BLACK ROCK FOREST NEWS Spring-Summer 2016 Black Rock Forest Consortium Volume XXVI, No.2

Benefit Luncheon: Learning from Nature

panel discussion on Learning Dr. Mordecai who discussed the ecology from Nature: Lessons from the model simulation which was visually A Creative Use of Technology was enacted on large screens. Dr. Mordecai the highlight of the Black Rock Forest then introduced the panelists. The panel Consortium’s benefit luncheon held on included Commissioner Liam Kavanagh, May 12 at the Metropolitan Club. The co- First Deputy Commissioner of the New chairs of the luncheon were Dr. David K. York City Department of Parks and Rec- A. Mordecai and Samantha Kappagoda, reation; Sam Keany, Dean of Students with Catherine Morrison Golden serving and Chair of Science at the Browning Forest Wins New as vice-chair, and an active committee. School, and a Consortium vice-president; A crowd of more than 230 people Dr. John H. Long, Jr., Professor of Biology IBA Designation gathered for the festivities. Many mem- and Cognitive Science and Director of the ber institutions took tables, as did board Robotics Research Laboratory at Vassar and Leadership Council members and College; and Peter Terezakis, Artist in lack Rock Forest celebrated its in- other friends of the Consortium. All pro- Residence at Tisch School of the Arts at clusion in an Audubon vided vital support for the Consortium’s . Dr. Griffin moderat- BImportant Bird Area (IBA) on June 4 research, education, and conservation ed the panel. in a press conference. Among the attend- programs. ees were Erin Crotty, Executive Director Sibyl R. Golden, the Consortium’s The Panel of Audubon New York, Dr. Terryanne chair, welcomed everyone, and then Dr. Mr. Keany spoke first and described the Maenza-Gmelch of , who Kevin Griffin, the Consortium’s president, biomimicry course he created for last spearheaded the effort, Jim Delaune, added to the welcome and introduced (continued on page 3) Executive Director of the Orange Coun- ty Land Trust, and many members of the Edgar A. Mearns Bird Club. The IBA is officially called the West Important Bird Area: Harriman and Sterling to Black Rock and Storm King. Important Bird Areas are an interna- tional bird conservation effort of Audu- bon, but they are designated locally. In November 2014, Dr. William Schuster, executive director of Black Rock Forest Consortium, Dr. Maenza-Gmelch, and Chris Kenyon of the Orange County Land Trust applied to Audubon New York for the Black Rock Forest – area to become an IBA. Audubon considers three character- istics of sites in making its decision: spe- cies at risk, specific species assemblages, and congregations of birds. At least one characteristic is needed for designation as an IBA; this area met all three. Even though the Forest is already protected and Schunemunk Mountain is a state park, designation as an IBA increases The panel. (L-R) Sam Keany, Dr. John Long, Peter Terezakis, Commissioner Liam Kavanagh, Dr. Kevin Griffin (continued on page 5) (moderator) Black Rock Forest News

