LAKE PLACID — Northwood School has been awarded grants to support the Adirondack Wildlife Inventory and Monitoring Project, a long-term monitoring program focused on collecting wildlife occurrence and climate data in the Adirondack Park.

Grants have been received from the Toshiba America Foundation, International Paper Foundation and the Henry Uihlein II and Mildred A. Uihlein Foundation.

The Adirondack Wildlife Inventory and Monitoring Project helps high-school students in Northwood’s Advanced STEM Research class learn to conduct field-based research and recognize humans’ impact on the environment. It provides the opportunity to gather important data from the forests surrounding the school’s campus using trail cameras and data loggers that can be used for years to model the effects of climate change on species in the Adirondack Park. The work is being done in collaboration with Paul Jensen, SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry, the Adirondack Ecological Center, and students and scientists at Paul Smith’s College.

Data collected will be used to monitor climate trends and associated changes in mammal distributions, focusing on species that may be most sensitive to climate change like snowshoe hare, American marten and moose. Data will be shared with New York state agencies responsible for stewardship and management of private and public lands and transportation infrastructure within the Adirondack Park.