Photo by Pete Mauney ’93 MFA ’00
For Bard Students
The Field Station offers many opportunities for Bard students to experience and learn about the natural world and our place here in the Hudson Valley. We provide access to study sites, research facilities, and equipment, as well as training in natural history and the curation of museum collections (with Hudsonia) to supplement Bard's academic offerings and support senior projects. Field Station internships allow student to gain unique experience while developing co-curricular skills. Faculty- and student-led workshops, field trips, participatory science programs, and recreational activities are open to all students regardless of experience or intended major.
Opportunities
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Bard Field Stations Interns
Paid Field Station internships are available to Bard undergraduates during the academic year.
The availability of specific positions varies from semester to semester depending on programmatic needs. All openings are advertised on Handshake.- Herbarium Interns work with Hudsonia to assist in pressing, cataloguing, mounting, and filing specimens of vascular plants.
- Natural History Interns assist with specimen curation and data entry projects; working with the bird, butterfly, invertebrate and other collections to identify, label, and catalog specimens.
- Biodiversity Interns design and test protocols and training materials and organize and lead field trips and events or the Bard Biodiversity Initiative.
- Eel Interns coordinate the Saw Kill Eel Project, the Saw Kill/Tivoli South Bay site of the Hudson River Eel Project, during the Spring semester.
Internships are available on a competitive basis to Bard undergraduate and graduate students, and students at other institutions, depending on the qualifications of applicants and other activities at the Field Station and Hudsonia. Only a few internships will be awarded in any year due to staff limitation. Interns are usually volunteers but occasionally there may be a paid internship available. Interested students should send a résumé and references to Erik Kiviat ([email protected]).
Internship projects may qualify for academic credit or thesis research and are considered to be research collaborations. Student work is expected to be professional, and it is hoped that a project will result in a jointly-authored paper for scientific publication.
Example research topics for internship projects include:- Reptile and amphibian ecology in temperate estuarine environments.
- Analysis of social factors in the journal publications of invasive plant practitioners.
- Eastern prickly-pear cactus in the Hudson Valley.
- Ash biota in northeastern and north-central North America.
- Wood turtle radio-tracking and observation at an organic farm.
- Soil factors in the ecological and geographic distributions of higher vertebrates.
- Traditional protection against biting flies.
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WORKSHOPS
Develop new skills, gain experience, and help monitor campus biodiversity by attending on-campus workshops led by Bard faculty, staff, and students.
Workshop topics vary depending on interest.- Mammal trapping (using trail cameras)
- Insect pinning
- Bird skinning
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FIELD TRIPS
Learn about natural history and monitor biodiversity while exploring campus and nearby areas on trips led by Bard faculty, staff, and students.
Trips vary depending on interest.- Overwintering Bird Walks
- Bat and Owl Walks
- Insect Collecting
- Cruger Island
- Canoeing at Tivoli North Bay (with HRNERR)
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Participatory Science Programs
The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYS DEC) conducts a number of programs in partnership with the Hudson River National Estuarine Research Reserve (HRNERR) and the New York State Water Resources Institute at Cornell University (WRI). Volunteers can participate in these projects at various locations within the Hudson River Estuary, including local sites on and near campus.
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NYS DEC Hudson River Eel ProjectThe Field Station and Hudsonia support the NYS DEC Hudson River Eel Project by coordinating glass eel monitoring at the Saw Kill/Tivoli South Bay site.NYS DEC Hudson River Eel Project
The Saw Kill is one of the sixteen sites that have been monitored for American eels (Anguilla rostrata) as part of the Hudson River Eel Project. Hudsonia oversees the Saw Kill site along with Bard student “eel interns”. Eels have been monitored in the Saw Kill since 2003 when Robert Schmidt (now emeritus faculty at Bard st Simon’s Rock) first installed the fyke net in Tivoli South Bay at the mouth of the Saw Kill. The net is checked daily at low tide from March to May for glass eels by groups of volunteers including Bard students, high school students, and community members. Later in the year, an eel ladder is installed at the lower dam to catch older eels as they begin to move upstream
Interested in volunteering?
Sign up to receive news and updates on this project as well as a link to the eeling schedule for the current season.
The Hudson River Eel Project is a participatory science eel monitoring program that has been tracking the number of glass (young of year) eels in Hudson River tributaries each spring since 2008. The program is coordinated by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) Hudson River Estuary Program (HREP) and the Hudson River National Estuarine Research Reserve (HRNERR) with support from NEIWPCC and the New York Water Resources Institute (NYSWRI).
Glass Eels on the Saw Kill
instagram.com/bardeels
NYSDEC Hudson River Eel Project
Hudson River Eel Project Report (2008-2022) -
NYS DEC Amphibian Migrations and Road Crossings ProjectStudents and local volunteers can participate in the NYS DEC Amphibian Migrations and Road Crossings Project at sites in Red Hook. The Red Hook team is coordinated by the Saw Kill Watershed Community. -
The Education and Microplastics Science Community River Assessment ProjectStudents can participate in TEAM SCRAP to sample for microplastic pollution in the Hudson River. A team of Bard students collect and filter water from Tivoli South Bay (once a month from April to November).
