|
|
Spring/Summer 2024
Volume 19 | Issue #1
|
|
|
Letters from the Directors
Arboretum
Just like that - spring has sprung - who knew it would be almost 70 degrees in mid-March? I keep thinking a surprise snow storm is just around the corner, but today I saw coltsfoot (Tussilago farfara) and daffodils (Narcissus sp.) blooming, not to mention mud galore! There is a feeling of something bubbling up under the surface that is on the brink of explosion and I can’t help but think it is everything that the Arboretum has set in motion to date, since we will be celebrating the Arboretum’s 17th anniversary this Arbor Day! Please come out to celebrate with us during our annual tree planting ceremony in April.
Embrace the green spirit this spring by celebrating our earth! The Bard Arboretum strives to promote sustainability on Bard’s campus. We’re thrilled to demonstrate this commitment with a recent grant award from the New York State DEC for invasive species removal on campus. Additionally, last fall, we planted hundreds of native plants donated from Pondside Nursery, a local garden center. Lastly, we have lots of news on the science and education front, thanks to our partnership with CESH and all their good work learning more about our earth’s water and air!
|
|
Amy Parrella ‘99
Arboretum Director
|
|
|
|
Center for Environmental Sciences and Humanities
We are witnessing an earlier Spring than we are accustomed to, but the feelings of wonder and hope that I experience every year when the spring peepers start up their deafening chorus are still there. The peepers are a reminder to me that life is about change, and that all life has the power to adapt and grow with shifts (expected or not) in the environment. It's the community we build around ourselves that strengthens us and builds true resilience as the changes come—this is why I value the partnership between CESH and the Arboretum so highly.
We have been busy building community over the winter at CESH, hosting incredible speakers on climate resilience and environmental justice, and writing grant proposals to expand climate resilience efforts across the Hudson Valley. The Community Sciences Lab continues to expand its capacity to respond to community needs, including installing an Air Quality station on the Poughkeepsie Public Library. Lastly, we have joined Riverkeeper and the Hudson River Watershed Alliance to build a community toolkit for addressing Harmful Algal Blooms in our rivers, lakes, and streams.
Have any environmental questions, or interested in pitching in on community-directed science efforts in the Hudson Valley this Spring? Please be in touch!
|
|
Dr. M. Elias Dueker
CESH Director, Associate Professor, Environmental and Urban Studies and Biology Programs
|
|
|
|
Photo credit: Kim Easlick '25
|
|
Arboretum & CESH in the News |
|
Become a Tour Guide at Blithewood Garden
Are you interested in being a garden tour guide at Blithewood? The Friends of Blithewood Garden are looking for volunteers to provide guided garden tours starting in spring 2024. Blithewood Garden is highly sought as a Hudson Valley destination, as well as a popular local resource that inspires gardeners, artists and landscape architects. As a garden tour guide, you will get firsthand experience in a historic Beaux Arts garden while interacting with the public and Bard community. Prior experience is not required.
If you are interested, contact Amy Parrella at horticulture@bard.edu. Come join us in the gardens! Stay tuned for more information on an upcoming training session.
|
|
Blithewood featured in Veranda
A recent article, "Meet the Creatives, Redefining Preservation as We Know It," appeared in Veranda, a magazine about home design and interior decorating. Tracey Minkin, journalist, highlights Blithewood Garden, especially Pamela Governale, Director of Preservation at the Garden Conservancy, who has spearheaded the undertaking of preserving the garden’s architecture since 2016.
Photo: Blithewood
Photo Credit: Gross and Daley Photography
From the grounds…., we can spy the stirring view of the river framed by Francis L.V. Hoppin’s design and appreciate the ongoing work of rehabilitating the garden’s failing architecture and infrastructure. We can imagine its future while witnessing its past. “Garden preservation, like all preservation, is a preservation of the human spirit,” says conservancy preservation director Pamela Governale, “and gardens are really an expression of our values. They’re an expression of our culture, our history, and our connection to the land.”
Blithewood is in good company, featured along with other gardens preserved by the Garden Conservancy, namely Anne Spencer’s garden, a Black poet and activist in Virginia, and Alcatraz Island gardens in San Francisco, California.
