The Duke Forest recently hosted the 2026–2027 cohort of Duke University’s Climate and Sustainability Teaching (CAST) Fellows for a portion of the Fellowship Kick-Off Workshop. The CAST Program is a faculty development initiative that provides tangible support and a peer-learning community to encourage interdisciplinary teaching on climate and sustainability across Duke’s academic community. Through the program, faculty fellows are redesigning their courses to include climate and sustainability concepts through a place-based experiential learning lens, helping prepare students to address some of the world’s most pressing environmental and societal challenges.
The workshop was developed as a collaborative effort by staff from all units within the Office of Climate and Sustainability (OCS), including the Office of the Duke Forest. During the three-day workshop, fellows explored Duke’s Climate Commitment, examined the “4C’s” of climate and sustainability fluency, which include Context, Causes, Consequences, and Catalysts for Change, and discussed both the opportunities and challenges of experiential education. The workshop was grounded in globally recognized climate and sustainability pedagogical frameworks and highlighted how to incorporate Duke’s place-based resources, including the Duke Forest, Duke Gardens, and the Duke Campus Farm, as spaces for hands-on learning.
The workshop featured activities led by Dr. Nan Mullenneaux, Senior Program Coordinator for Duke’s Language Arts and Media Program, who guided fellows through creative exercises involving storytelling, movement, writing, and other arts-based teaching methods. On a rainy Thursday morning in the Forest, participants immersed themselves in the sights, sounds, and textures around them. They transformed those sensory experiences into one-word stories, poems, and collaborative movement-based narratives. These activities demonstrated how creativity and play can foster deeper engagement and help students explore complex issues in meaningful ways.
Lee Anne Reilly, the Duke Forest’s Assistant Director of Teaching and Research, introduced fellows to the Forest’s history and ecology before leading an interactive walking tour highlighting several of the Forest’s long-running research projects.
In one research area, fellows compared Longleaf Pine trees with nearby Loblolly Pines. Observing the differences between the two stands sparked conversations about forest management, wildfire and storm resilience, and the role humans play as stewards of the land in a changing climate. The discussion also explored the Longleaf Pine ecosystem’s dependence on fire and the importance of maintaining healthy forest conditions.
Later, after a short hike and an unexpected visit from a Northern Cricket Frog, the group gathered between two contrasting forest stands. Fellows observed clear differences in tree size, understory density, and species composition. Using those observations, Lee Anne introduced the concept of mesophication, a long-term shift toward wetter, shadier forests that was first studied in this very area by pioneering ecologist Herbert Bormann.
The group discussed several factors contributing to mesophication, including fire suppression and changing moisture conditions, as well as downstream ecological impacts. These impacts can include declining biodiversity, the loss of important wildlife food sources such as acorns and nuts, and increased vulnerability to climate-related stressors. Lee Anne acknowledged the complexity of managing an ecosystem that will long outlive its current stewards, and the impact of making decisions now that will have consequences for decades and generations to come.
By the end of their time in the Duke Forest, CAST Fellows had participated in a wide range of creative and critical thinking exercises designed to deepen their understanding of both the natural world and their role within it. These experiences help build the climate and sustainability fluency needed to educate future generations of environmental stewards.
The Duke Forest staff look forward to continuing our partnership with the CAST Fellows Program and to welcoming future fellows and their students back to the Forest.