State University of New York at New Paltz
OP-10: Biodiversity

SUNY New Paltz and the SUNY New Paltz Foundation own land that is of conservation importance. This land encompasses a ~40-acre forest fragment and an overgrown former apple orchard at the southern end of the campus. This land is important for conservation in that is a small area of undeveloped land in an urbanizing suburban/small-town landscape.

* White ash is “critically endangered” (using the IUCN Red List Categories)
* Eastern hemlock is “near threatened” (using the IUCN Red List Categories)
* American elm

We have not banded any bird species that are federally or ICUN listed. Swainson thrushes are vulnerable but not listed.

Eric Keeling notes so far:

For trees, using the IUCN Red List categories, white ash is "critically endangered" (highest threat level) and eastern hemlock is "near threatened" (lowest threat level above "least concern"). We do have both species on campus.

Kara Belinsky notes so far:

We caught Swainson’s thrushes again the next year (2018 and 2019 I think), early in the season, but not this year (so they do use the forest sometimes but not always). We have no new species to report that I can think of, although numbers vary from year to year.

The campus forest and orchard are areas of biodiversity importance for birds, trees, and large animals.

Both the Campus Forest and The Campus Orchard host a diverse community of birds, including many species of neotropical songbirds, the group of small birds that are declining across the continent because they migrate long distances, breeding in North America, and wintering in Central or South America. Migration is dangerous for these tiny birds, and they require habitat to be preserved at both the breeding and wintering grounds, and at small “stop-over” locations along their migratory route. Neotropical migrants captured at our Campus Forest/Orchard site include: wood thrush, gray catbird, rose-breasted grosbeak, yellow warbler, blue-winged warbler, common yellowthroat, house wren, American redstart, Baltimore oriole, Eastern pewee, rufus-sided towhee, and Swainson’s thrush. The Swanson’s thrush were banded early in the season, and are unlikely to breed this far South, so they were probably using the Campus Forest as stop-over site, which is notable.

Hemlock and Ash trees were noted as being of conservation concern. Hemlocks are currently under attack by the Woolly Adelgid and Ash trees are threatened by the Emerald Ash Borer.

The results of the animal survey revealed that many animals rely on the campus forest. It is important to note that large animals such as bears and coyotes were observed in the forest. The south forest is a small and relatively isolated forest fragment and for it to contain such large animals is notable. It appears to be a stepping stone in the midst of the developed area of the campus and surrounding town for animals to move between larger forests.

The Biology Department has been monitoring bird and tree communities on the campus forest and orchard and across the rest of the campus.
BIRD MONITORING. We began monitoring the bird community in 2014 by using point counts (standing and counting #bird/per species seen or heard for a set time period at each site on repeated days) at three campus locations, one Campus Forest location, and one Campus Orchard location and compared the results to those completed at three nearby forest locations not owned by the University. We began further monitoring the bird community in the Campus Forest and Orchard in 2016 using a bird banding protocol developed by the non-profit Institute for Bird Populations called MAPS (Monitoring Avian Survivorship and Productivity). This involves setting up a network of 10 mist nets to capture and band birds on roughly 10 dates for 6 hours each during the bird breeding season each summer. Banding the birds allows us to accurately count the number of individual birds of each species (when we recapture a previously banded bird, we can document it’s survival and not include it in our count of bird abundance, since it has already been counted, we can also age the birds to measure reproduction: which species are fledging young at that location). We completed our five-year MAPS assessment in 2020. In 2023, we will begin yearly migration banding at 3-4 of our MAPS nets, and expect to continue this monitoring annually.

TREE MONTIORING. In the South Forest, we have also been monitoring tree community composition in six 400m plots. The most recent resurvey was completed in fall 2021. A complete survey of trees across the main campus was completed in 2015.
ANIMAL MONITORING. In recent years, we have had trail cameras in the South Forest monitoring animals to identify species in the area and determine relative abundances.

These details are covered in the response above.

The campus maintains a tree care plan as part of maintaining our Tree Campus USA status. We also developed a Campus Pollinator Habitat Plan in 2019 as part of our Bee Campus USA status. Pollinator-friendly plants outlined in the Campus Pollinator Habitat Plan inform our plant choices, including on design & construction projects that have a landscaping component. Native, pollinator-friendly plants are prominently featured in the upcoming Courtyard redesign project outside of Sojourner Truth Library.