The Appalachian Forest School offers ecology, natural history, and stewardship courses on America's Eastern Temperate Forest. We specialize in offering forest-literacy education that can benefit participants coming from a variety of educational backgrounds and training, both in the arts and sciences. The only course prerequisite is having a sincere interest and curiosity in the natural world. Among the offerings, Wilderness East field trips are taken to selected destinations to explore outstanding wilderness areas remaining in Eastern North America, witnessing some of the East's most compelling natural spectacles. Presented by the Arc of Appalachia Preserve System. Logo courtesy of Rebecca Richman, protected by copyright, see www.studiodune.com.


Forests of Florida Panhandle     Forest Wildflowers      Forests of the Ozarks     Trees of the Eastern Forest     Global Significance of the Eastern Forest

Forests of
of the Far South
A Wilderness East Field Trip
Exploring Florida's Panhandle as
Spring Comes to the Eastern Forest
March 12-17, 2009
spring wildflowers   crystal clear springs   rare Torreya pines  tupelo swamps  carnivorous plants  ivory billed woodpecker habitat
 This is a trip to northern Florida to explore the southernmost expression of the Eastern temperate forest, and witness the echoes of its refuge during the last ice age. We will try to time this visit to coincide with spring wildflower displays. The panhandle boasts floral species surprisingly familiar to Eastern naturalists, but nearly a full month earlier than mid-continent. We will be visiting a Florida not found in most tourist books, visiting the crystal-clear springs of Wakulla Springs and its champion-sized hardwood trees; an ancient tupelo swamp forest of Leon Sinks; the carnivorous plants, bluffs and ravines of the Apalachicola watershed and National Forest; the rare remnants of the infamous Torreya Pine at Torreya State Park; and the spring wildflowers in the karst country of Florida Caverns. An optional extra day to explore the ivory-billed woodpecker habitat in remote Florida is available to all participants. For complete trip information and registration, click here.

Forest Wildflowers, A Pilgrimage
A Wilderness East Field Trip
To the Arc of Appalachia Preserve System
in the Cumberland plateau of southern Ohio
April 16-19, 2009
naturalist-led field trips   Over 2 dozen possible destinations to botanical hotspots   world-class flower display

One of the world's greatest natural wonders is the grand showcase of wildflowers gracing the northern latitude's temperate deciduous forests in the spring. It happens quickly -- in those few weeks after the soil has warmed and before the trees have leafed out. It would be hard to determine where exactly in North America the showiest display might be witnessed, but certainly the Arc of Appalachia region of southern Ohio ranks among the best. The five-county Arc of Appalachia region is located at many landscape interfaces: the edge of glaciated and unglaciated soils, the edge of limestone bedrock and younger shales and sandstones, and the intersection of the Kentucky Bluegrass physiographic region with the western-most foothills of the Cumberland Plateau. Thanks to the Arc region's deep limestone canyons, protective sandstone ridges, and glacially-rejuvenated soils, the area's floral displays are memorably spectacular. This event has been timed to catch the bloom of the grandiflorum trilliums - one of the loveliest of all the spring flowers. Registrants may partake up to three days of field trips, with a choice of over two dozen day-long field trips. Optional meals, packed lunches, and informative botanical evening programs are provided. Unlike the limited attendance of most of our Wilderness East events, the Pilgrimage attracts over 200 participants. However, there are no more than fifteen people per scheduled trip, and each hike is led by an experienced naturalist or botanist. Only dinner brings the larger group together, eliciting a social "high" as we share our love of nature among a large network of like-minded people. Final details of this event are still being worked out; click here for preview information.
 

Forests of the Ozarks
A Wilderness East Field Trip
Exploring Missouri Ozarks
in the Current River Watershed
May 26-June 1, 2009
Pine-Oak Forests  Collared Lizards  Wild Caves   Canebrakes   Grass Pink Orchids  Swainson's Warbler habitat

    When the Rocky Mountains rose beyond the Great Plains, the Ozarks were already ancient, weaving a magical landscape out of cool spring-fed rivers, steep mountainside glades, and labyrinths of caves. Join us as we explore the western edge of a biome, remnants of the oldest mountains on the continent, and some of the largest, most remote forests left in the Eastern half of the continent.   

