Teaching dendroclimatology to our educators and youth

Bryan Yockers and Lee Borzick were invited to participate in the Research Experience for Teachers collaborative research project by the Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research, funded by the National Science Foundation, and led by Irina Panyushkina and Dave Meko. The project started with Bryan and Lee enrolling in the Dendrochronology Intensive Summer Course where they listened to lectures from several leading tree-ring researchers at LTRR, participated in numerous activities leading to the building of tree-ring chronologies, and concluded the course by presenting research that had been completed in student groups. Following the DISC course, Bryan and Lee began their project with Irina and Dave where they were investigating ways of incorporating tree-ring input into streamflow modeling using the University of New Hampshire (UNH) Water Balance model. Earlywood and latewood tree-ring measurements were taken from Larix sibirica that were collected from the Yenisei River Basin. Along with the lab research, a field trip was also taken to Mount Lemmon where participants got experience collecting core samples from Pseudotsuga menziesii. The goal of the program was for the participants to bring what they learned back into the classroom and help to give students a better understanding of: 1) how Arctic warming is connected with hydrological and vegetation changes in the U.S. (e.g. extreme weather, increased frequency and size of wildfires, water shortages) and 2) how tree rings can help us understand the related environmental dynamics.