Minnesota School Forest Program

Lesson Title: My Land Project

Name: Brianne Messick

School E-mail:

School Forest: Becker Big Woods

Grade(s): 7-10

Materials: Worksheets, GPS unit for marking location of features, measuring tape, calculator (optional)

Objective(s): Students will assess the benefits land offers and negative and positive features that add/take away from the value of land. Students will do algebra to determine height of trees and how much oxygen they might produce. Students will use observation and skills to determine the quality of trees present. Students will present information on what should be done with the forest using collective data from the lesson.

Procedure:

Students complete tasks 1-5 and finish with a presentation.

Name:______

Hour:______

What is the value of the Becker Big Woods?

Congratulations! You have just landed a job in one of the fastest growing job fields, working for a developing company surveying and determining the value of land. Your first large project is to assess and determine the fate of a 40 acre Maple-Basswood forest in a suburban development. In order to complete this task you will need to first get to know these woods (the history, resources within the forest, biodiversity, community impact etc.).

Task #1: Your first task is to spend some time in the Big Woods to brainstorm the possible benefits of a forest of this capacity in its current location.

Things to think about… (what purpose does it serve in its current state; public use, wildlife habitat etc.)

You should brainstorm at least 5-10 uses of the Big Woods. Remember to be as detailed as possible.

______

At the same time, you will also brainstorm a list of possible ways this piece of land could be used by the community. Think of at least 10-15 different uses. ______

Respond to the following questions:

  1. Which activities would cost most to provide on forest land?
  1. Which would bring in the most visitors?
  1. Which would have the greatest impact on the forest ecosystem? On the wildlife there? Would this effect be permanent or temporary?
  1. Which would provide for society’s most critical needs?

Name:______

Hour:______

Getting to Know the Big Woods

Task #2: Now that you have taken some important steps in understanding the history of Becker Big Woods and have become acquainted with its surroundings and various ways in which the forest impacts the community; it is time to take a step back and spend some time thinking of what you DON’T know about the forest.

Today we are going to walk the woods, your task is to come up with at least 8-10 good/quality questions you feel are important to ask/to know the answers to when trying to assess the value of the property. Questions should and can range from unanswered questions of its history to how much are certain trees worth (for lumber?)

Your grade on this assignment will be assessed based on the quality of your questions and their relevance to the project goal; which is to assess the value and provide a recommendation for the fate of the Big Woods.

(You may write more on the back)

1.______

2.______

3.______

4.______

5.______

6.______

7.______

8.______

9.______

Marking the Big Woods

Names:______

______

______

Task 3: Marking and identifying key features within the environment is a key factor in determining the wealth and value of a property. Today you are going to walk through the Big Woods and find four key features that you think would either be assets (things that make the value of the woods increase) or negative impacts (things that would make the value of the land decrease). You will mark each feature on your GPS units to get the coordinates and present your features as well as your assessments of these features to the class via a presentation using GoogleEarth. These features will also be a part of your final presentation to the City of St. Michael. Make sure you choose your features wisely. This assignment may take more than one class period.

Feature 1 Absolute Location: ______North______West

Describe what the feature is: ______

Describe its relative location:

______

Give a general assessment of this feature: Good or bad for the overall value? Explain why or why not.

______

Feature 2 Absolute Location: ______North______West

Describe what the feature is: ______

Describe its relative location:

______

Give a general assessment of this feature: Good or bad for the overall value? Explain why or why not.

______

Feature 3 Absolute Location: ______North______West

Describe what the feature is: ______

Describe its relative location:

______

Give a general assessment of this feature: Good or bad for the overall value? Explain why or why not.

______

Feature 4 Absolute Location: ______North______West

Describe what the feature is: ______

Describe its relative location:

______

Give a general assessment of this feature: Good or bad for the overall value? Explain why or why not.

______

What is the value of Trees?

