Northeast Natural History Conference 2012

Tomorrow I'm attending the Northeast Natural History Conference at the OnCenter in Syracuse, NY! Not only am I attending, but I'm presenting the study I've been involved with entitled "Black Bear Trails and Sign" that was started by a class I was in last year.

We have this 2 semester class, Black Bear Management I, II, that is taught by John and Sasha. The course focuses on the natural history, ecology, and management of black bears in general, and more specifically in our region of NY. John and Sasha also bring a research component into our classroom/in the field for us to work on. In my class, we studied this interested series of markings that black bears create. So, over the past year I've been talking to various people around the country (including KB! at Rompin' Rollin' Rockies), reading a ton, we visited some people in MA last summer who are studying the same thing, and now I've been presenting what I've learned. So far I've presented at:

-Rochester Academy of Science
-Finger Lakes Research Conference
-State University of New York Undergraduate Research Symposium

The other presentations were really exciting, slightly nerve-wracking, and alot of fun...but I'm most excited about tomorrow's event.

For more info: NENHC 2012

I feel like my study will best fit in with this crowd, and I'm really looking forward to meeting others studying natual history in the NE! Below is the poster that I created for this conference.

Also this week, Tuesday night actually, I'll be doing a local public presentation at the Muller Field Station. That one will be alot of fun too, because the audience will be people living in fairly new bear country...and let's be honest: bears are really cool animals. I'm hoping for a full house!