Sky School staff recently participated in a dendrochronology lesson and demonstration by the very knowledgeable Kit O’Connor. Kit’s dissertation work examines the interface of forest resilience, fire, insect outbreaks, and human land use practices using tree ring reconstruction of forest demography, fire history, and insect outbreaks with a new generation of modeling systems (http://snre.arizona.edu/people/christopher-“kit”-o’connor). Kit taught us about the wealth of information that can be learned from tree rings, as well as how to properly care for our recently purchased increment borers we now have available to use on Sky School trips. Thanks, Kit!
