Facilities
The Field Station is open for use by researchers and classes with prior arrangement. Other individuals or groups focused on research, environmental education, conservation, or natural history may use the facilities as space allows. In addition to wet and dry laboratories, the building houses a library, herbarium, classroom, offices, indoor and outdoor meeting spaces, and a kitchen.
Collections
The Field Station houses several high-quality regional research collections of special value that have been maintained by Hudsonia Ltd., since their creation in 1971. The collections contain large numbers of voucher specimens for research projects from the Tivoli Bays, Thompson Pond, the Millbrook Marsh Watershed, and other Hudson Valley locales.
Library
The collected libraries of Hudsonia and Bard represent over 3000 books. Also in the collection are scientific periodicals in natural history, ecology, botany, zoology, and more. Many of these journals are not available electronically through any currently available scientific database. The library also includes files of reprinted scientific articles on areas that have been particular foci of research, conservation or educational activities such as regional and endangered turtles, the Hudson River, fresh-tidal wetlands, muskrat, Phragmites, purple loosestrife, water chestnut, and northeastern biota.
Publications
Field Station research collaborations involving scientists, faculty, and students at Hudsonia, Bard, and Simon's Rock have resulted in publications in peer-reviewed scientific journals. In addition, the Field Station has supported more than one-hundred summer and semester-long student research projects, including Bard Undergraduate Senior Projects and Tibor T. Polgar Fellowship projects. As the original site of the headquarters of the Hudson River National Estuarine Research Reserve (from 1985 until 2006), the Field Station hosted a wide variety of research studies involving scientists from the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies and the State University of New York, College of Environmental Science and Forestry, among others. Building on the long history of scientific research conducted at local sites including the Tivoli Bays, which is one of the four Hudson River National Estuarine Research Reserve sites, the Field Station continues to encourage, support, and facilitate research collaborations and long-term monitoring studies. Since its establishment in the 1970s, the Field Station has produced a variety of additional publications (largely through the efforts of Hudsonia), including guides, maps, and brochures.
Guides and Brochures
Bard Undergraduate Senior Projects
Polgar Fellowship Reports
Hudsonia Publications
News From Hudsonia
Natural Areas
Our location, on the Hudson River near Tivoli South Bay and the mouth of the Saw Kill, affords research and teaching access to freshwater tidal marshes, swamps and shallows, perennial and intermittent streams, young and old deciduous and coniferous forests, old and mowed fields, and other habitats.
Hudson River National Estuarine Research Reserve
Tivoli Bays Wildlife Management Area
South Woods Old-Growth Forest
Saw Kill Watershed Community
Environmental Conditions
The Field Station plays a critical role in documenting ecological conditions and serving as a repository for local data. By monitoring environmental conditions over time, trends can be observed that improve our understanding of natural processes and ecosystem function. Evidence of ecosystem change, which often occurs over many decades, is essential to management and policy decisions.
HRNERR Meteorological Station Data
Resources for Faculty
Users of the Field Station represent a range of disciplines (e.g., ecology, environmental science, archeology, writing, studio arts, photography, humanities). Our facilities and resources are available to support faculty teaching and research activities.