Report from the Executive Director

Ecological resilience is the ability of an ecosystem to resist resilience ratings for 90-meter-square pixels. In general, the damage and recover rapidly from disturbance. It is an im- more interior southern and western portions of Black Rock portant ecological concept but often challenging to measure Forest are rated highly above average for resilience. A swath and study. We do not always know why some ecosystems are of the eastern portion of the Forest is rated only average for resilient while others take a long time or never recover after resilience mainly due to lower connectedness (this may be due disturbance. But more biodiverse systems often prove more to the barrier represented by Route 9W) and the northwest- resistant to disturbance or recover more quickly. Disturbance ern part of the Forest (around Canterbury Brook) is rated be- is nearly ubiquitous and thus resilience, and the ability of our low average for resilience primarily because of low scores for ecosystems to keep providing valuable services despite dis- landscape complexity. turbances, is of great practical importance. We are now completing our own resilience analyses on 18 Much current research is focused on ecological resilience. parcels of land adjoining the western border of Black Rock For- The Nature Conservancy’s Mark Anderson and colleagues est as part of our Highlands Connectivity project. Our studies have recently developed an analytical framework that has allowed us to field check some of the Nature Conservancy allowed them to map predicted ecological resilience across data and to see how well their results mirror our own. Our much of eastern North America (https://www.conservation- fieldwork has identified some important resilient features, gateway.org/ConservationByGeography/NorthAmerica/ such as ephemeral , deposits of calcareous material, UnitedStates/edc/reportsdata/terrestrial/resilience/ne/ and animal denning sites that could not be identified at the Pages/default.aspx). In these analyses, they focused espe- large scale of the Nature Conservancy analyses. However, cially on identifying areas that will remain resilient to climate there was a significant, positive correlation between their re- change and will support high levels of biological diversity in sults and our own. In particular, the flow analyses presented the future. They focused on “landscape complexity” in terms in their downloadable data sets identified areas that we know of landform variety and numbers of microhabitats, and “lo- are heavily used animal movement corridors. cal connectedness” which they evaluated in terms of habitat It is beneficial to have new tools to use in understanding fragmentation and barriers to animal movement. Complex where biodiversity is likely to persist in the future and to physiography is expected to always provide more niches for know more about the underlying features that promote diver- organisms to occupy, even through changes in climate, and sity, both now and in the future. Knowledge about resilience barrier-free, connected landscapes allow organisms to shift can help guide more informed conservation decision making, ranges and reorganize their communities in response to envi- although some lands with low resilience still remain import- ronmental changes. ant to conserve for other reasons. Environmental changes So how does Black Rock Forest look in terms of its modeled and disturbances will always occur. Promoting ecological con- resilience? The initial map outputs of the team were 1000- nectivity, taking resilience into account, and using rigorous acre hexagons, each rated for resilience. These indicated science principles and data to direct conservation actions can above average resilience across most of Black Rock Forest and help assure that we will retain healthy, diverse, and produc- surrounding forested areas. The more recently released data tive ecosystems for the future. (available through the link above) give much more detailed — Dr. William Schuster

Board of Directors of the Consortium The Black Rock Forest Consortium Institutional Members Teachers College Sibyl R. Golden, Cochair advances scientific understanding through American Museum of Natural History David N. Redden, Cochair research, education and conservation Avenues: The World School Urban Assembly for Applied Math Dr. Kevin Griffin,President programs. It is a not-for-profit 501(c)(3) Barnard College and Science Terri Carta organization supported by membership The Valerie Colas-Ohrstrom dues, grants, and gifts. The Editor: Sibyl R. Golden Dominic Cordisco Design: Jenkins & Page (NYC) William T. Golden (1909-2007) Vivian Donnelley © 2016 Black Rock Forest Consortium Gail Duffy Founding Chairman Cornwall Central School District Francesco Filiaci The Deborah Gardner Consortium Staff Hunter College William Glaser, Treasurer William Schuster, Ph.D., Executive Director Metropolitan Montessori School Liam Kavangh John Brady, Forest Manager Newburgh Enlarged City School District Sam Keany, Vice President Emily Cunningham, Director of External New York City Department of Parks Dr. Ryan Kelsey Affairs and Recreation Dr. Mary Leou, Vice President Jack Caldwell, Operations Manager New York – New Jersey Conference Anne Sidamon-Eristoff Barbara Brady, Office Manager New York University Beatrice Stern Matthew Munson, Data/Network Manager Queens College Linda Stiiman Kate Terlizzi, Research Associate/ The School at Columbia University Lisbeth Uribe Environmental Educator The 65 Reservoir Road, Cornwall NY 12518 Christie Van Kehrberg, Secretary Brienne Cliadakis, Annual Fund and Phone: (845) 534-4517 Communication Manager E-Mail: brfoffice @ blackrockforest.org Web: www.blackrockforest.org

