Trees in Your Own Backyard

Set the stage for this activity by leading a group discussion answering the following questions.

1. How do you interact with the trees around you?
2. Who takes care of the trees in your neighborhood?
3. Which of the nation's trees are managed and protected by the U.S. Forest Service?
4. Do you have any responsibility to care for the trees around you?

Have students read the essay "History of Urban Forestry" and complete Worksheet 1 and Worksheet 2. This will give students an overview and foundation for the rest of the activity.

In the classroom, number each tree pictured on the map. Find each tree pictured and tag it with a number on the school yard. (Draw in newly planted trees. Cross out any trees that have been removed.) Decide how you are going to divide up the trees to be surveyed. Hand out clip boards, pencils, and measuring tape. Go over the Sample Tree Survey and Sample Tree Key from Worksheet 3. Send students out to survey.

Upon completion of the tree survey, have students present their most notable tree information and add their tree key to the map.

Have students read the Cooperative Forest Assistance Act of 1978. Then, using the Act and the Tree Survey results, have the students as a group fill in the outline of the Tree Ordinance Brief for the school yard.

Choose from one of three types of activity assessments:

• Application and Integration Exercise has been designed to allow students to integrate the content into broader contexts.
  
• The Test has been designed to measure how well students master the History objectives.
• The Reflective Exercise has been designed to measure how well students master the Social Studies objectives.