Yesterday I made a concerted effort to learn to identify some prominant trees that surround my property. My son was home from school so I forced him to participate in parts of my dendrology exercise.

We now both know some of the identifying features for 4 species of softwood tree:

1. White Pine
2. Red Spruce
3. Eastern Hemlock
4. Tamarack

The online tool we used to identify these species was the Interactive Guide to common native trees of Nova Scotia (PDF version).

The forest ecosystem in this part of the world is often referred to as "The Acadian Forest". There are 32 species of softwood and hardwood tree that are believed to native to the Acadian Forest. Below is a picture of an Acadian Forest vista that is in particularly pristine health (no evidence of clear cutting or beetle infestation in the picture).

credits: http://www.acadianforest.ca/gfx/albums/aforest/fall_colours_stream.jpg

I read about an impressive grade 7 school project where the kids had to identify something like 20 species of tree. If kids can do it why can't we all?

If you go to forestry school, you would be required to do a tree identification project like the grade 7 kids (probably more advanced). Getting kids to do a tree identification project would mean their parents would have to become more knowledgeable about their forest environment.

In 2009 I hope to improve my skills in tree identification by learning more about the identifying features of the various trees that are common or native to Nova Scotia. Be it resolved that I will learn to identify all the tree species that are common or native to my local Colchester Country environment. That number is probably less than the 32 common and navitve species that inhabit an Acadian Forest, however, it would be nice to actually inspect all 32 species in 2009.