2 Spring-Summer 2016 • Volume XXVI, No.2

Benefit Luncheon teaued at good enough. Selection evolved ment uses traditional scientific methods (continued from page 1) good-enough behavior by simplifying and technology to learn from nature, year’s Summer Science Camp and will rather than complicating the brain. The using Lidar, which is basically lasers and continue this year (see “Summer Sci- evolution of robots helps us understand radar, to create digital elevation models ence Camp,” Fall 2015). In the course of the evolution of animals. Depending on that allow them to capture tree height, a week, the students collected insects, the situation, simple brains work better biomass measurements, and canopy examined them in the lab, and then, than complicated brains.” distribution. They also use information based on their adaptations, designed Mr. Terezakis followed, speaking technology and geospatial mapping soft- and created vehicles to negotiate hostile about several of his environmental art- ware to turn static data sets into inter- environments like the Arctic, Mars, the works in the southwest. “Far from things active maps that capture information in ocean floor, a tropical jungle, a volcano, man-made, as the sun sets and before compelling visual displays. One result of and mountainous terrain. “Insects have darkness falls, land and sky come alive this is a New York City street tree map. been evolving for 400 million years and “That alone is pretty exciting to us,” he humans have been observing and bor- said, “but we’ll invite everyone who cares rowing from them for millennia,” Mr. about trees and nature to access the site, Keany said. “Their solutions for solving use it to see, learn, share, and care for the problems of locomotion, vision, sensing, trees. They can adopt trees, see all their chemical defense, and camouflage are attributes, species, size, condition, the probably the most diverse in the animal world.” Dr. Long spoke next, talking about using robots that are models of living animals to test theories about animals, or biorobotics. He explained that fossils show structure but say nothing about the process of evolution. He focuses on

with delicate magic,” he said. “Standing in the desert while the pink and violet veil of twi- light paints the expanse of both earth and heaven is an experience which is both tac- tile and delectable.” His sculp- full range of ecological services they pro- ture Heart Beats Light uses vide, record and share their stewardship lamps which flicker in time activities, report problems, create events with his prerecorded heart and network with people who share their (above): Dalton faculty. (center): Dr. David K. A. Mordecai, luncheon cochair. (right): Sibyl R. Golden, board chair (seated), Chip White, rate “as a digital metaphor for passion. It will be a platform for citizen musician, and Christie Van Kehrberg, board secretary. life and death, being and not.” science research.” Photos: Jennifer Strader Last year, he brought his Green A question and answer period fol- World class to Black Rock For- lowed over dessert. fish, examining how and why the first est; some of the students coming from Finally, Dr. William Schuster, execu- fish evolved. In his lab, students build dense urban environments had rarely tive director of the Consortium, spoke biorobots by looking at living fish for been in nature. “For a weekend, actors, about how the Consortium is creatively clues about structure and give the robots dancers, coders, musicians, and writ- using technology. “Black Rock Forest autonomous behavior with bio-inspired ers hiked, got wet, used microscopes, has long been a great place to explore brainlike circuitry. One model, called a learned about collecting field data, and creative use of available technologies to Tadro, uses genetic algorithms which started to develop an artistic response to improve our understanding of nature,” vary, enabling the fish-like biorobots to their experiences.” he said. “The pioneering work of our compete against each other in a simple Mr. Kavanagh spoke last, noting that panelists shows how exponential growth environment. “When we let Tadros play the city may not look like Black Rock in tools of inquiry allow us to now study the game of life, we never cease to be Forest but the Parks Department man- nature in greater detail and across vaster surprised,” Dr. Long said. “We expect- ages about 10,000 acres of “traditional” scales of time and space than ever be- ed that our population of Tadros would nature, forests, meadows, wetlands, and fore. We aim to keep increasing scientific evolve a complex brain allowing for op- marshes with a similar amount in the focus and creative use of technologies timal light-gathering behavior. Instead, hands of state and federal colleagues, as in the forest as tools to help guide us to- the behavior got better, but then it pla- well as 523,000 street trees. The Depart- ward a more sustainable future.” 

