Learning About Forests Audit and Action Plan

• This activity walks students through identifying trees in their area, determining the amount of carbon dioxide they sequester, and assessing their environmental importance as habitat and flood mitigation "machines."
  
• The activity includes a guided student action plan for increasing the number of trees in their local area.

Positives

• This lesson plan is comprehensive and easy to follow.
• The tree identification materials on the worksheet and online are easy to use and informative.
  

Additional Prerequisites

• Students will need to have an understanding of the importance of trees and their climate benefits.
• The information and links inside the project are only suited for those within the North American region. 
• Students will need to have access to both string and a measuring tape. 
• Students will benefit from having internet access and the ability to download applications to a phone or iPad. 

Differentiation

• Advanced students could use this activity as a starting point for a research project about the importance of wildlife habitat, biodiversity, and forests to address climate change.
  
• Elementary science classes could use this project alongside the StC lesson With and Without Greenspaces.
• Middle School and High School classes could use the resources What Happens if We Cut Down all the City's Trees and the Tree Equity Score could be used alongside this resource to understand the importance of Urban trees. 
• The resource Frontiers in Forest Monitoring: Introduction to Satelite Monitoring can be used after this activity to view how tree monitoring occurs on a larger scale.