Our names are Cole Weigartz and Kayla Edmunds, and we are undergraduate students enrolled in the Conservation Biology class at St. Lawrence University in Canton, NY. We are working under the direction of Dr. Erika Barthelmess, a faculty member at St. Lawrence University. We are conducting research for a case study on the trade-off between green energy infrastructure and wildlife conservation in the North Country. We hope to gain insight on the public opinion about green energy development and wildlife conservation in the region in order to propose potential solutions. As members of the North Country community, your opinion on the development of green energy is valued.

We invite you to participate in our research by taking the following survey. Involvement in the study is voluntary and anonymous, so you may choose whether or not to participate. Your choice to continue with the survey indicates your consent to participate, but you can choose not to answer any question or discontinue participation at any time by closing the survey. The following survey consists of questions about your awareness and values in relation to green energy infrastructure and wildlife conservation and takes approximately 5-10 minutes. All responses will be kept confidential and we will remove any personal information (i.e. email) before we analyze the data. All data will be stored in a private folder on the St. Lawrence University drive that only the principal and student investigators have access to. We will only use the data in a written report for our class along with a public presentation given via Zoom. In presenting our findings, we will not disclose any of your personal information. If you would like to learn about our findings, we will be presenting them virtually on April 7th via the Zoom platform. Please feel free to reach out to Dr. Barthelmess to find out more about this presentation or to receive a summary of survey results (available April 20th).

This research helps us better understand public opinion on green energy infrastructure and wildlife conservation in the North Country. Additionally, if you complete 80% of the survey you will be entered to win a $50.00 VISA gift card. You will be required to input your email to qualify for the VISA gift card, however, your responses will not be linked to your email to retain anonymity. One winner will be randomly selected from those who complete 80% of the survey. If you have any further questions about this survey please feel free to contact Dr. Barthelmess via email at any time before, during, or after completing the survey to find out more. You must be at least 18 years of age or older to participate in this survey.