The ESF Alumni Mini-Mag is a special publication that is released electronically, serving as a supplement to the ESF Alumni Magazine. While the Alumni Magazine is published annually by the Office of Alumni Relations, the Mini-Mag provides additional updates, highlights, and stories specifically designed to keep alumni connected to the latest happenings at ESF.
Editor: Debbie Caviness
Creative Director/Designer: Rehgan Pierce '18
Content Coordinator: Jennifer Cullivan
Contributors: Dr. Emily Arsenault (Director, Cranberry Lake Biological Station); David Ciesielski (Major Gifts Officer); Jane Verostek (Librarian, Moon Library).
A Message from the CLBS Director
Our campus on Barber Point has been at the heart of the ESF experience for over a century. Many of you will remember setting out for a day in the field with your favorite professor, finally pulling ahead in the war canoe race, or enjoying the peace of the campfire at sunset after a full day of classes. While students change from year to year, the traditions that make CLBS a leading venue for immersive field education continue.
Last summer, our keystone course in environmental biology brought a new cohort of ESF students to CLBS, and we offered field elective courses in ethnobotany, fishes, insects, herpetology, and respectful research methods. We hosted graduate and undergraduate researchers studying dendrochronology, mammals, wetlands, insects, fish, and more, who animated the Grober Lab with gear, samples, and whiteboard scrawls. CLBS also continues to provide a gathering place for contemplation and connection through our Indigenous Writer in Residence Program, Scientific Illustrator Internship, and community events.
Many of you continue to carry Cranberry Lake with you in your professions, friendships, and memories. Thank you for elevating CLBS through your scholarly and service contributions over the years. I hope you know how much we continue to value the impact you have made.
To our alumni donors, we are so grateful for your active encouragement of our future. Your donations support student scholarships, upgrades of residential and classroom spaces, and the preservation of CLBS historical photos and films. Thank you for your continued generosity and support of our programs.
I look forward to hearing more of your stories at the CLBS Alumni Reunion this fall. In the meantime, please keep in touch—we love hearing from you!
Sincerely,
Emily Arsenault, Ph.D.
CLBS Director
1915
By 1915, philanthropist Charles Lathrop Pack donated 1,000 acres near Cranberry Lake to the SUNY College of Forestry, which marked the formal beginning of CLBS as an important center for scientific research.
A campus is cleared for students complete with a fire line, two camp streets with permanent tent floors, a dock, a flagpole, a well, a bathing beach, and a sewage system.
1919 - 1930
Many of the early structures were built by forestry students themselves. The students would decide what they wanted to devote their time and energy to during their summer to improve camp. In the early years, they desired warm, dry places to eat and study. In addition to their studies, students rotated tasks to complete, such as cutting wood, pumping water for the kitchens, cleaning sewage and campgrounds, and building better camp facilities.
1924
Telephone lines are installed
1969
Transitions from an applied forestry camp to a biological research station.
The Station’s early purpose was to provide a place for students to gain hands-on experience in forest management and applied forestry practices. However, over the years, as ecological and environmental studies gained prominence, the focus of the station gradually shifted from practical forestry education to a broader scope of biological research, including ecology, wildlife, and environmental science.
1969 - 1980
Dr. Ed Ketchledge served as the director of Cranberry Lake Biological Station from 1970 to 1980. During his tenure, “Ketch” played a pivotal role in transforming the station into a premier site for ecological research and environmental education.
2015 - Present
In 2015, Cranberry Lake Biological Station celebrated its centennial. As it moves into the 21st century, the Station remains a cornerstone of the College’s field-based education and an integral part of its broader educational mission.
Today, CLBS continues to be a vital educational and research facility. Its programs have expanded to offer not only traditional ecological studies, but also specialized programs aimed at promoting diverse perspectives in the environmental sciences.
One of its most exciting developments is the integration of Indigenous writers and scientific illustrators into its programming. These initiatives reflect the growing recognition of the importance of diverse voices in understanding and communicating the natural world.
