Mohonk Preserve

Gardiner, New York

Organization Description:

With 8,000 acres of cliffs, forests, fields and streams, Mohonk Preserve is New York’s largest member- and visitor-supported nature preserve. The Preserve’s mission is to protect the Shawangunk Mountain’s region and inspire people to care for, enjoy, and explore their natural world. 

Organization Goals: 

• Protect the Shawangunk ecosystem through land management practices based on sound ecological research;

• Preserve the cultural landscape in harmony with its history and heritage;

• Provide education for children and adults that increase their understanding of the relationships between themselves and nature;

• Promote responsible recreation and quiet enjoyment of the land in keeping with its fragility, serenity, and natural beauty.

Phenology Project Description

The Mohonk Preserve Foothills Phenology Project, launched in Spring of 2014, invites citizen scientists to observe and document seasonal changes in select trees, shrubs, and spring ephemerals at the Foothills Phenology Trail and the Spring Farm Phenology Trail throughout the year. The group’s robust training schedule engages volunteers of all ages and abilities in close observation of the natural world in all seasons. This new program builds on the tradition of long-term ecological monitoring at Mohonk Preserve, which includes records of spring bird arrivals and flower blooms on the ridge as far back as 1925. Paired with over a century of weather data from the Preserve’s Mohonk Lake Cooperative Weather Station, these phenology records illuminate local responses of plants and animals to global environmental change.  

To learn more or get involved: 

• Websites: Mohonk Preserve and the Phenology Project: Studying the Seasons

• Coordinator Email: Natalie Feldsine, nfeldsine@mohonkpreserve.org