3 Black Rock Forest News

STUDENT RESEARCH SPOTLIGHT

Testing Equations for Black Birch Biomass by Emma Bartnick

In Black Rock Forest and similar -dom- forest, so there needs to be an accurate Forest staff used tractors and chainsaws inated forests in the Hudson Highlands, and practical method of measuring bio- to fell large trees and I used a handsaw black birch (Betula lenta) is emerging as mass to evaluate the carbon storage. In to fell small trees. We sliced each tree a major tree species in the understory. studies for which it is too expensive and into manageable sections in the field and I have observed that most young black time-consuming to develop a site-specific measured the wet weight of each section birch trees are growing in areas where the biomass equation, previously established using a digital scale suspended from a canopy is open and light due to the loss of equations from other sites are often used tractor. Samples of the stem were dried large oak or hemlock canopy trees. The to estimate the aboveground biomass. In in the lab and the drying factor calculated transition of the Forest understory from my research, I tested the only previously from each sample was used to determine an oak and maple mix to primarily black established equation for biomass of black the dry biomass of each tree. birch could have important implications birch trees, along with an equation for Statistical analyses revealed that for carbon storage and nitrogen cycling in the biomass of general hardwood trees. the published equation for the biomass the Forest. During the summer of 2015, Over the course of several months, of black birch trees is accurate enough I lived and worked in the Forest, testing the staff at Black Rock Forest and I felled to be used, but is not very accurate for two published equations for the biomass seven black birch trees, ranging in diam- trees with a DBH less than five inch- of black birch trees. An accurate equation eter at breast height (DBH) from 0.60 es. The equation for biomass of general for biomass can be used to examine the inches to 15.67 inches. It was expected hardwood trees was not accurate for the carbon and nitrogen storage capacity of that the existing equation for the bio- trees felled in this study. The observed the trees. My research expanded upon mass of black birch trees would be ac- data were used to generate a new allo- previous research on oak trees in the For- curate and could be used to extrapolate metric equation that can be used to more est by Dr. Peter Bower of Barnard College the cumulative biomass of black birch accurately estimate the biomass of black and his previous research mentees. trees in Black Rock Forest, as well as to birch trees in Black Rock Forest.  Forests absorb huge amounts of at- estimate the amount of carbon and other mospheric carbon dioxide each year, nutrients stored in these trees. The trees —Emma Bartnick graduated from Bar- helping to mitigate anthropogenic car- in this study were selected from regions nard College with a major in Environmen- bon dioxide emissions. Carbon content with natural openings in the canopy due tal Science and a minor in Mathematical is a function of total biomass within a to the deaths of large oak canopy trees. Sciences.

Member Profile The Dalton School

The Dalton School is an original students learned digital model Consortium member and, over the years, building and structure and site it has made extensive of the Forest. All analysis. Dalton students visit the Forest in fourth Watercolor students also grade to study science and nature, while visited the Forest recently. older students make field trips to the Teacher Lotos Do commented Forest to study topics including ecology that “after a year-long study and astronomy. Recently, in addition to of watercolor technique, stu- having their classes explore scientific dents in the advanced course subjects, they have included art and felt prepared to encounter the architecture in their use of the Forest. North American Forest.” The Teachers have also visited the Forest for class visited the reservoir and professional development. painted a sunset, and visited The Consortium is considering the Storm King Art Center the next day. establishing a yurt village to increase “As a teacher, I was so gratified to see visitor capacity and invited the Dalton that students’ skills jumped to a profes- architecture students to design sional level as they gained confidence by one. According to Emily Wilson, AIA encountering nature using watercolor LEED, their teacher, the students first techniques without drawing in pencil at researched precedents for the project, first,” Ms. Do also said. “The cohesiveness including modern and traditional designs of the group grew, as students saw each and radial structure. Then they visited other beyond the classroom experience the projected site, both in the morning and more as a community of artists.” The and the evening, to look at how the school exhibited the art in a second floor lighting varied. Back at the school, the (top): Architecture students; (below) Watercolor students. gallery. 