To check out the article, click HERE
|
|
🌿 CESH Faculty and Hudson Valley Air Quality Coalition featured in Recent News Articles
All across the country, local communities are becoming increasingly aware of air and water quality pollution, leading to an uptick in public discourse around public health crises and environmental justice issues. CESH Director Dr. M Elias Dueker and Hudson Valley Air Quality Coalition (HVAQ) member Lorraine Farrina were recently featured in a Times Union article on the public health benefits of limiting wood burning. The article published by The Hill discusses the transboundary sewage stream crisis in San Diego County. Another article, "Water: What Can You Do?" published by The Columbia Paper interviewed Dueker as part of its water series.
Read the Times Union article HERE
Read The Hill article HERE
Read The Columbia Paper article HERE
|
|
Education at Arboretum and CESH |
🌿 Center for Environmental Sciences & Humanities Hosts Spring Seminar Talks
|
This spring semester, the Center for Environmental Sciences and Humanities held a limited series of seminar talks featuring visiting scholars and experts in the environmental sciences. These talks centered around environmental science and environmental justice issues that are prolific both locally and nationally, bridging diverse disciplinary and professional perspectives. These talks introduced critical information regarding invasive species, earth memory, and federal regulations around oil and gas.
Photo: Angela Waupochick lecture on emerald ash borers
Photo Credit: Brittney James
Angela Waupochick presented her talk on emerald ash borers, an invasive species of beetles that are ravaging forests in Stockbridge-Munsee reservation land, as well as Wisconsin’s forests generally. Waupochick, an Indigenous Menominee/Stockbridge-Munsee forester, Community Outreach Coordinator with the Center for Climate Research, and PhD candidate at the University of Wisconsin, discussed the ways that invasive species can proliferate, including being accidentally spread by people collecting firewood. She shared forestry techniques, and discussed the challenges of educating and organizing local communities around environmental issues.
Clara Chang, a PhD candidate in earth and environmental sciences at Columbia University, presented on the future of the Hudson River wetlands and sea level rise. Her presentation addressed the following question: “How can we use fossilized pollen, seeds, and historic markers of pollution in sediments to understand how a marsh changes and grows?” Her case study was located in Piermont Marsh and Rockland Country, New York. By using coring, a sampling method which involves a tool that extracts cylindrical samples, she could map the memory of the soil and determine differential markers. For example, tracking the history of pollen, she determined that different species were prominent at different times, such as ragweed becoming more prominent when forests were cleared.
Finally, Justin Nobel, a writer and investigative journalist in science and environment for US magazines, investigative sites, and literary journals spoke on the oil and gas industry. His talk centered around his book, Petroleum-238: Big Oil’s Dangerous Secret and the Grassroots Fight to Stop It, born from an award-winning piece for Rolling Stone magazine titled, “America’s Radioactive Secret.” Nobel discussed the shocking lack of federal regulation and legal loopholes around the oil and gas industry, as well as the environmental consequences of redepositing oil brine into the earth–such as man-made earthquakes in Oklahoma that have only increased in frequency and intensity over the years. Another factor is the porous definition around “radioactive” provided by current federal regulations, and how this lack of industry accountability leads to radioactive products being sold as common household items, such as ice melting salt. Nobel’s book is set to be released April 2024.
|
🌿 Post Eden Course Explores Botany, Agriculture, & Politics
Under the direction of Professor Stephanie Lee, undergraduate students critically explored the relationship between botany, agriculture, material environments and politics in the Fall 2023 course entitled: ARCH 214 Post Eden: conflicts, Coloniality and Plants. Students researched and performed a site analysis on various locations within the Bard Arboretum and designed a spatial intervention addressing reparative justice, care and repair on Bard campus.This design seminar studio focused on the interconnectedness of property, plants and bodies from the past to present. Following a class field trip to visit the Montgomery Place 1929 Hitchings & Company working greenhouse, the students presented their group projects and collective class zine at the final review class. Thank you Professor Lee and Arch 214 class for your creative solutions to several campus landscape issues!
View the Spring 2024 Experimental Humanities courses HERE
|
🌿 Landscape of the Hudson Valley Student Exhibit
|
The exhibit "Landscapes of the Hudson River Valley" was on display in the Stevenson Library over the winter break. It was inspired by Professor Jana Mader’s undergraduate course entitled: HUM 234 Landscape Studies: The Hudson River Valley.
