Learning Module

Protecting Ash: A Preservation Focused Inventory Project

Ash trees, and brown ash in particular, are critical to forest ecosystem health and to the cultural lifeways of Wabanaki people who have been stewarding this species for thousands of years. The impacts of climate change and the emerald ash borer have the potential to eliminate ash from our region. Working together, we can preserve ash trees and the ecosystems and cultural traditions that rely on them. Get your students involved in Protecting Ash and build skills, concepts, and understandings in science and Wabanaki studies while contributing to a broad community science effort.

Teacher's Guide

Module Overview

Learning Outcomes

Develop decision making and action skills with a broad coalition of scientists and knowledge sharers to support stewardship efforts
Build a sense of responsibility and relationship to the natural environment that takes into account prior and future generations

Time Estimate
4 to 10 class periods

Audience
5-8 · 9-12

Learning Space
Classroom · Outdoor

Standards Alignment

Key Considerations

Timing, location, and materials for fieldwork:

As part of the Protecting Ash project, youth will identify ash trees, monitor for emerald ash borer, and collect tree measurements. Fieldwork can be done at any time of year, though seed trees are easiest to spot in the late spring and early fall. If you do not know where to find ash trees in your community, reach out to GMRI or consult with a local land trust, foresters, naturalists, and forest and tree enthusiasts that you know. To contribute data, educators will need to create an account at investigate.gmri.org. Detailed information on contributing data is found in the facilitator's guide.

The only recommended equipment is a device for taking photos, a measuring tape or string for tree diameter measurements, and pencil. If you do not have access to cameras, youth can submit a sketch instead. To measure tree height we recommend that one member of your group has a smartphone with the GLOBE Observer app. The GLOBE Tree project will walk youth through recording tree height, and the data will be shared with NASA’s database.

Lessons

Lesson 1: Respect - Connecting to Place

Students are introduced to the cultural and ecological importance of ash trees through a short video. They go outside to develop their own relationship with their field site and gather observations of their natural environment.

Lesson 1 Facilitator Guide | Lesson 1 Slides | Lesson 1 Student Pages

Lesson 2: Relationship - Ash Trees and the Forested Ecosystem

Students build understandings of connections between ash trees and their environment. They take on the role of an organism living in or around an ash tree and work to explain how they connect to the tree and other living things, drawing from information in cards and diagrams.

Lesson 2 Facilitator Guide | Lesson 2 Slides | Lesson 2 Student Pages | Organism cards | Ash Tree diagram

Lesson 3: Relevance - A History of Protecting Ash

Students learn a history of Wabanaki people caring for ash trees while resisting colonization. First they read about historical events, then arrange them chronologically, then scale their timeline. Next, they look at changes in our area through a series of maps. Finally, they work to represent a future they would like to see.

Lesson 3 Facilitator Guide | Lesson 3 Slides | Lesson 3 Student Pages | Ash Stewardship Timeline Cards | Maps: Ash Stewardship Past and Present

Lesson 4: Responsibility - Protecting Ash

Students watch a video about collaborative efforts in Maine to protect ash from the emerald ash borer. Then they explore the Protecting Ash Community Science Project website to learn how they will be contributing to these efforts.

Lesson 4 Facilitator Guide | Lesson 4 Slides| Lesson 4 Student Pages | Protecting Ash Project Page

Lesson 5: Responsibility - Develop Fieldwork Skills

Students review the Ash Inventory Protocol and practice skills that they will need for fieldwork, including ash identification and measurement at interactive stations.

Lesson 6: Responsibility - Collect Data

Students go outside to make observations of ash trees and complete the project protocol.

Lesson 6 Facilitator Guide | Lesson 6 Slides | Lesson 6 Student Pages

Lesson 7: Reciprocity - Share Results

Fieldwork teams contribute their data. The class compiles and interprets the data to determine their level of concern for their community. Students explore ideas for next steps in protecting ash trees for the future.