Paul Smith's College Natural Sciences

04/30/2026

DEC summer Environmental Education Assistants in the ADK!

12/27/2025

Off on our next adventure: 13 students plus two professors are heading to Nepal! Follow our adventures here:

Paul Smith's College students journey to explore Nepal and how they approach protecting lands for both people and nature.

11/18/2025

10/28/2025

Soils lab at the VIC for Intro to Env Sci

07/22/2025

🌊🐟Adirondack Field Ecology Day 2 🌊🐟

Today, students dove into stream science and lake ecology! 🏞️

🌊 Morning: We kicked things off at Smitty Creek, where students explored Rosgen stream classification, a system that uses channel shape and form to understand how streams behave over time. Learning about watersheds and geomorphology helps us better predict and manage stream health.

🌱 Afternoon: After lunch, we headed to Lower Saint Regis Lake! Students used vegetation rakes and dichotomous keys to identify emergent and submergent aquatic plants, learning to tell the difference between native species and invasive pond weeds.

🧪 They also collected water quality data using Secchi disks to measure turbidity and clarity, and used a YSI meter to test dissolved oxygen and water temperature.

07/21/2025

🌲🧭 Adirondack Field Ecology 2025 is officially underway! 🧭🌲

We welcomed students from across the country to Paul Smith’s College for a two-week immersive adventure in science, discovery, and of course field ecology!

🌅 Day 1 began with move-in, campus orientation, and canoe safety on Lower Saint Regis Lake. From there, we dove into the principles of Leave No Trace and taught students one of the most essential tools in the field ecologist’s toolkit: the field journal.

🌿 Day 2 brought us into the woods and wetlands with botanist Steve Langdon for an ecological plant walk through the VIC’s Heron Marsh and Boreal Life trails. Students got their first look at native Adirondack species and learned how to identify plants using morphology and geography.

And of course, the day wouldn’t be complete without a visit to the bog to see some PEAT!
Thank you Steve for taking the time to create such a wonderful experience for our students!

📍Paul Smith’s College | PSC VIC | Lower St. Regis Lake