College & University Research
Lehigh Gap Nature Center believes in utilizing science to inform all habitat management and natural resource issues on our wildlife refuge, and we value our partners who help us collect and analyze that information. Featuring a diversity of native habitats, including over 400 acres of restored grassland on the Palmerton Zinc Pile Superfund site, the Lehigh Gap Wildlife Refuge offers unique opportunities for college and university research.
Our Refuge is an outdoor laboratory, where professional and student researchers can make meaningful contributions to the ongoing recovery of the Superfund site and broaden scientific knowledge in the areas of ecology, geology, anthropology, and other disciplines.
Since its founding, LGNC has proudly collaborated with over a dozen academic institutions.
Interested in partnering?
Learn more about our Research Application Process below.
Research Application Process
Anyone wishing to conduct research on the Lehigh Gap Wildlife Refuge must submit a proposal for review and approval by LGNC’s Research Committee before proceeding with research. The proposal should be documented on the LGNC Research Application and limited to two pages or less. LGNC may require additional information. A separate proposal should be submitted for each different research project being proposed.
Please be aware that there are other research and conservation projects occurring on the Refuge on an ongoing basis. These projects are being conducted by LGNC, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Superfund site Responsible Party, and other partner academic institutions and researchers. This Research Application Process is designed to prevent redundancy and intrusion of one experiment into other projects, to protect sensitive areas and wildlife within the Refuge, and to allow LGNC to gather results for our ongoing conservation and management efforts. We will supply the applicant with pertinent information regarding other ongoing work.
EPA has regulatory authority to govern activity on the site that involves hazardous material, such as soil or plant sampling. Any project involving sampling must be approved by EPA and, in some cases, the Superfund site Responsible Party.
Application Timeline and Fee Schedule
Please allow three weeks for the approval process if no samples are being collected and five weeks if sampling is involved that will require EPA and/or Responsible Party approval.
To offset the time incurred by LGNC staff to approve, manage, and coordinate projects, LGNC charges a modest research fee assessed to the institution. The fee will be due upon acceptance of the project and must be paid before access is granted to the Refuge. The current fee schedule is as follows:
Undergraduate research fee: $50
Graduate research fee: $100