Want to see more historical content? Check out the digitized versions of the Cranberry Lake Camp Logs on the NY Heritage Digital Collections site by clicking the button below. This collection contains yearbooks from the New York State College of Forestry’s Cranberry Lake Biological Station, dating from 1915 to 1938.
In This Video:
Let the gentle waves of Cranberry Lake take you back in time. This peaceful soundscape invites alumni to remember the lake's timeless beauty and the moments spent by its shores.
Scott Shupe '72
"June 1972 saw Hurricane Agnes blow through. It stayed wet all summer; CLBS saw only 11 days without rain. Ketch had a dozen or so trees cut down so the shower houses could dry (most of us got athlete’s foot) and bunkhouses could get some light.
Sitting around evenings, in front of the rec-room fireplace, a few instruments came out – the Cranberry Lake Pick’n and Sing’n Society was born! Lew (banjo) and Sally (autoharp, kazoo, and vocals) Cutler were joined by Terry Finger (guitar), Brian Burns (bass), Harvey Nusbaum, Rich Sobel, Henry Jankiewicz (fiddle).....and the rest is history.
The group later cut a few albums and appeared in Bluegrass Ramble events."
Leah Samson '16
"The whole Cranberry Lake experience at ESF is truly one-of-a-kind. I have yet to meet anyone who has done something even remotely similar to living on a biological station only accessible by boat with a bunch of your peers in a summer-camp situation. In fact, when I talk to people about my educational background, I almost always bring up CLBS.
What I really value about my CLBS experience is:
1. Unforgettable memories with friends, professors, and staff
2. Experiencing a truly comprehensive curriculum, with everything from soil, plants, animals, and water given equal attention and value
3. The opportunities and on-the-ground experience
As I mentioned, I enjoyed CLBS so much that I ended up staying on as an equipment manager and teaching assistant for aquatic ecology. Both of those roles were great for my professional and personal development, and definitely helped me get jobs after I graduated (even in Australia!). I was given a lot of freedom and support in those roles to pursue my own personal collection and identification of macroinvertebrates, a skill that has been immensely useful and transferrable even to roles within Australia, where I moved after I graduated from ESF.
I currently work for a Landcare group outside of Canberra, Australia that does a lot of work protecting an endangered fish species. I can say with certainty that I regularly use skills and methodology I learned at CLBS on the job, and that those skills have imparted a unique perspective that benefited both my professional career and significant on-the-ground environmental outcomes."
Chad Edward Covey '64
"When we returned to the College for our Sophomore year, the advice we were given at our first freshman convocation appeared pretty accurate. Look to your right, then look to your left…one of you will not be here next year. However, those of us who returned had a greater bond and friendship because of forestry summer camp.
The skills and confidence I acquired that summer in map, compass and land navigation served me as well in the early years of my career with NYSDEC as a field forester. Also, and perhaps even more important, in 1966 leading daylight reconnaissance and night ambush patrols in the rice paddles and jungle of Vietnam with the Army First Infantry Division.
Upon retiring from D.E.C. in 2002, I remembered reading that the very early years campers had decorated their paddles at the end of the summer. My paddle was pretty beat up. The shaft was wrapped in duct tape because I had split it in a water fight in the war canoe one evening from Hoppies bar that was a way south of the camp. I restored it, decorated it with the help of my artist wife, Judy, and it hangs on our guest room wall in our home on Lake Hickory, North Carolina as the memory of that 1961 summer on Cranberry Lake."
In This Video:
Former directors of the Cranberry Lake Biological Station at SUNY ESF reflect on their experiences and highlight the program's significance.
Investing in the Future: Supporting Students at Cranberry Lake Biological Station
Did you know that the cost of attending classes at Cranberry Lake Biological Station is separate from a student's semester tuition? This means that in addition to their regular college expenses, students must find a way to cover the additional tuition, room, and board associated with this invaluable hands-on learning experience.