Photo: Landscape Studies class final exhibit
Photo Credit: Dr. Jana Mader
Students learned how to critically engage with the existing landscape and vegetation to unfold “the story” of the land now owned by Bard College. By confronting the narratives that shaped these lands from an interdisciplinary perspective, students built skills to become informed and impactful agents of change. Particular areas of inquiry included the Hudson River Valley in art, literature, music, and film; the history of Native Americans, colonialism, and slavery in the region; horticulture, biodiversity, and native plants of the Hudson River Valley (living collection). Several excellent research projects were visually presented around the topics of re-thinking art in the Hudson Valley to photography, mapping, buildings and architecture, trees and plants, music and sound, storytelling and myths, environmental activism, and more -- all critically engaging with the history of the Hudson Valley. I hope you had a chance to check it out!
|
🌿 Bard’s Living Classroom Supports SUNY-ESF Research on Emerald Ash Borer Biological Control Agents
|
Scientists and researchers Tim Morris, Department of Environmental and Forest Biology at SUNY ESF, Melissa Fierke, ESF and Juli Gould , USDA-APHIS, deployed “sentinel logs” (small insect monitoring devices) on ash trees located near the eastern edge of campus. Deployments were done in conjunction with state-wide monitoring to detect dispersal of biological control agents introduced for control of the emerald ash borer. They were specifically monitoring for the biocontrol agents parasitic non-stinging wasp (Tetrastichus planipennisi) and a parasitoid of emerald ash borer (Spathius galinae).
Photo: Example of a sentinel log
Photo Credit: all research photos by Tim Morris
The key biological difference between these species is the length of their ovipositor, the appendage which allows for parasitism of EAB larvae. The ovipositor of T. planipennisi is comparatively small and as such it is limited to parasitizing EAB in saplings and branches of mature trees. As trees mature and bark becomes thicker S. galinae would ideally become the primary biocontrol agent.
|
|
A peeled sentinel log containing T. planipennisi
|
|
T. planipennisi parasitizing a sentinel log in the field.
|
|
A peeled sentinel log with Spathius galinae cocoons and EAB galleries
|
|
The Bard campus is located in close proximity (<5 km) to multiple sites site at which both T.planipennisi and S. galinae were released between 2011 and 2016. Both biocontrol agents were detected on the campus and at many surrounding sites, indicating parasitoids are actively establishing and dispersing throughout the region. The team's results support a dispersal rate of 5–7 km/year for both parasitoids, though they will be assessing this further this summer.
|
|
🌿 Art & Science Collaboration on Embodied Data: "Walk the Sea Level Line"
|
|
CESH-affiliated faculty researchers Dr. Beate Liepert, visiting professor of Physics and Environmental Studies Director; and Krista Caballero, Artist-in-Residence and Co-director of Experimental Humanities, developed a participatory performance entitled, "Walk the Sea Level Line: Participatory Actions to Translate Scientific Data into Information that can be Embodied," and presented it at the American Geophysical Union conference in San Francisco last fall.
Photo: "Walk the Sea Level Line" project photo
They modified the performance to a course module for undergraduates to visualize the predicted impacts of melting polar ice caps and glaciers globally. According to the latest IPCC Synthesis report of 2023, global mean sea level increased by 20 centimeters between 1901 and 2018. About 160 km north of the Atlantic Ocean and New York City on the shore of the Hudson River facing the Catskill Mountains is the campus of Bard College. Caballero and Liepert invited participants to walk and imagine a future shoreline of the tidal Hudson, which was originally named Mahicantuck by the Munsee tribe, meaning “the river that flows two ways.”
From the abstract:
"The course module we developed introduces an interdisciplinary group of students to methods both scientists and artists are using to address climate change and to foster art/science collaborations and collective agency. In the two courses we tested the module, students learned about the science of polar climate change and created individual large-scale flags with scientific facts on them. The participants of the unconference watched live streaming of web cameras from Antarctica and Greenland Summit. The flags that marked a future sea level line, were placed along portions of the river shoreline aiming to translate scientific data into information that can be embodied. Students and participants stopped along the way to read and listen to excerpts from the IPCC report on projected sea level rise and climate change. After the performance, students answered survey questions about their experience and learning outcomes."
The project continues to evolve to include new elements, such as a sound art piece. In the interest of expanding the reach and audience, future events are being planned, including collaborations with the Bard High Schools in New York City and neighboring towns in the Hudson Valley.
View the full project HERE.
|
|
🌿 Montgomery Place Mycologist Featured in Lecture
|
|
The New Rochelle Public Library hosted a virtual lecture entitled, Mushrooms of Violetta White Delafield on March 9, 2024. Violetta White Delafield (1875–1949) was an American botanist and one of the first women to work in the field of mycology in the U.S. She studied a group of mushrooms known as Gasteromycetes that include the puffballs, stalked puffballs, and earthstars, and she discovered several new species of these mushrooms.
