Virtual Forest Initiative

Partner(s): Black Rock Forest Consortium Access: Open to all Revised: March 2013 Released: May 2009 VIEW PROJECT

The Virtual Forest Initiative provides a technological framework to support and enhance research, education, and community activities at Black Rock Forest. The framework provides searchable, downloadable forest assets and resources for access, presentation, and use by scientists, educators, and community members.

As part of the larger Virtual Forest Initiative, CCNMTL developed a suite of web-based learning tools that utilizes Black Rock Forest's rich archive of scientific records such as climate field station and tree data. Used in the Earth and Environmental Sciences courses at Columbia University and Barnard College, the project gives students an unprecedented opportunity to utilize real data for comparative analysis.

In 2011, Black Rock Forest and CCNMTL were awarded a $500,000 grant from the Toyota USA Foundation to develop two educational modules for the Virtual Forest Initiative - on chemistry and biology - to teach environmental science in New York City middle and high schools. The grant also supports class field trips to the Forest, where students can experience the forest first-hand and apply what they have learned from the online modules.

Black Rock Forest is located 50 miles north of New York City in the Hudson Highlands.

The Virtual Forest Initiative is a Digital Bridges Initiative project.

Related project categories:
Field-Laboratory | Sciences