By contributing to the Cranberry Lake Biological Station Fund, you help ease this burden and make it possible for students from all walks of life to engage in this life-changing program. Your support goes directly to scholarships to help ensure that the next generation of environmental leaders are provided the same transformative experiences at CLBS that shaped your own education.
Your donation is not just a financial contribution— it’s an investment in the future of our planet and the students who will lead the charge toward a more sustainable world. Together, we can ensure that financial challenges do not hold back the bright, passionate students who are eager to make a difference and our current and future alumni continue to share the same touchstone Cranberry experience.
In This Video:
What makes Cranberry Lake so special? Hear from current ESF students who recently completed their summer programs at Cranberry Lake Biological Center.
Spotlight on Research at the Cranberry Lake Biological Station
The Cranberry Lake Biological Station has a long history of student-driven research, with thousands of course-based research projects, over 115 total peer-reviewed publications crediting CLBS, and several notable long-term studies. CLBS leadership aims to further expand educational impact by establishing CLBS as a nationally recognized research center that integrates ESF students as key collaborators in data collection, analysis, and interpretation.
Since 2023, CLBS has hosted 12 undergraduate researchers and 8 graduate student researchers, advised by 9 ESF faculty, as well as 12 visiting researchers from outside institutions. Current research projects span terrestrial and aquatic ecosystem boundaries and include work on white-throated sparrows, lake ecosystem services, fisheries, deer herbivory, entomology, contaminants, mesocarnivores, pollinators, aquatic food webs, and more.
Kate Wehr, a past awardee of the Samuel Grober Graduate Fellowship, spent two summers at CLBS quantifying deer browse across the CLBS property as part of her MS thesis, advised by Dr. Brian Underwood (ESF Environmental Biology and USGS). As part of this work, Kate designed a new understory vegetation monitoring protocol that has since been incorporated into our courses.
Dr. Chris Briggs (ESF Environmental Biology) continues a 30+ year study of white-throated sparrows in collaboration with Rusty Gonser of Indiana State University to determine what drives differences in plumage and behavior. His students are currently examining differences in sperm morphology between the promiscuous white-striped birds and less promiscuous tan-striped birds. Other students are currently working on parasites, including finding high prevalence of nematode parasites in the blood. Dr. Briggs has recently established a nestbox colony that will facilitate future projects on tree swallow diet and physiology, in collaboration with Dr. Cynthia Downs, Dr. Vanessa Rojas, and Dr. Emily Arsenault. This spring, they hope to install a Motus receiving station at the Ranger School to detect as birds come and go at CLBS.
CLBS Director, Dr. Emily Arsenault (ESF Environmental Biology), and her students are establishing new aquatic ecosystem research on juvenile northern pike habitat (in collaboration with Dr. John Farrell), Adirondack brook trout ponds, and beaver impacts in stream ecosystems. You can read more about these new projects and the students leading them on Dr. Arsenault’s lab website.
As we continue to expand our research program, our goal is to obtain funds to support student projects, strengthen partnerships with managers, facilitate graduate student access to CLBS, and provide meaningful research experiences for undergraduates. We are grateful to the Grober Family and the Maxwell-Hanrahan Foundation for their support of research at CLBS.
For more stories about specific research being conducted at CLBS, visit the “Field Notes” blog.
The ESF Alumni Association Welcomes You Back to Cranberry Lake for the 2025 Alumni Reunion
September 12 -14, 2025
Get ready to come back to Cranberry Lake for an unforgettable Alumni reunion! Spend the weekend back on the shores and relive the magic with a scenic boat trip, guided nature walks, special activities, a canoe tour, and more! Enjoy delicious meals, including a lively BBQ dinner with music and dancing, and unwind with film viewings and cozy campfires.
Don't miss this opportunity to reconnect with old friends and create new memories that will last a lifetime!
Interested in learning more about this trip? Follow the link below and be the first to know the details once they are finalized.
PO Box 6486 | Syracuse, NY 13217 | (315) 470-6683 | alumni@esf.edu
Credits:
ESF Office of Alumni Relations