Research Report

Research Report Archive at Mohonk Preserve’s Daniel Smiley Research Center

Mohonk Preserve co-founder Daniel Smiley, for whom the Preserve’s Daniel Smiley Research Center was named, dedicated his life to understanding and protecting the Shawangunk Ridge. A thorough scientist and researcher, he meticulously recorded his observations on many subjects, from the flora and fauna of the Preserve to weather and other environmental phenomena.

“As a naturalist, Dan always let nature and serendipity guide our daily path. And, as unpredictable as nature is, our subject was mostly different each day. It was a very special time in my life,” said Mohonk Preserve Director of Research Emeritus Paul Huth. Dan and Paul’s observations were summarized in internal technical research reports still housed in hard-copy format at the DSRC.

Scientists typically share their projects and results in peer-reviewed publications and scientific journals. While a few reports were published in The Chirp, the newsletter of the John Burroughs Natural History Society, Dan rarely published his observations, choosing instead to distribute them personally to colleagues and store them in the archives. But now these reports are being made public — each with a new introduction authored by Paul that gives important and interesting context to the modern reader. “To me, profiling these Research Reports allows our audience to experience the breadth and depth of our interest in nature, which I had the privilege of experiencing with Dan during the 15 or so years of our working together,” said Paul.

Read the Reports with Introductions from Mohonk Preserve Director of Research Emeritus Paul Huth:

1. Keys to Taste and Morphology: Blueberries and Huckleberries of the Shawangunks
2. Forest Vegetation Changes: A Plant Community Transition — per stirpes
3. Mud Pond (North) on Overcliff Road
4. Traumatic Weather Events that Influenced Mohonk Forests
5. Shawangunk Forest Fires 1842 to 1982
6. Temperatures 90° or Above
7. Halos, Mock Suns, and Coronas
8. Frost Dates and Growing Season
9. Check List of Turtles
10. Prevailing Winds in the Shawangunks
11. Frost Curls
12. White Christmas
13. Snow
14. Temperatures 0° or below
15. January Thaws
16. Gray Squirrels on the Move
17. Shrews of Ulster County
18. Sublimation from Mohonk Lake Ice
19. Vegetable and Fruit Growing in the Shawangunks
20. The Shawangunk Sky Island-A Research Concept
21. Of Porcupines and People
22. Witches’ Brooms in the Shawangunks
23. American Chestnut: 1984 Status in the Shawangunks
24. Fish of the Northern Shawangunks
25. Arbutus Habitat
26. Gypsy Moths and Man-A Story of Mutual Accommodation
27. Dendrochronology-Sassafras
28. Raccoon
29. Botanical Significance of the Shawangunk Mountains and the Mohonk Preserve
30. Bedstraw in Ulster County
31. Predators in Ulster County: From Wolf to Coyote
32. Wildcats and Other Felines in the Shawangunks
33. Yellow Lady-slipper
34. The Passenger Pigeon in the Shawangunks
35. Cowbird
36. Shawangunk Plant Species: Decreases and Increases During 100 Years
37. Blue Jay
38. Wildlife of the Shawangunk Cliffs
39. Flowering Dogwood: Decline in the Shawangunks
40. Common Pheasant
41. Natural Values of The Mohonk Trust Lands
42. Slate-colored Junco Studies at Mohonk
43. Barn Swallow
44. Owls of the Northern Shawangunks
45. The Salamanders of Ulster County
46. Pink Lady-Slipper
47. Raven
48. Plant “Pioneering”
49. The Year Without a Summer — near New Paltz
50. Wood Rat
51. Rock Dove
52. Turnpikes and Taverns in the Shawangunks
53. Resource Industries of the Shawangunks
54. Living Stumps of Hemlocks (Tsuga canadensis (L.) Carr.)
55. White-tailed Deer
56. Wood as a Shawangunk Resource
57. The Shawangunk Hermit’s Hut
58. Bats of Ulster County
59.  Azalea “May Apple”
60. Zaidee’s Bower
61. Return of the Fisher
62. Mohonk Poultry Farm
63. Some Flowering Plants Which Lack Chlorophyll in the Northern Shawangunks

Banner photo by Steve Aaron