Post Classifieds
Buffalo State secures $1.1 million grant
By Katie Anderson
On February 20, 2013
Buffalo State's Great Lakes Center received a five-year, $1.1 million grant from the
Environmental Protection Fund as administered by the New York Department of Environmental
Conservation to develop a management office for invasive species.
According to Christopher Pennuto, the project director and writer of the grant, this new
Partnership for Regional Invasive Species Management office will be the only one in Western
New York and is one of only eight offices statewide.
"What the offices do is coordinate information and activities as they pertain to invasive species,"
he said. "Although these offices aren't designed necessarily to do research, they're designed to
manage things and keep track of what likely invaders are on the horizon - who's knocking at the
door and how do we prevent them from getting here."
Invasive species are any species including terrestrial and aquatic plants, animals and insects
that migrate beyond their normal habitat to a new home where they can cause economic
problems or harm the environment, Pennuto said.
"Most of the things that [the office] would be engaged in would be wherever the invasive species
happened to be occurring," he said. "So it could be some place in any of the eight western
counties of New York."
The office will not only act as a storage house of information regarding reported sites of invasive
species, but it will also be used as a training base to teach people about invasive species and
how to manage them.
"We will run workshops to help people learn to identify things and to learn best management
techniques to control invasive species," Pennuto said. "We'll hire students in the summer to help
go out and assist landowners in managing species that aren't suppose to be there and set up a
surveillance network to monitor invasive species."
Pennuto said Buffalo State's location, amount of invasive species specialists and connection
with SUNY all played important roles in securing the grant to establish the new office.
Alexander Karatayev, director of the Great Lakes Center said in a press release, "Buffalo State
is uniquely qualified to administer and house the Western New York PRISM office. We are
located in the largest population center in the region, our waterfront field station gives us access
to its major waterways, and we have the experience necessary to manage large conservation
initiatives."
The Great Lakes field station, located off of Porter Avenue, is a facility used mostly for aquatic
research and projects.
Field station manager Mark Clapsadl said he thinks the field station could see a lot of outreach
activities.
"There are aquatic invasive species that the facility may be used to target," he said.
Pennuto said one important aspect of having the office established is the community
involvement.
"There will be a lot of opportunities for the public to be involved primarily through volunteering
and training," he said. "And that's a pretty important role that this office plays--incorporating
what we would call 'citizen science.'"
A coordinator position for the PRISM office still needs to be filled.
Katie Anderson can be reached by email at anderson.record@live.com.
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