[Filler, add links, information, course materials etc.]

All of this text is vague and meant to fill space for design, feel free to edit/remove.

The North Carolina Coast

Travel to the southeastern coastal plain of North Carolina and become familiar with the forest communities present there, all while trekking through a variety of coastal forest types. Develop a keen eye and understand how even incredibly minute gradients across the land can have significant impacts on the plant life there.

Students will visit the Croatan National Forest as well as the Hofmann forest, allowing them to get an understanding of the different silvicultural techniques and management goals of both public and private lands. Students will see how frequency and intensity of disturbance can shape a forest, and how some forest community types are reduced in size from historical states due to human intervention. In addition, students will look closely at how hydrology on macroscopic and microscopic scales can alter soils and plant composition in an area. All of this information will be pulled from the forest around them and through in-the-field instruction, allowing students to get firsthand looks at the forests they are studying.

In addition, students will come to recognize forest health as a never ending process, and what it means to have a "healthy forest". Students will be taught different types of threats to forest health including abiotic and biotic factors, as well as what mitigation is currently available or practiced. (Need more on this).

Resources (?) - Slide sets, handouts, photographs?

Testimonies (?) - Not sure if this is meant to be an about page for Forest Communities or just for resources.

"Getting lost in the labyrinth of the Hofmann forest road system was a real highlight for me."

"All of us getting poison-ivy from the bottomland stream really shows how true the phrase 'Fraternity in Shared Misery' can be."

"The packed lunches were enough for me to gain 5 pounds, but all of the sweating from the heat made me lose the same amount so it's a wash."

The Mountains of North Carolina

Experience a week in the mountains of North Carolina, learning the flora and forest health issues of several forest community types while taking in many scenic views that the southern Appalachian mountains have to offer. Understand how physical properties of the landscape and site history affect the forest community on the variety of sites to be visited.

Previously, students have visited such sites as Mt. Mitchell, Grandfather mountain, Rough Ridge, and Linville Gorge. At these locations, students will be taught the importance of asking themselves the question of "why are we here?", and the benefits of being able to systematically pull information to learn from in their surroundings. By taking time to stop and look (and with the help of knowledgeable instructors), students will come to learn the driving forces that shape a forest as well as the gradient of factors that can affect the flora of a community.

In addition, students will come to recognize forest health as a never ending process, and what it means to have a "healthy forest". Students will be taught different types of threats to forest health including abiotic and biotic factors, as well as what mitigation is currently available or practiced. (Need more on this).

Resources (?) - Slide sets, handouts, photographs?

Testimonies (?) - Not sure if this is meant to be an about page for Forest Communities or just for resources.

"I had an excellent time and the weather was nice! We only had rain 4 out of 5 days!"

"Almost fell downslope! You don't appreciate a 80% grade until you're heading down it."

"I really enjoyed the part where we spent 40 minutes looking at some kind of red oak wondering if it was Quercus ambigua or not."