4 Spring-Summer 2016 • Volume XXVI, No.2

The Forest Is in an Important Bird Area (continued from page 1) awareness about integrating bird con- servation into management and devel- opment decisions. Birders from Black Rock Forest Con- sortium, Barnard College, the Orange County Land Trust, and the Mearns Bird Club conducted surveys of birds in 2012 in preparation for the application to Audubon. Survey areas included Black Rock Forest, Schunnemunk Mountain State Park, Houghton Farm, Clove Brook Farm, Black Rock Fish and Game Pre- serve, Hudson Highlands Nature Muse- um (Kenridge Farm), Hilmare, and the Storm King Art Center. They conduct- ed stationary and traveling counts and recorded latitude/longitude (or trail name), dates, times, bird species names, and abundances. The listed species at risk in the new IBA are the worm-eating warbler, prai- rie warbler, cerulean warbler, blue- winged warbler, and wood thrush. Birds that meet the so-called “responsibil- ity” assemblage criteria included the rose-breasted grosbeak, scarlet tanager, Louisiana waterthrush, black-and-white warbler, black-throated blue warbler, blue-gray gnatcatcher, yellow-throat- ed vireo, least flycatcher, Eastern wood peewee, Northern flicker, and sharp- shinned hawk. There are also large num- bers of migratory birds, as well as large numbers of year-round residents and grassland/open habitat birds. Addition- ally, the Forest has five species that are on Audubon’s WatchList (based on popu- lation size, range size, threats, and pop- ulation trend): rusty blackbird as well as wood thrush, blue-winged warbler, prai- rie warbler, and cerulean warbler. “This is a nice example of a scientif- ic study leading to beneficial outcomes,” Dr. Schuster said. “The IBA designation highlights for communities and planners the area’s especially high biological diver- sity which should be taken into account to prevent losses of critical habitats and species. Current and future research will benefit from these baseline data and the designation may help secure funding to better understand what allows these threatened species to survive and how they can flourish in the future. Focusing on birds as ecological health indicators can also help engage citizen scientists to add to the database and support our development of new conservation edu- cation programs with partners including (cover): Wood thrush; (top): Cerulean warbler. Bird photos: Adobe Stock; (bottom): Dr. William Schuster, Erin Crotty, Audubon New York.”  and Katrina Shindledecker (Director of Conservation, Hudson Highlands Land Trust). Photo: Francie Schuster

