Training in botany and ecology
Niering studied biology and botany at Pennsylvania State College, receiving a bachelor’s degree in 1948 and a master’s in 1950. He earned his doctorate in botany and plant ecology at Rutgers University in 1952 and became a professor at Connecticut College, where he held the Lucretia L. Allyn professorship of botany.
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Research and teaching in an arboretum
Niering served as director of the Connecticut College Arboretum and as its research director from 1988 to 1999. His professional activities spanned ecological, botanical and wetland-science societies. The arboretum provided an institutional setting joining plant study, environmental education and conservation.
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Wetlands and field guides
His books included The Life of the Marsh: the North American Wetlands (1966) and the Audubon Society Nature Guide, Wetlands (1985). He also coauthored a field guide to eastern North American wildflowers and Wetlands of North America, bringing plant and wetland observation to readers beyond specialist research.
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From a home landscape to SALT
In June 1997, Niering introduced Smaller American Lawns Today. His own history traced the idea to changes made around his home in the early 1970s: reducing regularly mown lawn and adding trees, shrubs and meadow habitat. He died on 30 August 1999. Connecticut College subsequently continued SALT conferences addressing ecological approaches to residential landscapes.