Photo: Violetta White Delafield
Photo Credit: Montgomery Place archive at Bard College
As a horticulturist, Delafield designed the current gardens of the Montgomery Place estate on the Hudson River where she lived, and her many watercolor illustrations of mushrooms are a permanent testament to her artistry and contribution to the science of mycology.
Presented by David Rose, New Rochelle Public Library Archivist, writer, and amateur mycologist. David is Contributing Editor to the journal Fungi and past president of the Connecticut-Westchester Mycological Association (COMA).
A link the the recording of the lecture can be found HERE
|
|
🌿 Bard Arboretum is listed on Botanical Gardens Conservation International Garden Search
|
The Bard Arboretum is now listed on the Botanic Gardens Conservation International GardenSearch website. It is the only global database of the world’s botanic gardens, with information on 3,510 institutions worldwide. GardenSearch now includes expanded search features and new fields that identify and track botanic garden conservation capacity and resources.
|
|
Horticulture and Research at Arboretum and CESH |
|
🌿 Bard College Receives $80,379 Grant from New York State Department of Conservation to Support Removal of Invasive Plant Species on Campus
|
Bard College has received a $80,379 grant as part of the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation’s (NYS DEC) Invasive Species Grant Program that provides funding for aquatic and terrestrial invasive species spread prevention, early detection and rapid response, lake management planning, research, and education and outreach.
Photo: Meadow of North Campus
Photo Credit: Bard College
Bard’s grant will support the removal and prevent the spread of invasive
species from the College’s Annandale campus in the field between the Richard B. Fisher Center for the Performing Arts and Robbins House on North Campus. Invasive species including the tree of heaven (Ailanthus altissima), a rapidly growing deciduous tree native to China, and oriental bittersweet (Celastrus orbiculatus), an aggressive climbing perennial vine, are destroying the meadow by outcompeting and displacing native plant species. The NYS DEC grant will fund a project to remove the invasive woody plant material, which will be cut, chemically treated, and dug out. Then, the meadow will be replanted with a mix of native grasses and wildflowers. This meadow restoration project will begin in the summer of 2024 and is expected to take one to two years to fully complete.
“Bard is incredibly grateful to restore our beautiful meadow back to its prior glory. Its overall appearance and the quantity of ecosystem services it can offer will be immediately enhanced with this unique opportunity to reclaim a central landscape on the Bard campus,” said Bard’s Director of Horticulture and Arboretum Amy Parrella. “Meadows serve as important habitat and provide food for a number of pollinators and mammals; serve as natural reservoirs for water, capture and store carbon from the atmosphere, and help maintain biodiversity in our environment. Unfortunately, invasive plants tend to be aggressive and would eventually take over our meadow in a matter of a few years. This grant will allow Bard to proactively halt this invasion and reverse the damage that has already occurred.”
“We are committed to protecting New York’s waterways, forest lands, and agricultural crops from dangerous invasive species,” Governor Kathy Hochul said. “This funding supports projects across the state that will help prevent the spread of invasive species in New York, protecting our natural resources, economy and public health from the negative impacts of this threat.”
This grant is supported by the NYS Environmental Protection Fund (EPF), a critical resource for environmental programs such as land acquisition, farmland protection, invasive species prevention and eradication, recreation access, water quality improvement, and environmental justice projects. Governor Hochul’s proposed 2024-25 Executive Budget maintains the EPF funding at $400 million, the highest level of funding in the program’s history.
Read the Bard News article HERE
|
🌿 Thank You, Pondside Nursery!
|
For the second year, Hudson’s Pondside Nursery graciously donated over $11,000 worth of end-of-the season perennials to the Bard Arboretum, including yarrow (Achellia), Siberian bugloss (Brunnera), coneflower (Echinacea), sage (Salvia), lavender (Lavendula) and much more! These plants are now tucked into several special spots all over the Bard landscape. Keep an eye out for some new color on campus this summer.
|
|
🌿 Updates on the Community Sciences Lab's Air and Water Quality Data Collection and Research Collaborations
|
The Community Sciences Lab has had an exciting year that included expanding on long term projects, as well as developing and planning new projects. One such project is the Hudson Valley Library Air Quality Network, which aims to install Purple Air monitors throughout the Hudson Valley region. These air quality monitors produce data that is immediately available to the public, which helps communities become more aware of public health crises and emergent issues.
