Northern Thailand is beginning to feel the chillier evenings of cool season, and in the mountainous province of Mae Hong Son, students experienced a few sweater-donning nights with host families. Last week, ISDSI students completed their expedition field course portion of Political Ecology of Forests.

A long and windy ride took them from Chiangmai to Mae Hong Son town, a very quiet little metropolis at the base of the forested mountains where students had course. Exploring first-hand the swidden agricultural (also referred to as “slash and burn”) practices within upland Karen communities, students backpacked between six villages. They collected information and asked questions of culture, land use, and resource management, meeting with local government leaders and village representatives, surveying forest succession growth after agricultural use, and participating in culture exchange nights with their Karen host families.

Forests course is finished now and students are nearly ready to head down south for their last field course, Oceans Ecology. For three weeks students will be learning about coastal resource management and ecological changes in a coastal community in Trang and on the islands of the Adang Archipelago.