5 The Black Rock Forest Consortium

Plant Respiration RESEARCH STUDIES IN BLACK ROCK FOREST 2016 and Climate Change

The Black Rock Forest Consortium is committed to encouraging collaboration Black Rock Forest was one site in a among member institutions and also between researchers and students. worldwide study of how plant respiration may respond to climate change, and a re- Nitrogen fixation and nutrient cycling experiments in Black Rock Forest. cent paper in the Proceedings of the Na- Duncan Menge (Columbia University). Contact: [email protected] tional Academy of Sciences (PNAS) high- lighted the results. The study measured Are garlic mustard effects on soil processes and microbial communities plant respiration in 231 species, including reversable? Kristina Stinson (Harvard Forest) and Serita Frey (University of New grasses, , and trees, and in Alas- Hampshire). Contact: [email protected] kan tundra; boreal, temperate, and trop- Mercury concentrations and exposure levels in terrestrial foodwebs: Pathways ical forests; and Texan and Australian for mercury bioaccumulation in insectivorous, songbird communities in New savannahs. Dr. Kevin Griffin of Colum- York State. David Evers (Biodiversity Research Institute). Contact: [email protected] bia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory was one of the coauthors Analysis of avian diversity in relation human activity in Black Rock Forest. of the paper; Dr. Mary Heskel, a postdoc Terryanne Maenza-Gmelch and Marissa Wasmuth (Barnard College). Contact: who worked at the Forest with Dr. Grif- Terryanne Maenza-Gmelch ([email protected]) fin, was lead author of the study. When plants photosynthesize, they Scaling of variability in populations, individuals, and ecosystems: Taylor’s law take up carbon dioxide (CO2), a gas that and beyond. Joel E. Cohen and Meng Xu (Rockefeller University), and William contributes to climate change. But when Schuster (Black Rock Forest Consortium). Contact: Joel Cohen they respire, they release CO2 back to the ([email protected]. atmosphere, and they release more when the temperature rises. Overall, plant res- Physiological response to temperature across nine tree species in a northeastern piration puts many times more CO2 into temperate forest. Angelica Patterson and Kevin Griffin (Lamont-Doherty Earth the atmosphere than all human sources Observatory of Columbia University). Contact: Kevin Griffin combined. Dr. William Schuster, execu- ([email protected]) tive director of the Consortium, said the The future of oak forests. William Schuster (Black Rock Forest Consortium), Kev- study “discovered global limits to plant in Griffin (Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University), Shahid respiration that result in less than the Naeem (Columbia University), Kathleen Weathers and Amanda Elliott Lindsey expected increase with temperature.” (Cary Institute for Ecosystem Studies) and Jerry Melillo (The Ecosystems Center, The study found that, worldwide, all Marine Biological Laboratory). Contact: William Schuster kinds of plants have the same internal ([email protected]) controls that regulate the response of respiration to temperature increase, and Native plant performance along an urbanization gradient. Kevin Griffin (Lam- the same curve describes this response ont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University), William Schuster (Black across all habitats and plant types. Rock Forest Consortium). Contact: Kevin Griffin ([email protected]) “What we thought was a steep curve in some places is actually a little gentler,” Loss of foundation tree species: Consequences for small assemblages in said Dr. Griffin. “With this new model, forest ecosystems. Katie Keck (USGS), Katie Terlizzi and William Schuster (Black we predict that some ecosystems are re- Rock Forest Consortium). Contact: Katie Keck ([email protected]) leasing a lot less CO2 through respiration than we previously thought. All this adds Ecophysiological functions of urban and rural forest trees: Testing the “urban up to a significant amount of carbon.” ecosystem convergence” hypothesis. Nancy Falxa Sonti (US Forest Service). But he added, “We now have a better way Contact: [email protected] to estimate one process, but it’s only one Historical and aracheological studies on Whitehorse Mountain in Black Rock process. The whole system is quite com- Forest. Christopher Lindner (Bard College). Contact: [email protected] plicated; a small change in the balance between one part and another could pro- Improving estimates of biomass in Black Rock Forest trees and the impact of duce a really big result. That’s the chal- changing species composition. Peter Bower and Emma Bartnick (Barnard College). lenge we face when we think about the Contact: Peter Bower ([email protected]). earth as a whole.” “Our Consortium’s mission is to learn Species richness of cutaneous bacteria varies with urbanization: Implications from nature using the most appropriate of habitat conditions on defense mechanisms of Plethodon cinereus. Soon il means, whether high tech or low tech,” Higashino (Ossining High School) and J.D. Lewis (Fordham University). said Dr. Schuster. “We need accurate, Contact: Soon il Higashino ([email protected]) unbiased predictions of what the future holds. This new paper will make forecast- ing models more accurate.” 

