Overall Rating Platinum
Overall Score 86.83
Liaison Mark Lichtenstein
Submission Date Feb. 28, 2023

STARS v2.2

State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry
OP-10: Biodiversity

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 2.00 / 2.00 Delaney Demro
Sustainability Planning & Institutional Alignment Manager
Office of Sustainability
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Does the institution own or manage land that includes or is adjacent to legally protected areas, internationally recognized areas, priority sites for biodiversity, or regions of conservation importance?:
Yes

A brief description of the legally protected areas, internationally recognized areas, priority sites for biodiversity, and/or regions of conservation importance:

Early in the last century, ESF began to assemble a system of properties that would broadly represent New York’s rich ecological diversity for scientific study and instruction. Today, approximately 25,000 acres of regional campus lands and facilities offer unparalleled learning and research opportunities. The size, scope, and ecological diversity of ESF's regional properties make it unique among institutions of higher education. The properties serve as an outdoor classroom and laboratory for teaching, demonstration, and research by faculty, students, and staff at ESF. Sustainable forest management is practiced year around by a full time staff. Together, these lands constitute one of the largest college campuses in the world. Several of the regional campuses are located within the boundary of the 6-million acre Adirondack Forest Preserve. This preserve is considered a legally protected area according to the IUCN definition. These campuses include:

- Wanakena Campus: The Ranger School, James F. Dubuar Memorial Forest
- Dubuar Memorial Forest is an ESF-managed protected area
- Adjacent to Five Ponds Wilderness
- Newcomb Campus: Adirondack Ecological Center, Adirondack Interpretive Center, Anna and Archer Huntington Wildlife Forest, Northern Forest Institute
- Adjacent to Rich Lake, Camp Santanoni Historic Area, and Adirondack State Park
- Huntington Wildlife Forest is an ESF-managed protected area
- Cranberry Lake Biological Field Station: Charles Lathrop Pack Experimental Forest
- Pack Experimental Forest is an ESF-managed protected area
- Adjacent to Five Ponds Wilderness
- Warrensburg Campus: NYS DEC Environmental Education Camp, Charles Lathrop Pack Demonstration Forest
- Pack Demonstration Forest is an ESF-managed protected area

Other ESF regional campuses are also located within or adjacent to legally protected areas including:

- Svend O. Heiberg Memorial Forest
- Heiberg Memorial Forest is an ESF-managed protected area
- Adjacent to Labrador Hollow Unique Area, Kettlebail State Forest
- Tully Field Station
- Adjacent to Tracy Lake Nature Preserve, Green Lake, Tully Lake, and Song Lake
- Lafayette Road Experiment Station
- Adjacent to Clark Reservation State Park
- Thousand Islands Biological Station
- Located on Governor's Island the St. Lawrence River, adjacent to Canoe Point State Park and Wellesley Island State Park

A map of ESF's Regional Campuses can be seen here: https://www.esf.edu/forestproperties/about.php


Has the institution conducted an assessment to identify endangered and vulnerable species (including migratory species) with habitats on land owned or managed by the institution?:
Yes

A list of endangered and vulnerable species with habitats on land owned or managed by the institution, by level of extinction risk:

The NY Natural Heritage Program, with help from the NY Mammal Survey, and ESF Forest Properties staff, have compiled the species list below from their rare species database for occurrences of natural communities, plants, insects, and fish known to occur within ESF Property boundaries.

This list includes state and global conservation status ranks for all observed species and communities. Of these, two bird species, one dragonfly (insect)species, one fish species, sixteen vascular plant species, three terrestrial communities, and three aquatic communities are listed as vulnerable, threatened, imperiled, or endangered. See the linked spreadsheet for the comprehensive list.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1bgDDKTwyZiomLLfYiu9c2n3h002TMvDRUimISaNw9Xs/edit?usp=sharing

ESF's Bee Campus Committee manages the iNaturalist ESF Pollinators project https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/esf-pollinators.
- This tool is available for use by ESF students, faculty, and staff and general public to report observations of pollinators found at ESF's Syracuse Campus. By January 2023, over 191 observations have been submitted identifying two listed insect species:

Vulnerable
- Yellow-banded Bumblebee (Bombus terricola) - S3, G3
- Monarch Butterfly, migratory subspecies (Danaus plexippus plexipus) - G3

Many of the animals on the New York State endangered species list are also likely to be found on ESF Forest Properties and surrounding ecosystems.

https://www.dec.ny.gov/animals/7494.html


Has the institution conducted an assessment to identify areas of biodiversity importance on land owned or managed by the institution?:
Yes

A brief description of areas of biodiversity importance on land owned or managed by the institution:

In addition to the protected areas mentioned above, the Adirondack region is comprised of a variety of forest communities including Alpine, Mountain-Conifer (Spruce Slope), Hardwood-Conifer, Northern Hardwoods, Lowland Conifer (Spruce Flat), and Conifer Swamp (Spruce Swamp).

