Skip to main contentSkip to footer content
 

Cranberry Lake Biological Station
Facilities

Since the station is accessible only by boat, we maintain a fleet of 15 boats and motorized rafts to move equipment and people across the 5 miles of Cranberry Lake to CLBS. Students make the trip in a larger vessel, the Forester, capable of carrying up to 28 passengers. Students, faculty, and Station personnel leave their private vehicles at the College-operated marina on Columbian Road on the west side of Cranberry Lake. The marina is about 2 miles south of Route 3 which is the only highway through the region. It skirts the north end of the lake, passing through the village of Cranberry Lake. The village is 70 miles east of Watertown and 30 miles west of Tupper Lake, the latter being the largest village in Adirondack Park (about 10,000 residents).

The student cabins are simple, unpartitioned and unheated. Each cabin is equipped with a bunk and mattress for each student, assorted desks, bureaus, chairs, and 2 or 3 clothes closets. Usually, students study either in the classrooms, which are left open in the evening, or in the dining hall. Each student cabin houses 6-8 students. The washhouse is divided into "male" and "female" sides. Each side has 4 toilets and stalls and several wash basins and showers. Hot water is plentiful. A coin-operated laundry is available to students during designated hours under the north wing of the Faculty Lodge.

There are 4 classroom buildings. Classroom No. 1 is arranged as a lecture room and seats 50 people. There are partitioned labs in the back of the building, which house computer facilities for student projects. The other 3 classrooms are equipped as typical biology labs with electricity, water, microscopes and supplies for the particular courses taught in each lab. One lab houses a complete herbarium. Sanderson Lodge, a comfortable log cabin lecture room with large fireplace, is the site of weekly lectures and seminars. It also serves as an informal gathering place for students to talk, play guitars, and sing.

There is no TV at the Station and use of radios is strictly controlled. The station office is the base of operations for the Director, business manager and faculty. The radio telephone is located here for student and faculty use. Here too are the stockroom and a modest library. The station is equipped with all of the modern amenities needed to do sophisticated field work. Our microscopes are state of the art dissecting and compound scopes brought up from Syracuse each summer. We have modern electronic balances, centrifuges, PH, O2, and conductivity meters, and even power supplies and spectrophotometers for biochemical analyses. In addition, we provide personal computers for student data analysis and word processing. You are free to bring your own lap top computer if you wish.

We all eat in a dining hall capable of comfortably seating about 120 people, each table seating 8 to 10 people. A large bell at the entrance calls everyone to meals, a common tradition at field stations. Meals are prepared by an expert staff. The meals at CLBS, including meatless dishes daily, have earned a reputation for being tasty and very adequate. Other facilities supporting the CLBS program include the Faculty lodge, several faculty cabins, the Cook's Quarters, Caretaker's Cottage, 2 boat houses, one containing a workshop, an emergency power generating plant, numerous boat docks and utility buildings.

A fleet of canoes is available to students and Station residents for official projects or personal enjoyment. Paddles are checked out at the Boat House. A volleyball court is heavily used during both sessions, while the open lawn area in the center of the Station campus is used for soccer, frisbee or just plain laying about. On the first Sunday of the session, one week after arrival, a Field Day is held with woodsmen's events, canoeing, soccer, tug-of-war and various other contests. A barbecue caps the day.