RENSSELAERVILLE — Seven students who conducted summer research projects at the Huyck Preserve — on earthworms, beavers, and ferns — presented their findings at the Northeast Natural History Conference on April 5 and 6 in Springfield, Massachusetts.

The NENHC is the largest regional gathering of researchers, natural resource managers, graduate and undergraduate students, and naturalists working in the areas of applied field biology and natural history in the northeastern United States and adjacent areas of Canada, according to a release from the Huyck Preserve.

This year’s conference included over 150 oral presentations and over 60 poster presentations.

This is the first time the Huyck Preserve, a land trust and biological research station in Rensselaerville,  brought students to the conference to present their summer research projects.

Five high school students from the Preserve’s 2024 Wildlife Ecology Research program and two undergraduate students from the Preserve’s Odum Internship in Field Ecology shared their work at the conference’s Saturday poster sessions.

High school students, who attended a two-weekWildlife Ecology Research program, came from Albany Academy, Bethlehem, Mohonasen, Scotia-Glenville, and York Prep. Undergraduate students, who spent six weeks at the preserve as Odum interns, came from Bard College and the University of Rochester.

“Students in both programs learn how to design, execute, analyze, and present ecological research projects based on the forests and water bodies of the Huyck Preserve,” said the release. “They learn the rigor of field work and the importance of communicating their results, and leave the preserve having made a significant scientific contribution to the organization’s nearly 90-year history of research.”

This year, the Huyck Preserve will host six Odum interns working with Summer Research Fellow Sarah Snyder, Ph.D., Associate Professor in Biology from Bard College at Simon’s Rock, and nine Wildlife Ecology Research program high school students.

Community members are invited to the Eldridge Research Center at 284 Pond Hill Road in Rensselaerville, to see the interns’ summer 2025 research presentations and the Wildlife Ecology Research students.

Interns will present their work on the final night of the Preserve’s Thursday Night Lecture Series on Aug. 7, with a potluck dinner beginning at 6 p.m. and the lectures starting at 7 p.m. The high school students will present their work on Friday, Aug. 8, with a poster session starting at 3 p.m.