Shaping the neighborhood: Adirondack people, plants and animals
Professors Dianne Rocheleau and Luis Malaret's research
People living in or visiting rural, forested areas take a personal interest in the trees and animals around them. They may look to trees to provide shelter, fuel for heating and cooking, a shady place on a hot day, a source of material for a marketable craft, or a habitat to be hunted for game. The way people alter the vegetation around them will affect the habitats of animals and other plants.
Husband and wife team Dianne Rocheleau and Luis Malaret are examining the relationships between
- forest-users
- forest products and
- the animals and vegetation that live in forests
They hope their research will provide insight on some of the following topics:
- How the number and types of selected plants and animals vary according to the different ways people use the land
- The types of products that are made locally from local trees
- People's attitudes towards the trees, shrubs and animals in their immediate environment and how those attitudes might vary with socio-economic status and type of environment
Participants
Rocheleau and Malaret are collaborating in this research with Marla Emery and Gary Wade of the USDA Forest Service. Several graduate and undergraduate students have assisted them in their field work, including Robin Roth, Alice Havorka, Monika Szymurska '01, Rachel Regeczi '03 (click for an online interview), and Loretta Neal '03.
The Adirondack setting
Their research focuses on the region around the village of Tupper Lake (pop. 3,935) in the Adirondack Park region of upstate New York. This part of New York is mountainous, heavily forested, largely rural, and sparsely populated. The Adirondacks have for decades been popular with hunters, fishermen, hikers, campers and summer tourists looking to "rusticate". Situated here is Lake Placid, the site of the 1932 and 1980 Winter Olympics. The town of Saranac Lake was an international destination during the first half of the 20th century for tuberculosis patients hoping to be cured by the pure mountain air. Important economic activities today include logging and tourism.
Study sites
The study sites represent a cross-section of different environments found in the Adirondack Park, including private lands:
- Hamlets, communities with a diversity of residential, commercial, tourist and industrial development and some level of public services
- Moderate intensity use areas, characterized by natural resources that could support relatively intense development, especially residential
- Low intensity use areas, accessible areas able to support a somewhat lower level of development
and public lands:
- Wild forest, areas where the resources permit a somewhat higher degree of human use than in wilderness areas
- Intensive use, areas where the state provides facilities for intensive forms of public outdoor recreation.
Data collection
For study the researchers have randomly selected forty-eight plots 400 square meters in size distributed across the above environments. At these sites, they are inventorying
- Types of vegetation present, consisting of all trees over 2.5 cm in diameter when measured at 1.3 meters in height, and all shrubs over 1 meter tall. Sketch maps and photography are being used to help document the landscape.
- Selected animals, specifically snakes, frogs, toads, salamanders and ants, all of which are considered to be good indicators of environmental change. (Click here for more information on the animal survey process, and to see pictures and hear frog calls.)
- Information about the owners and users of these plots. What is their attitude toward and how do they manage their environments? They are questioned about the plant and animal species present, species that are desired or excluded, their residential status (seasonal or year round), tenure status (owners or renters), history of residence/involvement at the site, their ages, occupations, recreational interests, etc.
The researchers also are studying local uses of local woods by talking with local residents, artisans, and business people, and by attending local festivals and arts and crafts fairs.
For additional information about such topics as land resource management conflicts and species management and composition, interviews and discussions are being conducted with
- individuals from a variety of government agencies, businesses, community associations
- local foresters, planners, environmentalists and scientists
- local residents from a range of different socio-economic backgrounds