NATURE Lab Urban Environmental Campus

NATURE Lab =
North Troy Art, Technology and Urban Research in Ecology

What lives with us humans in the post-industrial landscape of Troy, New York? This NATURE lab project invites the local community to contribute observations of urban nature found in the streets, brownfields, backyards and alleyways of our shrinking city.

Here we investigatethe biodiversity of the ruderal ecologies in the vicinity of Troy. We are interested in all sorts of organisms – native/adapted/introduced, vertebrates, invertebrates, vascular plants, mosses, lichens, fungi and microrganisms that are colonizing former industrial lands in the area.

NATURE Lab is a volunteer-led initiative of The Sanctuary for Independent Media. Our ecosystem in North Central Troy is one of the most environmentally devastated neighborhoods of New York State. One block from the Hudson River, our environmental education campus is adjacent to brownfield areas, combined sewer overflows, and seemingly endless litter. The long-gone prosperity of this neighborhood is evident in its architecture, with many historic buildings left vacant and decaying. NATURE Lab seeks to remediate the disrepair through education, resource access, and inspiration. less ↑