was a drought (this means a period of time when there is no rain and things 'dry up'). Also, what do you think animals could tell us about the heatlh of a forest? Stay tuned....!

I thought you might enjoy seeing some of my photographs from some forests I've visited in 2008. Let me know what you think of my pictures. If you click on 'post comments' you can write your ideas so I can read them. Your classmates and anyone else who visits our blog will be able to read them too!

What do you notice about these forest pictures? Leave your comments!