Students from the Principles of Natural Resource Management course undertook a series of hands-on projects out in the EcoPreserve during the Fall 2015 semester. These projects included everything from the installation of bat maternity colony nesting (see photo above),solitary bee and bluebird boxes to riparian zone, pollinator meadow and vernal pool restoration projects to monitoring of small & large mammal populations, invasive plant species and diseased trees.
Students in the Principles of Natural Resource Management class were doing stream surveys on October 7, 2014 and found this foot long American eel (Anguilla rostrata) (dead) in a pool along Buell Brook. Eels have a fascinating life history that connect the EcoPreserve to the distant waters of the Sargasso Sea. Adult eels leave the US coast to swim out to the Sargasso Sea near Bermuda to spawn. The young hatch and move north with the help of the prevailing…
The 2014 summer trail/land stewards crew has been hard at work maintaining and upgrading the trails in the EcoPreserve this summer. Highlights include improvement of the boardwalk on the Green Trail, trail bed filling/chipping, and the construction of a new bridge on the Blue Trail. The crew has also assisted in the construction of the new trailhead kiosk off of the Livingston Campus Avenue E/Rockafeller Road roundabout.
Several students in the Principles of Natural Resource Management class conducted a month-long survey of wildlife using motion-activated digital cameras stationed at various locations in the RU EcoPreserve. The resulting images revealed an abundance of deer (Odocoileus virginianus), red fox (Vulpes vulpes), feral cats (Felis catus) and raccoon (Procyon lotor) throughout the Preserve. They also captured photos of a pair of coyotes (Canis latrans) at one of the camera stations (see photo above).