Holmes Educational Forest

Located in the Blue Ridge Mountains, this educational forest has trails that show the beauty of the area as well as instruct students in protecting the plants and animals that can be found there.

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• Lesson plan: Trees of North Carolina Students complete activities including tree and leaf identification, species comparison, online research, measurement, and creative writing in conjunction with monthly visits to the "Iredell County Outdoor Education Site"
• Educational in Nature A series of environmental education curriculum supplements designed to foster understanding and environmental awareness in the classroom. These activities, games, lesson plans, and information cover such topics as forests, animals, recycling, and energy.
• Lesson plan: Trees in Your Own Backyard This activity lets students discover the benefits of urban forests by looking at trees on the schoolyard. Students will read a synopsis of the 400-year history of communal forests, survey their schoolyard trees, and draft a schoolyard tree ordinance.

Related pages

• Jockey's Ridge State Park: Experience a world of the shifting sands and a barren, desert environment as well as an estuarine environment of the tidal waters of the Roanoke Sound at Jockey's Ridge State Park in Nags Head, North Carolina.
• Betsy-Jeff Penn 4-H Educational Center: This 4-H Educational Center provides year-round programming, including team-building and environmental education to students in 2nd through 6th grades.
• Weymouth Woods Sandhills Nature Preserve: Called the "pine barrens" by the settlers to the Sandhills, the Weymouth Woods Sandhills Nature Preserve protects a remnant of the plant and animal communities of long ago.

Related topics

• Learn more about Henderson County, North Carolina, conservation, ecosystems, environmental science, forests, geology, habitats, nature, science, and wildlife.

Legal

The North Carolina Division of Forest Resources operates a system of six Educational State Forests (ESFs) designed to teach the public - especially school children - about the forest environment. Each forest features self-guided trails that include exhibits, tree identification signs, a forest education center and a talking tree trail. Specially trained rangers are available to conduct classes for school and other youth groups. Teachers or group leaders choose from a selection of 30-minute programs that cover all aspects of the forest environment - from soil, water and wildlife to timber and forest management.

The Holmes Educational Forest offers “well-marked trails which are accented by exhibits and displays depicting the ecology of the managed forest.” Teachers can receive an activity packet to use the Holmes Educational Forest as an outdoor classroom.

The forest is open from mid-March to the Friday before Thanksgiving. Call the office for hours of operation at (828) 692-0100 or send e-mail to holmesesf@ncmail.net

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