The Adirondack Watershed Institute has been awarded funding from the Lake Champlain Sea Grant to support a study of shoreline biodiversity on Upper Saranac Lake. AWI hopes to document the diversity and abundance of wildlife using the lakeshore environment and understand the benefits to wildlife from recommended management practices. The intactness of uplands surrounding lakes has direct consequences for water quality, with shoreland manipulations such as development, agricultural use, vegetation removal, and creation of impervious surface all contributing toward increased runoff, pollution, sedimentation, and declining water quality.
Shorelines are also critical habitats for wildlife and natural corridors of movement through the landscape, frequently supporting higher levels of biodiversity than surrounding habitats. Michale Glennon, Senior Research Scientist at AWI, together with a graduate student from Paul Smith’s College, will document bird, mammal, and amphibian occurrence along the lakeshore using a combination of active and passive methods including listening surveys and automated acoustic monitoring for documenting birds and calling frogs, as well as camera trapping and snow track surveys for locating mammals.
AWI seeks landowners who would be amenable to wildlife surveys on their shoreline and will happily share data with participants. You can read more about Michale’s wildlife research here and how she turns data into fiber art here. If you’re interested, please reach out to her at mglennon@paulsmiths.edu.