THE INSTITUTE OF ECOSYSTEM STUDIES IS DEDICATED TO THE CREATION, DISSEMINATION AND APPLICATION OF KNOWLEDGE ABOUT ECOLOGICAL SYSTEMS.
THIS KNOWLEDGE IS CREATED THROUGH SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH, DISSEMINATED THROUGH TEACHING, WRITING AND EXHIBITS, AND APPLIED THROUGH PARTICIPATION IN DECISION-MAKING REGARDING THE ECOLOGICAL MANAGEMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES AND THROUGH PROMOTION OF A BROADER AWARENESS ABOUT THE IMPORTANCE OF ECOLOGICAL RELATIONSHIPS TO HUMAN WELFARE.
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HISTORY OF THE INSTITUTE OF ECOSYSTEM STUDIES
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Mary Flagler, an heiress to the Standard Oil fortune of her grandfather Henry Morrison Flagler, married Melbert B. Cary, Jr. in 1923. During the 1930s, the couple purchased 14 farms and other properties surrounding the Cannoo Hills in Millbrook, N.Y. After Mr. Cary died in 1941, Mrs. Cary spent long periods of time on her land overseeing its care, with special concern for specimen trees.
Mary Flagler Cary died in 1967. In her will she created a charitable trust, one purpose of which was to ensure the preservation of the property in Millbrook and its use for the public benefit. In 1971, the Cary Trustees chose The New York Botanical Garden as custodian of the property, and the Mary Flagler Cary Arboretum was established.
In the early 1980s, The New York Botanical Garden began an international search for an eminent scientist who would realize the potential of the Arboretum's site and resources by developing an institute of ecological studies. Dr. Gene E. Likens was appointed director of both the Arboretum and the new ecology center in 1983. He named this new center the Institute of Ecosystem Studies (IES).
The Institute's emphasis on long-term ecological studies had its roots in the on-going Hubbard Brook Ecosystem Study, initiated in 1963 in New Hampshire by Dr. Likens and colleagues. With the opening of the Institute, other long-term research projects began. Studies of Arboretum forests and streams, the Hudson River, and urban ecosystems, among others, established invaluable data bases for current and future research.
The first international Cary Conference was held at IES in spring 1985. Convened every two years since then, most recently in 2001, the conferences have gained world-wide recognition. Cary Conference proceedings and findings are published as books and in appropriate journals.
On 19 February 1993, the Institute separated from The New York Botanical Garden to become an independent, not-for-profit corporation.
The Gene E. Likens Laboratory opened its doors in November 2000. This spacious and efficient new workplace, built adjacent to the laboratory wing of the Plant Science Building, provides badly needed state-of-the-art facilities for IES scientists.
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Programs at IES are flourishing! We successfully completed our Capital Campaign in 2000, and our new laboratory building --- a direct result of that campaign --- is providing much needed research space and facilities. This milestone is extremely important for IES and reflects the growth of our programs. Currently, we have about four times the number of employees, an annual budget that is more than five times larger, and about ten times the number of scientific publications per year, than we had in 1983-84 when IES began. But this growth is not a goal unto itself. Rather, it is the consequence of our endless quest for improvement. We constantly strive to be the best we can be, and to make increasingly useful contributions toward understanding and protecting the systems that nurture and support all life on Earth. The progress of our education and research efforts toward these important goals is impressive. Efforts to train a new generation of ecologists, to explore the ecology of infectious diseases, to understand extremely complex urban ecosystems, and to monitor air and water pollution, the invasion of alien species, and the consequences of changing land use, are significant and exciting IES activities. Such efforts provide a fundamental basis for development and implementation of critical public policies. Some of these topics are highlighted in this report. We welcome your continued interest and support of our programs.
Gene E. Likens, Director
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The Gene E. Likens Laboratory was dedicated on 3 November 2000. From the left, with the new building in the background, are Dr. Paul G. Risser, Chairman of the Board of Trustees, IES Director Dr. Gene E. Likens, and Past Chairman Ms. Gretchen Long Glickman.
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Over the decades, this country and the world have faced the need to respond to environmental degradation and to make decisions about how to manage natural resources. These challenges continue, but there are two conditions that now focus on the type of ecological research conducted by IES. First, the public expects to be involved in many practices and policies related to environmental quality and management. Legal cases, public hearings and public action groups reflect this involvement. Second, there is an increasing desire by many parts of society to understand more fully the tradeoffs among ecological, economic and social costs of environmental decisions, a desire made more compelling by the global embrace of capitalism. Both these issues - the involvement of the public and the need to understand relative costs - require a deeper understanding about ecological systems. Understanding the complexity of ecosystems becomes paramount when the public tries to weigh the implications among various policy options. Similarly, it is usually impossible to compare economic costs to ecologic costs without a thorough understanding of the ecosystem.
The Institute of Ecosystem Studies is perhaps the premier ecosystem research organization in the country. Among its greatest strengths is the ability to bring together a group of scientists, with different but complementary skills, to study complex ecological systems. Thus, because of the constantly increasing need to understand the interactions within and among ecosystems, the work of IES continues to be ever more significant.
Finally, it is my pleasure to convey the Board's deep gratitude to Gretchen Long Glickman for her superb leadership and intense commitment to the success of IES. She served as Chairman from the time the corporation was formed in 1993 until 2000. Her dedication has been an inspiration to the Board, to the staff, and to all those who have so generously given support to the Institute.
Paul G. Risser, Chairman
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