The Tennessee Landmark and Historic Tree Registry, online at http://www.tufc.com/registries.html, recognizes noteworthy trees or groves for their significance to Tennessee communities, the state, and the nation.

A TN Landmark Tree must be commonly recognized as an established and familiar feature of the community, confirmed as a significant part of the community's heritage, or planted to commemorate special events or community leaders more than 50 years ago.

A TN Historic Tree must have been a direct witness to a historic event or cultural movement that was significant nationally, regionally, or within the state and confirmed to date to that time.

The Tennessee Heritage Tree List recognizes trees that would qualify for the Landmark and Historic Tree Registry but died before it was created or were on the Registry but have since died. Their contribution to the history and heritage of Tennessee deserves preserving.

The Registry has photographs and background information on all the trees currently on the registry and has a link to a Nomination Form.

This website could be useful in expanding the focus of Activity 30: Three Cheers for Trees to include trees of importance in the history or heritage of the local community.  Older students could interview long-time local residents to identify a local tree to nominate to the Registry!

Any other ideas for PLT activity connections?

Project Budburst is a national program in which students can report the seasonal changes that occur in local plants.  The following brief You Tube Video explains the project.


The study of the life-cycle events in plants and animals that are triggered by environmental factors such as seasonal changes is called Phenology. Phenophases are the observable stages in the annual life cycle of a plant or animal. (Examples include “First Leaf”, “First Flower”, “First Ripe Fruit”, “Leaf Color”, and “Leaf Senescence”.) 

Project Budburst's Urban Tree Phenology Project at www.UrbanTreePhenology.org is a special tree-focused project supported by the USDA Forest Service Urban and Community Forestry Program in the southern region. Designed to connect urban forest professionals, the scientific research community, and the public, this project involves the collection of useful phenological tree data through simple observations of phenophases.

Five tree species that occur in Tennessee are among those included in the Project Budburst study of urban tree phenophases.  These are listed below with links to their ID Guides and their Phenophase Guides:

Black Locust –

http://neoninc.org/budburst/idguides/Blacklocust_id.pdf
http://neoninc.org/budburst/fieldguides/Blacklocust_field.pdf

Red Maple –

http://neoninc.org/budburst/idguides/Redmaple_id.pdf
http://neoninc.org/budburst/fieldguides/Redmaple_field.pdf

Flowering Dogwood –

http://neoninc.org/budburst/idguides/Floweringdogwood_id.pdf
http://neoninc.org/budburst/fieldguides/Floweringdogwood_field.pdf

Boxelder –

http://neoninc.org/budburst/idguides/Boxelder_id.pdf
http://neoninc.org/budburst/fieldguides/Boxelder_field.pdf

White Pine –

http://neoninc.org/budburst/idguides/Easternwhitepine_id.pdf
http://neoninc.org/budburst/fieldguides/Easternwhitepine_field.pdf

Observation of fall changes in one of these tree species would be a great way to start the school year with Activity 21: Adopt a Tree and an extension of Activity 78: Signs of Fall.  Then students could follow up next spring by using Activity 65: Bursting Buds to guide observation of spring changes in these same trees.

Additional Project Budburst Educator Resources, correlated to the National Science Standards for grades K-4, 5-8, and 8-12, are downloadable at: http://neoninc.org/budburst/educators/_Educators_ActivityStandards.php

Do any of you have experience with the recording of phenophase data in general or with Project Budburst in particular?

An interesting website I came across this week is the Forest Landowner Fact Sheets library at Virginia Tech at: http://dendro.cnre.vt.edu/LandownerFactsheets/index.htm

Scroll down to the bottom of the page, choose the state of TN, and then click on Start Search to access a list of tree species that grow in Tennessee. 

Clicking on a common name will take you to the Landowner Fact Sheet, with great information that kids in middle and upper grades could access and understand on their own!  These fact sheets would be helpful as students research trees they have adopted in Activity 21: Adopt a Tree or in selecting a tree species for Activity 31: Plant a Tree. (Click on each of the icons to open a window explaining the "ratings".)

Clicking on the scientific name takes you to a Tree ID Fact Sheet that can be printed out and laminated for use with Activity 68: Name That Tree or Activity 64: Looking At Leaves.

There are numerous books and other websites that could also be helpful in learning about Tennessee trees. But which ones would you recommend?  If you have a favorite tree-related book or website, please share it with us and tell us about why you like it and how it could be used with specific PLT activities!

I love the game Go to the Head of the Cloud, in Activity 44: Water Wonders, because it helps students appreciate the importance of processes other than just evaporation, condensation, and precipitation.  But playing it "as written" doesn't challenge students to think about the odds of the various events.  So, instead of having students roll a die at each station to determine which of the 6 outcomes to follow, try copying the Student Page and cutting strips with the different outcomes and putting them in separate envelopes. Then the odds can be changed by adding or removing strips.

For example, the graph at http://www.tva.com/river/flood/rainfall.htm on the TVA website shows how rainfall and runoff vary in the TN Valley over the course of a year. In general, about 44% of rain that falls runs off, but a higher percentage runs off in the winter months, when vegetation is dormant and the ground becomes saturated.  The TVA website explains how TVA manages the water levels in its reservoirs to hold back the extra runoff and release it gradually to prevent flooding.

Running off also tends to be much more likely in urban areas, where rain runs off roofs and pavement.  If this runoff is carried directly to a stream via an ordinary storm drain system, its volume can erode stream banks, and pollutants it carries can harm stream life.  Check with local resources to find out what your local communities are doing to manage storm water.  Or use the info at http://www.tn.gov/agriculture/water/rainwater.html as a starting point for info on rain gardens and rain barrels.  

Do any of you have any experience in varying the Stream Tables Experiment to address impervious surfaces or non-point source pollution?  How about experience using Activity 36: Pollution Search to focus on non-point source pollution?
 

Last July, a load of logs infested with larvae of the Emerald Ash Borer was intercepted at a truck stop in Knox County.  This foreign insect only attacks ash trees, but there are over 300 million ash trees in Tennessee!

This information could be introduced in conjunction with Activity 12: Invasive Species, Activity 63: Tree Factory, or
Activity 77: Trees in Trouble.  (After students act out the parts of a tree in Activity 63, have them think about what would happen if caterpillar-like "borers" spent several months digging tunnels under the bark.)

Complete metatmorphosis is not covered until Grade 4 Science in TN, but the general topic of life cycles is covered in grades K-3.

See (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3KA0s_wTbo0&feature=related)  for a cartoon explaining the insect's life cycle and emphasizing the importance of keeping it from being spread in firewood.

See http://tn.gov/agriculture/regulatory/eabchecklist.html for a list of symptoms to look for to identify infested ash trees.


 

Do you have TN-specific information related to a specific PLT activity? If so, please share it!  For example, are there "facts and figures", web addresses, or sources of free materials that you have found to be helpful?