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BBG Goes to the Woods
January 2001
Brooklyn Botanic Garden's botanical research extends up the Hudson to Cornwall, New York, where staff scientists are cataloging and analyzing the plants of Black Rock Forest. Established in the 1920's, Black Rock is an experimental forest managed by a consortium of 17 institutions, including BBG, the American Museum of Natural History, Barnard Colleges, and the New York Academy of Sciences.
Dr. Kerry Barringer measuring the diameter of a tree within a vegetation quadrant at Black Rock Forest. He and his colleagues are compiling data from more than 60 sites in the forest to study the impact of human land use on native flora.
Trees in the lowland forest vegetation of Glycerine Hollow in Black Rock Forest beginning to change color in September. The open understory is one of the signs that the area was formerly used as a pasture.
BBG Herbarium curator Dr. Kerry Barringer and his staff are mapping out 20-by-20-meter segments of the forest and closely examining the growth patterns of the trees and other plants that they find. They are combining the results of their fieldwork with a survey of Black Rock's detailed plant records to study the impact that humans have on native flora and vegetation.
Because Black Rock Forest was once a collection of hardscrabble farms, BBG scientists are also gaining valuable insight into the long-term effects of human land use. "It's possible to tell whether a section of land was clear-cut or used as pasture or plowed field," says Barringer. "For instance, after a clear-cut, very specific species come back—like oaks, which sprout and grow rapidly, but often with very peculiar forms, like twinned trunks."
A new science building on the site, complete with research center, labs, and classrooms, is making the work easier. With its solar power, geothermal heat, and compost toilets, the building has hardly any utility bills. During the summer, BBG uses the building for its high school teacher-training program. "We bring the teachers there to work with scientists on staff," says Barringer. "They help us with our research, they get a feel for doing scientific work, and we all get out of the city."