More information about these forest communities can be found here:
https://www.esf.edu/aec/adks/forestcomm.htm


The methodologies used to identify endangered and vulnerable species and/or areas of biodiversity importance and any ongoing assessment and monitoring mechanisms:

More than eighty years of research have been incorporated into over 30 monitoring efforts performed by the Adirondack Ecological Center in Newcomb, NY. Of these, 12 monitoring efforts are still ongoing. The Adirondack Long-Term Ecological Monitoring Program (ALTEMP) currently monitors over 100 physical, chemical, and biological attributes to provide the long-term perspective necessary to detect changes and identify trends in the Adirondack ecosystem. There are more than nine research projects that are still ongoing or were completed no later than 2019 centered from the Adirondack Ecological Center. Learn more about these projects here: https://www.esf.edu/aec/research/current.htm


A brief description of the scope of the assessment(s):

The scope the these studies vary by project, but all take place within the Adirondacks or ESF's forest properties. Examples of ongoing projects include:

- Adirondack Lakes Survey
- Hydrological patterns of two related sub-catchments in the Arbutus Lake Watershed in the Adirondacks
- Tree mycorrhizal associations control a broad suite of important ecosystem processes: a collaborative study of Adirondack forest types
- Invasive-induced Forest Biodiversity Loss and Evaluation of Stand Rehabilitation
- The effects of Riparian Management Zone (RMZ) delineation on timber value and ecosystem services in diverse forest biomes across the United States


A brief description of the plans or programs in place to protect or positively affect identified species, habitats, and/or ecosystems:

On Earth Day 2022, ESF became a Bee Campus affiliate, pledging to protect wild pollinators and their habitats. A primary component of Bee Campus USA is the installation of pollinator habitat using native plants, to provide forage, nesting sites, and shelter from disturbance for many of the more than 400 species of bees native to New York, along with hundreds of other species of pollinating flies, wasps, butterflies and moths, and hummingbirds.

ESF has already added two new pollinator habitats to the Syracuse campus including the addition of native understory pollinator plant species in the Northern Hardwood Forest demonstration area between Moon Library and Illick Hall and the addition of a certified Monarch Waystation behind Bray Hall. In addition to these plantings, ESF's Bee Campus Committee manages the ESF Pollinators iNaturalist project - https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/esf-pollinators. This tool is available for use by ESF students, faculty, and staff and general public to report observations of pollinators and pollinator plant species found at ESF's Syracuse Campus. To date, January 2023, over 191 observations have been submitted identifying 46 species. More plantings and monitoring efforts are planned for the next upcoming years.

ESF also joined as one of the founding universities with the Nature Positive Universities Pledge. This alliance is part of the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration and brings higher education institutions together to use their unique power and influence as drivers of positive change. As part of the pledge, ESF commits to:
- Carry out baseline assessments
- Set specific, time-limited and measurable targets for nature
- Take bold action to reduce biodiversity impacts, protect and restore species and ecosystems, while influencing others to do the same
- Transparent annual reporting

To date, ESF is the only higher education institution in NY to take the pledge and is excited to formalize and expand the College's biodiversity monitoring efforts


Estimated percentage of areas of biodiversity importance that are also protected areas :
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Website URL where information about the institution’s biodiversity initiatives is available:
https://www.esf.edu/aec/research/current.htm

Additional documentation to support the submission:
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Data source(s) and notes about the submission:

The information presented here is self-reported. While AASHE staff review portions of all STARS reports and institutions are welcome to seek additional forms of review, the data in STARS reports are not verified by AASHE. If you believe any of this information is erroneous or inconsistent with credit criteria, please review the process for inquiring about the information reported by an institution or simply email your inquiry to stars@aashe.org.