The CSL has also been collaborating with Dr. Aynul Bari, assistant professor at SUNY Albany’s Department of Environmental and Sustainable Engineering, as part of a broader mission to collect hyperlocal indoor and outdoor air quality data with mobile and fixed sensors, in order to develop a more comprehensive understanding of regional air quality patterns.
Another project currently underway is the weather station project. CSL staff researchers have been installing these weather stations, which include Quant AQ monitors, in local Hudson Valley communities. So far, these stations are located at the Bard College Stevenson Library, the Andy Murphy Neighborhood Center in Kingston and, most recently, the Adriance Memorial Library in Poughkeepsie. The weather stations collect weather data on rainfall, barometric pressure, temperature, wind direction, wind speed, and solar radiation. This data will be shared via a CESH-developed dashboard that is currently in the works.
View video footage of the new Poughkeepsie weather station HERE
Read the current data dashboard HERE
|
|
🌿 $1.8 Million Award in Grants for 26 Hudson River Projects, CESH to Collaborate with Community Groups
|
|
New York Governor Hochul has announced $1.8 million in grants for 26 Hudson River projects to benefit Hudson Valley communities. The Bard College Community Sciences Lab plans to work with the Wallkill River Watershed Alliance, Hudson River Watershed Alliance, and Riverkeeper to develop communications materials, as well as a Watershed Characterization report that focuses on Harmful Algal Blooms (HABs), a rapidly growing water quality issue that can directly impact public health.
Photo credit: Graphic design by Prisha Bishen
The project includes public facing reports and toolkits including: a HABs Communications Toolkit for the WRWA to efficiently communicate with the public about HABs, and then a larger and more broad Water Issue Communications Framework for communities and watershed groups across the country to communicate and provide guidance for planning around HABs and other public health crises. Funding for the grant award is provided by the New York State Environmental Protection Fund, NYSDEC Hudson River Estuary Program.
|
|
Hi! My name is Kim Easlick (They/Them) and I’m a photographer and currently in Bard’s M.S. in Environmental Science and Policy program. I graduated from the University at Albany in 2021 with a B.A. in History and became drawn to environmental work largely due to the research experience of writing my senior thesis. In delving into the intersections of social justice, activism, and health equity, I knew I wanted to pursue a career path that was similarly interdisciplinary in nature. Following my graduation, I completed two terms of national service with the AmeriCorps Public Allies program, working with the Delaware Center for Horticulture (DCH).
Photo: Kim Easlick
I had the opportunity to work across departments, including Community Forestry, Education, and Communications programs, photographing various events and the seasonal progression of our gardens. I quickly discovered a love for using my art as a way to further connect people with plants. Now, as a graduate student, I’ve been able to continue my photography work through the management of the Bard Arboretum and Blithewood Garden Instagram accounts. Additionally, my work with the Arboretum has involved the revision of Bard's Tree Care and Landscape Guidelines, Standards and Considerations Manual, which guides landscape and arboreal management across campus. Most recently, I’ve also recently begun working with Montgomery Place, where I’ll be managing social media and assisting with event planning. I’m always on campus taking photos, so if you ever see me, say hello!
|
|
Total Solar Eclipse
Monday, April 8
A total solar eclipse will cross North America, passing over Mexico, United States, and Canada. A total solar eclipse happens when the Moon passes between the Sun and Earth, completely blocking the face of the Sun. The sky will darken as if it were dawn or dusk. Read more HERE.
Annual Arbor Day Tree Planting at Bard
Friday, April 26
Join us on Friday, April 26 to help plant our annual Arbor Day tree! The Bard Horticulture Department welcomes the Bard community and public to celebrate the importance of trees in our environment with our ceremonial tree planting. Stay tuned for more information!
National Public Gardens Week- Explore Bard’s Arboretum & Gardens!
Friday, May 10- Sunday, May 19
Spending time in nature has been scientifically proven to help reduce stress, improve emotions, and lower blood pressure. As if we haven’t already experienced the surge of tranquility that comes with taking a deep breath in the open. The American Public Gardens Association (APGA) established this day to emphasize activities such as plant conservation, water conservation, green space preservation, and home gardening. For more information visit HERE.
Hudson Valley Gives Day-Give Where You Live!
Wednesday, May 15
Hudson Valley Gives was created by the Community Foundation of Orange and Sullivan (CFOS) to provide nonprofit organizations in Orange, Sullivan, Ulster, Putnam, Dutchess, Rockland, and Westchester Counties with a valuable opportunity to reach online donors and raise awareness of their unique missions and causes.
Support the Bard Arboretum HERE
Support Friends of Blithewood Garden HERE
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
