In February, wintry weather is unavoidable at Dartmouth — from the freezing temperatures to the snow-filled walkways, the cold is sure to follow wherever you go. While some students respond by hunkering down indoors, students in BIOL 61, “End of Winter: Winter Ecology,” are instead choosing to brave the cold.
Biology professor Caitlin Hicks Pries said she created the course this term after receiving a National Science Foundation research grant for professors who combine their research with teaching. Pries, who explores snowmelt dynamics at the Dartmouth Skiway, seized the opportunity to develop a related course.
“I was surprised we didn’t have a winter ecology course, because winter is such an important part of Dartmouth, in the whole Dartmouth experience,” she said.
Pries wanted to create a class centered on interactive research, and she succeeded — the largest component of the class is a research project using data on how snow depth affects ecosystems and the environment.
“I [wanted] to think of a way that we could be collecting data … and also sort of get everyone involved,” she said.“We’ll make this whole class dataset, and then the students will choose different data streams [for] a research project.”
To create the dataset, students traveled during class to local areas like Pine Park to conduct field research. Claire Cohenuram ’26 said these initial excursions, which took place over the first several weeks of the term, were intended for “setting up the experiment” for later data collection.
“I definitely loved being outside for the first four or so weeks of the class,” she said. “The majority of the blocks were just spent outside scouting field sites or setting up.”
According to course enrollee Noah da Silva ’25, the class is “broken into three teams,” each working on a different project. At the end of the term, the three teams will compile their data together and create research projects based on their findings.
“There’s a team that’s working on weather surveillance … studying snow depth, errant ground surface temperatures and snow water equivalency,” da Silva said. “Then there’s a group who’s working on small mammals … setting up pipe traps throughout the forest that are baited with peanut butter. When mammals come for the peanut butter, they rush through the pipe and get their hair stuck in the tape that’s there.”
da Silva’s own project has “set up game [cameras] at Pine Park,” tracking the movements of large mammals such as deer and foxes. He said his favorite moment from the class was getting to capture some of the wildlife on camera.
“Most of our game [cameras] caught basically nothing,” he said. “So having some of them show these animals just …wandering around and interacting with the ecosystem during winter was really cool and special.”
Anna Chabica ’25, who is working on the small mammals project, said she has found the course’s research component “super exciting.”
“It’s been a long-term, month-long project that we’ve been collecting this data, and pretty soon we’ll start analyzing it,” she said.
Since the fieldwork in BIOL 61 is entirely outdoors, students get plenty of exposure to the winter elements. da Silva said the outdoor component was exactly what he was looking for to make the most of winter.
“I love fieldwork, [and] I love being out in the wilderness, especially during the winter term,” he said. “This is the class that feels like … experiencing what winter has to offer.”
Chabica said it has been “super fun” to have class outside in the winter and to go on excursions to places like Pine Park.
“We stomp around in the snow at Pine Park and measure different things,” she said. “… It’s kind of nice because … I’m doing work for the class but I’m also going on a walk.”
Cohenuram also said she preferred the activity of an outdoor learning experience to a traditional classroom setting.
“I definitely love being outside — you’re chatting with friends, and you’re being active instead of sitting in that classroom for two straight hours,” she said.
Not only does BIOL 61 allow students to get outside, but it also provides a valuable opportunity for them to learn more about their surroundings. da Silva also said the class has “definitely changed” the way he understands winter.
“It’s like many other natural sciences classes in that you can walk outside afterwards, and you look around and everything you see has been changed and reshaped to what you’ve just learned,” he said.
Despite being a New England native, Cohenuram has likewise found that the class has changed her perspective on winter — more specifically, it has shed light on how brutal winter is for organisms.
“I never really thought about how harsh winters really are — I’ve always been surrounded by forests,” she said. “So it just makes me appreciate them in a different way. [Organisms] tough it out through the hardest parts of the year.”
da Silva noted that the class provides insight on just “how intense winter can be” — but also said that, because of climate change, winter in the Northeast is not a guaranteed reality.
“It’s a little bit sad to see … winter literally disintegrating before you as you take this class and learn a little bit more about what that means,” he said. “This class helps us understand what winter is, how we interact with it as humans and what we can do for it in the future.”
In future iterations of the class, Pries hopes to expand course research to other sites — such as Mount Moosilauke and the Dartmouth College Grant — contingent on future funding.
“I’m hoping to teach it again next year,” Pries said. “I think it’s the most fun I’ve ever had teaching.”
