Baseline Data Development for Shingle Shanty Preserve and Research Station
NSRC researchers developed ecological, weather, and historic land-use baseline data to be shared by other researchers at Shingle Shanty Preserve and Research Station, a non-profit, 15,000 acre research station located in the central Adirondacks of New York State. The Preserve's mission is to promote study of the ecology, geology, and wildlife of the Adirondacks in collaboration with academic organizations and the general public. The Preserve's remoteness, habitats, and land use history create unique opportunities for biodiversity research with implications throughout the Northern Forest from the species to the eco-regional scale.
Researchers developed a geographic information system for the Preserve. They mapped and described ecological communities by collecting data on abundance of understory, shrub-layer, and overstory vegetation. They set up data logging weather stations and monitoring equipment to provide climatic data for this remote location. Finally, they compiled historic land-use, fire, and weather disturbance data from the Adirondack Park Agency, the Adirondack Chapter of The Nature Conservancy, and records gathered by previous landowners.
This work has already provided important background information to many research projects conducted at the Preserve by Paul Smith's College, SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry, NYS Department of Environmental Conservation, Wildlife Conservation Society, National Wildlife Federation, Smithsonian Institution National Museum of Natural History, and the NYS Museum. Studies include baselines for peatlands in relation to the Northern Forest; habitat distribution of boreal birds and mammals in New York State, and bio-diversity of old growth forests in a recovering landscape.
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