Form III Boys Gather Data in Black Rock Forest

Science Department Chair and Dean of Students Sam Keany, who is also vice president of The Black Rock Forest Consortium Board, offers the following report on the recent trip taken by Form III boys to Black Rock Forest:

"On April 26 and 27, Form III students spent two days at Black Rock Forest gathering data for their biology projects. This year, the forest was overcast and fog-shrouded. The boys studied a wide range of organisms, sampling various birch barks, learning how to drill tree-core samples, and analyzing the resistance of invasive plant species to chemicals in precipitation, to name a few activities. Boys laid turtle traps in several of the ponds of the forest but were hampered by few turtles venturing into them. Two groups of boys continued Browning's three-year effort extracting Japanese barberry -- a tough, deep-rooted invasive species -- from the environs of the science center. Field studies can be hard work, and their outcomes can be unpredictable. More predictable was the enjoyment of a night hike under a luminous layer of fog, with the calls of "spring peeper" frogs echoing around. The boys and I were accompanied by two of our science teachers, Dr. Kevin Perry and Emilie Wolf."