ES211

Natural Science (NS), Experiential Learning (EL)

(Botany & Ecology of the Great Northern Forest) The Great Northern Forest, alternatively called the Boreal Forest or Taiga, spreads across the vast landmass of the northern portion of the globe, through Alaska, Northern Canada, Greenland, Scandinavia, and Siberia. The ecology of this area is the front line of our current climate cataclysm, as the melting of the permafrost that supports it threatens to release enough methane to overwhelm the current concentrations of greenhouse gases in our atmosphere. This course introduces students to the ecology of the Great Northern Forest through identification of native plant species, interspecies interactions, physical ecosystem services, and natural history of this biome. This course includes extensive field work on Lake Forest College's campus, in Wisconsin's Door County, and Michigan's Upper Peninsula. Students learn to identify between 100 and 150 species of wildflowers, grasses, trees, shrubs, and other plants, and learn the characteristics of 15 to 20 plant families. No prerequisites. This Summer Session course in 2025 is a three-week intensive course that includes two full weeks of travel to Wisconsin and Michigan.