SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry (Roosevelt Wild Life Collections)

The Roosevelt Wild Life Collections (RWLC) at the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry will rehouse 4,000 bird and bat specimens identified in a 2013 Conservation Assessment Program survey as most at-risk due to severe impacts of flooding, temperature fluctuations, overcrowding, and pest infestations and exacerbated by outdated, substandard storage cabinetry. Project activities will include assessing the condition of specimens to generate baseline data for documenting collections' improvements over time; electronically databasing specimens; bagging and moving specimens to a new walk-in freezer as part of an Integrated Pest Management plan; and rehousing specimens according to modern curation standards for transfer to in a section of new compactor shelving cabinets within RWLC's Research and Education Center. Project progress will be communicated through social media, national media presentations, and public- and student-accessible "windows on the collections" that will be part of the RWLC Research and Education Center.