Preserved RLT Properties
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Preserved RLT Properties |
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The Broderick property and Broderick-Olsen property contain a
total of 86 acres of land in the Town of Grafton, adjoining the Dyken Pond
Environmental Education Center on the west. A network of two miles of marked
trails connect to trails on the Center property. The public are permitted on
this property subject to the rules and regulations of the Dyken Pond Center. In
addition, horses and mountain bikes are not permitted.
Teal Brook flows
through this property and a vernal pool, red maple-hardwood swamp, and part of a
spruce-fir swamp are found here as well. Most of the land is covered with
"northern" type forest, including some spruce-northern hardwood forest and
spruce flats, forest types known primarily from the Adirondacks. A spring is
found on the property as well as a cistern and an abandoned family cemetery
dating from the early 1800s. The most unusual plants found on this property are
the Rattlesnake-plantain, Goodyera tesselata and the Bog aster, Aster
nemoralis.
The Ward property consists of a 6.8 acre red maple-hardwood swamp (a wooded wetland) in the Town of Brunswick, south of Pinewoods Avenue. When a larger parcel was subdivided a few years ago, the Town Planning Board set this parcel aside from development so that it could serve as a buffer area in a residential neighborhood. There is no public access to this property.
The Friends of Dyken Pond property is an approximately two-acre parcel of land bordering the Poesten Kill in Brunswick. Located at the end of Kenworth Avenue on the south side of State Route 2, the property preserves valuable open space in a suburban neighborhood, and provides a starting point for protecting the stream corridor. The property, which is forested, slopes steeply toward the Poesten Kill, and includes a small island. Located on a scenic section of the Poesten Kill just upstream from a narrow gorge, it provides impressive views of the creek, both up and down stream. This property will be used a nature preserve, in conjunction with educational purposes. At present, access is restricted and prior permission must be obtained through the Friends of the Dyken Pond Center, Inc. or the R-TLC.
The Kirchner property is a parcel of ca. 50 acres located in the Town of Poestenkill, immediately west of Camp Rotary Scout Reservation. It is located on the western escarpment of the Rensselaer Plateau and is covered by Appalachian oak-hickory forest and chestnut oak forest. There a number of exposed rock ledges, where lichens are prevalent and offering some scenic overlooks. Access involves crossing private property of adjoining neighbors on either the west or east, and prior notification of the landowner must be obtained through the R-TLC.
The Geiser
Preserve is beautiful woodland of 95 acres, high on the Rensselaer Plateau. The
access route follows a level dirt road (Lindeman Road) through attractive woods.
The preserve has only one trail, a short section of the old Eastern Turnpike of
1802. Elevations here range from 1600 to 1900 feet.
The forest consists
of sugar maple, American beech, and eastern hemlock. The understory is full of
witch hobble, striped maple, and an incredible carpet of ferns. Fern gathering
for florists was one of the sources of income for Plateau residents years ago.
There are small wetlands and rocky knolls within the preserve. There are a
number of seasonal flowers. Jack-in-the-pulpit and many violets are found in the
spring, and asters, white snakeroot, and goldenrods in the late summer and fall.
Ferns include royal, interrupted, lady, wood, marginal shield, Christmas,
maidenhair, hay-scented, bracken, and grape.
From the highest elevation
on the former Turnpike, in the preserve, you can bushwhack to the north,
following the height of land and reach the summit of Perigo Hill. It is a rocky
ascent, and difficult to see your footfalls in the abundance of ferns. In late
fall and winter the view is well worth the effort. If you bushwhack, take along
a compass. The Conservancy has plans to mark trails through the area in the
future. The roads are good for cross-country skiing.
The preserve was a
gift of Ruth Nevin, a former Taborton teacher, who purchased the land in 1932.
She remembers school picnics there when the land was open and the views superb.
The name "Geiser" was chosen in memory of her parents. In the past, gathering of
ferns and club mosses for holiday greens was a substantial cottage industry in
this part of the County.
The Bear's
Den Preserve consists of 15.4 acres on the summit and western escarpment of
Butternut Hill, located the middle of the Taconic valley on the
Berlin-Stephentown line. The principal feature of the parcel is Bear's Den, a
rock shelter cave with a main chamber about 15 feet in diameter. The cave was
known to early settlers and probably Native Americans as well.
The hill
is composed of limestone rock, which accounts for the presence of the cave, and
is also visible on steep exposed cliffs on the western face of the hill. A wide
variety of plants are found here because of the limestone influence. These
include two native orchids, Cypripedium parviflorum var. pubescens,
Yellow ladyslipper, and Galearis spectabilis, Showy orchis. A rich
sloping fen (a calcareous wetland) is found on the southwest corner of the
property. The Shrubby cinquefoil, Potentilla fruticosa ssp. floribunda,
grows here.
This property was donated to the R-TLC by the Smith family.
Because access involves crossing private property of adjoining neighbors, prior
permission must be obtained through the RLT. Access is restricted to interested
groups and researchers and through the RLT's outings program.
Mud Lake is a 38 acre property located in the southwest part of the Town
of Sand Lake. The predominant feature of Mud Lake is its well preserved inland
poor fen (a "kettlehole bog,") located at the center of the property, surrounded
by a floating sphagnum mat, where on finds Cranberries (Vaccinum species)
and the fascinating Pitcher-plant, Sarracenia purpurea. The narrow zone
of the bog mat grades into a border area of open-canopy Black spruce (Picea
mariana) and Larch or "Tamarack" (Larix laricina) bog forest, which
grades into a hemlock-northern hardwood forest. At the north end of the swamp is
a red maple-hardwood swamp, dominated by red maple (Acer rubrum var.
rubrum.)
The land is minimally disturbed and is mostly in its
natural, pristine state. The agricultural lands surrounding Mud Lake Swamp are
under development pressure and provide a significant buffer to the swamp's
benefit. The agricultural lands and swamp are synergistic in that they each
enhance the benefit to the wildlife contained in the general environs.
This property was donated to the R-TLC by the Shuba family. Because
access involves crossing private property of adjoining neighbors, prior
permission must be obtained through the RLT. Access is restricted to interested
groups and researchers and through the RLT's outings program.
The Teal property is a 13.3 acre parcel in Grafton that is now part of the Dyken Pond Environmental Education Center. Through a generous contribution from a local resident, the RLT purchased this parcel and donated it to Rensselaer County. Much of the land consists of a sedge meadow, which is crossed by a long boardwalk, allowing observation of the wetland and its wildlife. This was formerly a spruce-fir swamp but beaver activity raised the water level and killed the evergreens. This open wetland is surrounded by a narrow band of balsam flats, a conifer forest type known primarily from the Adirondacks.