6 Join Us! Become a Friend of Black Rock Forest.

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Forest News in Brief

New Cochair for Consortium Board. June 4 Bird Walk. The bird walk on June and beautify the area and improve the David Redden, a long-time board mem- 4 sold out within hours! The ever-pop- quality of the water,” Jack Caldwell said. ber, has joined Sibyl R. Golden as cochair ular walk, led by Dr. Terryanne Maenza- The Boys and Girls Club of Newburgh of the Consortium Board. Mr. Redden has Gmelch of Barnard College, led partici- was invited to participate, although a been active in the , serving pants on a two-hour, easy-to-moderate schedule conflict prevented this. on the Scenic Hudson board and as for- walk in the Forest through many differ- mer chair of the Hudson Highlands Na- ent habitats to observe which birds oc- Bird Observation Walkway and ture Museum board. cur in multiple locations in the Forest Platform. The Consortium’s Forest Crew, and which are habitat-specific. This sixth graders at Metropolitan Montessori Update on Visitor Access Pathway. year, the walk was followed by a press School (MMS), and seniors at the Cal- After the preliminary work by Consor- conference announcing the Important houn School, in a joint effort, construct- tium staff, the contractor, Tahawus Bird Area (IBA) (see p. 1). ed a new bird observation walkway and , has started its work on the Path- platform, made from the Forest’s most way. As noted in the article in the Winter Consortium Coordinates Community decay-resistant wood, black locust and 2016 newsletter, there are opportunities Tree Planting. In May, the Consortium white oak. It starts at a new signpost for volunteers to help with the project connected 18 volunteers from Time War- along the southern portion of the White and the first dates have now been sched- ner Cable, which has funded scholarships Oak trail and runs westward out into the uled. Saturday June 18 from 10 AM to 1 for the Summer Science Camp, with the large below Sphagnum Pond. PM was set aside for Consortium mem- Department of Environmental Conser- The area is very open and provides good bers, and Saturday June 25 at the same vation (DEC) which needed volunteers to birding opportunities, especially for wet- time for members of the public or corpo- help plant 240 trees and shrubs in Cron- land birds. Fifth graders from MMS also rations who wished to do public service omer Park in Newburgh. Jack Caldwell erected birdhouses. work. Volunteers helped clear brush and and Katie Terlizzi from the Consortium roots as well as performing some prelim- staff coordinated the project with the inary treadwork. Half of the lower park- DEC and the Quassaick Creek Watershed Brienne Cliadakis Joins Staff. In No- ing lot will be cordoned off for construc- Alliance, an organization of community vember, Brienne Cliadakis joined the tion equipment and materials during the volunteers. “The idea is to plant trees and Consortium staff as Annual Fund and 120-day construction period. shrubs along the stream to help stabilize Communication Manager. 

7 65 Reservoir Road Cornwall, NY 12518

Inside This Issue 1 Benefit Luncheon: Learning from Nature 1 The Forest Is an Important Bird Area 2 Report from the Executive Director 4 Student Research Spotlight 4 Member Profile: The Dalton School 6 Plant Respiration and Climate Change 7 Forest News in Brief

Report from the Forest Manager

First called “coydogs” and then “coywolf,” the northeastern coy- groups, called packs, herding winter deer groups and chasing ote is now the name of this animal we hear calling in the night. and harassing deer. While there is seldom physical contact be- DNA research has confirmed the hybridization of western and tween the two, these actions of may explain why so eastern wolves, domestic feral dogs, and western coyotes re- many deer now remain in the sanctuary of residential areas de- sulting in the evolution of our coyotes. Evolutionists marvel at spite poor conditions. Biological measurements of young deer the swift development of this year-round super-survivalist and harvested during the fall Cornwall-on-Hudson bow predator, filling a longtime void in the northeast ecosystems. seasons (2012-2015) have indicated their sub-healthy status. The ’s movement to the northeast apparently took two Homeowners have witnessed fawning in their backyards as it primary routes. One was a migration from the west above the has been long understood that female deer choose to give birth Great Lakes, interbreeding with a fragmented wolf population in the most secretive and safe portions of their range. in the Ontario region. The second took place south of the Great Currently there are more deer in residential areas than in Lakes, mingling with feral domesticated dogs in the Ohio Val- Highlands forests. This condition is contrary to past conditions ley, and then both merged in the vast mountainous areas of the but has persisted despite three years of very good mast crops northeast. The known behavior of dogs, coyotes, and wolves to and growing seasons in the Forest. Coyote is now not co-exist well must have been overcome for this interbreed- considered a population management factor. Predation upon ing to occur. Possessing both dog DNA for adaptability to people deer is greatest upon springtime fawns but is difficult to con- and the genetic material of wolves to evade humans has led to firm. We are investigating this through coyote scat studies to contrary and sometimes unpredictable behaviors. determine their seasonal diets and the frequency of fawn hair The continued development of this creature has affected and bone during the months of May, June, and July. ecosystems including the Hudson Highlands. White-tailed deer The interplay between coyotes and deer has resulted in re- studies at Black Rock Forest have observed its presence and markable recent tree seedling and understory growth in the influence on deer populations for thirty years. Winter track- Forest. After decades of high deer abundance and stagnating ing studies to determine deer groups and herd size have also forest regeneration, a natural solution has appeared. The north- witnessed the communal hunting strategies of coyote family eastern coyote helps save the highlands forests. — John Brady