Name:______

Task 4: For this task you are going to find and measure the largest trees in the Big Woods to get an estimation of the value of the lumber provided in the Becker Big Woods.

There are four main factors in determining the value of a specific tree.

Find a few trees in the big woods to gather information to determine its overall wealth.

Tree Size: DBH (Diameter at Breast Height) – Measure the diameter of the tree at 4 feet 6 inches from the base of the tree.

Species: What type of tree is it? Rank it out of 100% based on the value of the type of species. For example a white oak would be 100%.

Condition: Look at the tree to determine what percentage of the tree is living and in good condition.

Location: Determine whether the tree is in a desirable location or if it was cut down think about the positive and negative impacts of it. Will other trees grow bigger or just as big? Will the tree be “missed” or are there others around? Does it serve as habitat for a specific animal? Rank the worth of the tree in its location on a scale of 1-10; 10 being the most valuable.

Absolute Location / Tree Name / Tree Size at DBH / Species
(out of 100%) / Condition (out of 100%) / Location
(out of 100%)

Name:______

Hour:______

How Does Science and Math Play a Role?

Task 5: In trying to understand the overall value of a forest, it is important to take into consideration the impact trees/the forest has on the planet as a whole. Trees are extremely important to the ecosystem. One of their major roles is converting CO2 (or Carbon Dioxide) in to O2 (or the oxygen that we breathe) through a process called photosynthesis.

Your job today is to calculate the amount of oxygen one tree in the Big Woods gives off in one hour.

Step 1: Measure the height of the tree by using the proportion method of measuring the ruler as we practiced previously in class:

Proportion:

Height of Student
on the Ruler / Actual Student Height / Proportion
Show your work! / Actual Height of Tree
(Can convert inches to approximate number of feet)

Step 2: Measure the height of the tree’s lowest branch in feet. ______ft.

Step 3: Subtract the lowest branch height from the total height of the tree.

______- ______= ______ft.

(Answer from Step 1) (Answer from Step 2) (Total leaf producing region)

Step 4: Measure from the trunk of the tree out to the very edge of the branches. ______ft.

Step 5: ______ft. x (3.14) = ______

(Answer from step 4)

Step 6: ______x ______= ______ft2

(Answer from step 5)(Answer from step 3 or (Volume of the leaf region)

the total leaf production area)

______

Step 7: Use your cubic square we made in class to hold up to the closest part of the tree that has leafs and count how many leaves you see within that square. ______

Step 8: ______x ______= ______

(Answer from step 6) (Answer from step 7)(Total estimated number of leaves on the tree)

Step 9: ______x 5 (ml per hour)= ______

(Answer from Step 8) (Total amount of oxygen the tree produces in 1 hr.)

**If you wanted to find out by day:

Multiply the answer from Step 9 ______x 12 (hours of sunlight) = ______

(total amount of O2 per day)

Big Wood Presentation Proposal

Name:______

Directions: Now that you have discovered the many values and benefits of the Becker Big Woods, it is time to put your research together and create a proposal/presentation that answers the question; What should be done with the Becker Big Woods?

Your Presentation should include the following:

Possible Uses: Explain the top 4 ways that people or the city could use the land along with the positives and negatives for each of them.

______/12pts

Important Features: Take a screen shot of your Google Earth and explain what you believe are the most valuable features of the Big Woods and explain your reasons.

______/5pts

Your Suggestion: Your 5th proposal should be the one that you suggest.

Explain the positives: Make sure to include scientific/mathematical data that you collected or researched.

______/5pts

Explain the negatives: This might be hard, but think about how people would argue if they didn’t agree with your position.

______/5pts

Presentation: You will present your proposal to the class/community. Your presentation should be clear and well-rehearsed/practiced. You should face your audience and explain your findings instead of reading them off the presentation!

______/5pts

Quality of work: Make sure to check your presentation for spelling/grammatical/punctuation errors and contains appropriate visuals.

______/3pts

______/35 pts Total