Class Description
If you think tree identification is normally difficult, you'll probably think winter tree identification is even harder! Actually, the opposite is true. Join us and learn the secrets that make winter tree identification easy enough for beginners to tackle!

We'll spend the morning in the classroom at the University of Maryland Extension Carroll County office, working on our twig ID skills. We'll use a combination of lecture, individual study, and team activities to build our powers of observation and comparison on fresh samples of tree twigs and seeds. We'll use the Winter Tree Finder booklet to practice keying out our twigs to species. (If you don't have a copy of Winter Tree Finder, don't worry, the booklet be available for purchase before class.)

This will be a beginners’ class, designed to help people who've either never attempted winter tree ID, or who have studied it and found that it "didn't stick." Accordingly, we'll limit our focus to a dozen species. However, the booklet you use in class, combined with the skills you acquire in class, will allow you to amaze your friends and family by accurately identifying the majority of Maryland's trees – even in winter!

We'll spend the afternoon honing our skills on real trees. We have a field trip planned to view the venerable old trees on the historic McDaniel College campus in Westminster.

Tentative Class Schedule
9:30-10:00am | Attendees check-in and enjoy light refreshments
10:00am-12:00pm | Classroom lecture, individual study, and team activities to facilitate tree identification skills
12:00-12:30pm | Lunch break (bring your own lunch)
12:30-3:30pm | Identification practice on outdoor trees on the McDaniel College campus | 2 College Hill, Westminster, MD 21157

Required Book
Watts, M. T. & Watts. T. (1970). Winter Tree Finder: A Manual for Identifying Deciduous Trees in Winter. Nature Study Guild Publishers, Rochester, NY. (ISBN 978-0912550039)

Cost if purchased through the Master Gardener Advanced Training Program: $5.00 plus Eventbrite fee

Registrants of the class may either purchase the book on this site while registering for the class, or may purchase the book from another vendor of their choosing (e.g., Amazon). Alternatively, registrants may choose to purchase or rent/borrow the books from a different source (e.g., their local library).

Continuing Education Credits
This class will count as 5.5 hours of UME MG or UME MN continuing education and also towards the Advanced Training: Native Plants Certificate.

Refund Policy
Before December 4th, registrants can receive a full monetary refund. After December 4th, registrants can receive full credit towards a different advanced training event.

Instructor
Dr. Sara Tangren (Agent Associate, Home & Garden Information Center) is a specialist in sustainable landscaping and native plants. Sara worked for many years as a certified forest stand delineator, and has surveyed and developed conservation plans for hundreds of acres of Maryland forest. She sits on the advisory board of the University of Maryland Arboretum & Botanical Garden.