This is a trip to to the Missouri Ozarks, the tension zone between the lush eastern forests and the progressively drier prairies of the Midwest. Our destination is the wilderness region of the spring-fed Current River and its tributary, Jacks Fork River, two of America's clearest rivers. The wild waters of the Current watershed has earned it worldwide recognition in the eyes of canoeing and kayaking enthusiasts. Unfortunately for most boaters, the river corridor is all they see. Yet step into Missouri terra firma, beyond the tourist books, and you will enter one of the most fascinating botanical, geological and zoological areas in all of North America. The Ozarks boast over 160 endemic species found no where else in the world. We will see prairie glades filled with blooming orchids and a dazzling array of forbes, natural canebrake communities that have nearly disappeared elsewhere in the East, and remnants of Missouri's once-expansive pine-oak woodlands. We will be keeping our eyes open for the extremely rare Swainson's warbler, found almost exclusively in canebrake communities. And naturally, we will be studying the temperate deciduous forest -- the Missouri expression of it. Missouri also offers some of the nation's largest springs and sinkholes, and more caves than any other state except Tennessee -- fully six thousand of them, known as the "jewels of the Ozarks." During our trip we will be exploring wild caves without the trappings of sidewalks and electric lights, in one case walking over one mile completely underground.  Last but not least, our Ozark destination will take us to one of the "herp" capitals of the continent. In addition to daily sightings of Missouri's more common of its 13 species of lizards and skinks, we will have a chance to see collared lizards, which when frightened run up on their back legs; and we will  learn about a rare Ozark endemic, the Ozark hellbender. For more information on this trip, click here. Blue Springs Photo by Chris Williams. Swainson's Warbler Photo courtesy of Julie Zickefoos, all rights reserved, please see www.juliezickefoose.com

Trees of the Eastern Temperate Forest
A tree recognition, forest succession & reading-the-forest course
Arc of Appalachia Preserve System
Southern Ohio
July 12-17, 2009

  
  Although the Eastern temperate forest can claim well over 200 species of trees, learning just 40 to 45 of them will allow you to travel anywhere into the forest hearland - from New York to Tennessee - and identify with accuracy 90-95% of the standing trees you will see. IN fact, you could even travel to Europe and Eastern temperate Asia and be able to recognize nearly all the trees by at least their family and genera. This is exactly the goal of this course: to teach you the majority of the common, widely distributed broadleaf and associated evergreen trees in the Eastern temperate forest by both common and Latin name. You will also learn the trees' ecological relationships, their qualities of wood, their beauty and crown shape, wood craft and folklore. We will be taking a habitat and age-succession approach to tree identification so that your knowledge will gain depth and application. By the end of this program, with a bit of mental effort and repetitive practice, you will not only be able to identify trees, but by learning the forest "alphabet" of the individual species you will be trained to begin to read the forest's hidden script - gleaning from just a quick glance tremendous information about the forest's soils, age, and history, and health. We hope this course is the beginning of a lifelong avocation. The course will be held at the 2000-acre Highlands Nature Sanctuary in southern Ohio, the largest of the Arc of Appalachia Preserve System's eleven preserves, and the Arc's main headquarters. Lodging and meals provided. For more information on this trip click here. Photos by Larry Henry.


Global View of the Temperate Forest
Seeing the Forest for the Trees
Arc of Appalachia Preserve System
Southern Ohio
August 16-21, 2009

 This course will introduce you to the bio-geography of the world's most disturbed biome, the temperate broadleaf forest. Participants will take a virtual journey to the temperate forests of Eastern Asia and Europe, and understand the characteristics these separate forests share in common with North America's hardwood forest, as well as the conservation challenges facing the entire temperate forest biome in the northern latitudes. The curriculum will also concentrate on what makes the Eastern temperate forest unique among the temperate forests of the world, and the temperate forest's evolutionary story. Such a study brings to one's awareness that the lifeblood of the Eastern Forest is truly its rivers, with the East boasting some of the highest aquatic life diversity in the temperate world, in some cases the entire world. For instance...
  DID YOU KNOW? That just ONE healthy river in a southeastern U.S. forest has more species of fresh-water fish than all the rivers of Europe combined? That the United States has more fresh-water turtles than any other country in the world? That the colorful native fish group known as darters are found only in North America, flourishing to their highest diversity in the Eastern Forest with over 100 species? That the giant salamanders known in the U.S .as hellbenders  are found only in Eastern Asia's forests and our own, and are rapidly becoming extinct in both places? That the Eastern U.S. Forest claims nearly 60% of the world's crayfish species? That our Eastern Rivers have more stonefly and mayfly species than any other place in the world, claiming between 30-40% of the known species worldwide? That nearly 40% of the world’s salamander species are found in the U.S. and the vast majority are found in the East? That 100 of the 140 described salamander species in the US belong to the group known as the lungless salamander, the signature species of the Eastern Forest and a group that is found almost no where else in the world? That salamanders are often the highest zoological biomass in an Eastern old-growth Forest, with up to two adults per square meter? That clear-cutting or grazing a forest essentially destroys salamander populations?
  These are just a few of the lessons this global-perspective course will share with participants. We will spend a substantial amount of our time in the field, especially in the water, becoming familiar with the signature species of the Eastern Forest and the importance of its rivers. Full course description and registration information coming soon. Photos by John Howard.