Guest blogger: Adam Wood
The Modern Climate Change course in the fall of 2026 (MCC26) took on the task of updating the campus oak ring-width tree ring chronology. It was last cored over a decade agoand is one of he few sites of Ohio’s remaining old growth (those trees greater than 250 year old). Not only is 2026 the 250th anniversary of the nation, it is also the first year of the College campus as an arboretum – the Abbey Arboretum.
Nick Wiesenberg (center) directs the coring operation.
Coring Trees on Campus:
Home to several old growth white oak trees, The College of Wooster has “tree witnesses” to the last 250 years of changing climate and land use. Old growth trees, specifically those of the white oak (Quercus alba) have been found to date back to the late 1600s CE in Ohio. Using dendrochronology the MCC26 class were able to count the individual tree rings in each tree core and assign calendar years to each growth band and combine this data with previous year’s efforts to update the college’s tree ring chronology to 2025.
Methodology:
On September 28, 2026, the MCC class with the help of COW technician Nick Wiesenberg used increment borers to core the