For Colgate University senior Dana Witte, an experience at a summer internship with a nonprofit called Save the River sparked a research project idea that would ultimately become her senior thesis. As a double major in environmental biology and anthropology, Witte undertook an ambitious thesis project that combined her academic passions. 

“My thesis was talking about the development of culture based on environmental factors, and the importance of nature in communities, and how that kind of shapes the culture of the community,” Witte said. 

Her research was focused on Blind Bay, which is located between Alexandria Bay and Clayton, N.Y., along the St. Lawrence river, about two hours directly north of Colgate. The issue at the heart of Witte’s research emerged from a proposed plan by the federal government to build a new border patrol station on this land.

“There’s a plot of untouched land on the St. Lawrence River that the government wants to take to make a new border patrol station, which would be really detrimental to the wildlife there, especially certain fish that spawn in that area,” Witte explained. “So there’s a lot of community engagement in the advocacy movement […]. I was really interested in how culturally significant that area is to the community.” 

Witte’s thesis critiques the methods used to assess cultural value in environmental policy; she explained that she was interested in seeing whether government criteria actually represent communities. Witte questions the omission of culture in the official government reports and believes that they don’t fully capture the significance of the land for marine life and the community.  

“It didn’t bring up the fish species that live there, that people have been fishing for years and years […] it was a really underrepresentation of what the culture really is to the community,” Witte said.

This project was also specifically special to Witte due to her deep personal connection to the area. 

“I grew up going there […]. I lived there in the summers. I would consider myself a good part of the community,” Witte shared. 

Witte was able to see the community’s reaction to this underrepresentation during her summer internship, which took place during a highly active period of environmental advocacy. Witte noticed that the community unified for the cause.

“There was a very big environmental advocacy moment […]. There were young people, there were old people, there were people who’ve been there for generations,” Witte recalled. 

Witte was especially interested in the way that the community unified around environmental advocacy for Blind Bay and wanted to focus her research on this.

“I guess what I was very inspired by through my own process was how people come together to create an environmental advocacy movement. And I really found that there are ways to bring all types of people together for a common purpose,” Witte said.

Witte found writing her thesis to be difficult, particularly as she was balancing scholarly analysis with her personal ties to the area.  

“In anthropology you don’t want to separate yourself if it’s not something possible; you have to kind of acknowledge your own subjectivity. So I think that was kind of difficult for me, just because trying to write from an anthropological perspective, with known subjectivity is kind of difficult,” Witte explained. 

Attempting to write from an anthropological perspective with known subjectivity was difficult for Witte, but she explained that her closeness to the land was what made the project so meaningful to her. 

“I loved it so much […]. You think you know everything about a place, but you really don’t,” Witte said.

In reflection, Witte sees the thesis as a culmination of her Colgate education. 

“I was able to merge both my interests into one final project,” Witte said. “It’s always been my dream to merge the hard sciences and social sciences to give a better representation of what science is to the world.” 

Witte’s thesis is more than just a senior project, it’s a reminder that protecting the environment also means protecting the communities connected to it. By blending science, anthropology and personal experience, her work challenges how we define cultural value and who gets to decide it. In doing so, she shows how research can not only inform policy, but also amplify the voices of those fighting to preserve the places they call home.