A List
6/30/03

SLU PROFESSOR AWARDED GRANT BY GOLF ASSOCIATION

CANTON, N.Y. – The United States Golf Association (USGA), in collaboration 
with the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and the Wildlife Links 
program, has awarded St. Lawrence University Fippinger Assistant Professor 
of Biology Erika J. Barthelmess a $60,000 grant, to study how golf courses 
can sustain thriving populations of small mammals, such as mice, shrews 
and voles.
	According to the grant proposal prepared by Barthelmess, small 
mammals are some of the "unseen" wildlife present on golf courses in the 
United States, and therefore, management of their populations has gone 
largely unexamined. "However," Barthelmess noted, "these species make 
up an important part of the food chain, upon which larger, more noticeable 
wildlife species depend. This project will improve management of small 
mammal populations on golf courses by recommending minimum habitat 
requirements that best allow the species to thrive in a golf course 
setting."
	Barthelmess will conduct her research over two years at the 
St. Lawrence University Golf Course, beginning this summer; undergraduate 
students will collaborate. She conducted a pilot study there in the summer 
of 2002, which showed that some "patches" on the course did not have any 
evidence that populations of small mammals lived on them, while others 
had thriving populations. The proposal states that Barthelmess plans to 
make specific management recommendations, regarding habitat patch size 
and structure.
      The USGA has served as the national governing body of golf since 
its formation in 1894. It is a non-profit organization run by golfers 
for the benefit of golfers. The Association sponsors programs that 
benefit everyone who plays the game, including amateurs and professionals, 
on public and private courses.
      Wildlife Links is a cooperative program through the National Fish 
and Wildlife Foundation and the USGA that funds innovative research, 
management and education projects on golf courses. Since the program began 
in 1996, 13 projects committing over $800,000, with $200,000 annually from 
the USGA, have been funded to enhance wildlife conservation on golf courses.
      The overall goal of the program is to protect and enhance – through 
proper planning and management – the wildlife, fish and plant resources 
found on golf courses. This aim includes providing golf courses designers 
and superintendents with information they need to promote the wildlife on 
their golf facilities, while still providing high-quality playing 
conditions for the game of golf. 
	A member of the St. Lawrence faculty since 1999, Barthelmess was 
named the first recipient of the Grace J. Fippinger Junior Professorship 
in the Sciences in 2001. She is a graduate of Earlham College, with a 
Ph.D. from the University of Kansas and post-doctoral research at Vanderbilt 
University. Barthelmess' research interests center on  behavioral ecology, 
population biology, evolution, and conservation biology; she primarily 
studies mammals and other vertebrates.

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