|
The Red Spring Woods Report
The Red Spring Woods Report below has been provided by the well-respected, well-published Biologist, Dr. Orland J. Blanchard, Jr., Ph.D. :
Dr. Blanchard has done extensive environmental investigative/analytical work for important organizations such as The Nature Conservancy as well as regional law offices. Dr. Blanchard kindly volunteered his time and expertise to provide the Red Spring Woods Coalition this interesting and informative report to assist us with preserving the 10 acres of environmentally sensitive woods located on Red Spring Lane, Glen Cove, New York, 11542. Please see the synopsis of the report - G.A. |
This report has been forwarded to the following interested parties: - Nassau County Office
of Environmental Coordination |
||||||
|
|||||||
THE FOREST
COMMUNITY AT RED SPRING WOODS
The subject site and associated downslope areas were visited on the morning of January 14, 2006 for a period of two hours for the purpose of attempting to identify the ecological community that occurs on the site. Those parts of the forest that are outside of the area that is actually proposed for development were visited on foot; those parts that have been proposed for development were examined from a distance with the aid of 10X binoculars. Weather was overcast, with a light intermittent drizzle. Torrential rains had occurred the night before and well into the morning. The facts that 1) the trees are leafless at this time of the year, and 2) the trunks had been discolored (darkened) by the rains, made identification more than usually challenging, and account for the duration of the visit. The forest type agrees with the published description of the "Oak-Tulip Tree Forest" in "Ecological Communities of New York State" (Reschke, 1990; ed. 2, Edinger et al., 2002). This community is described as a "mesophytic forest that occurs on moist, well-drained sites in southeastern New York" (Edinger et al., 2002, p. 98). On Long Island it is found principally near the north shore on the Harbor Hill moraine in the western half of the Island. In this community type, as described, the dominant trees consist of a mixture of any five or more of the following eight species: Red Oak (Q. rubra), Tulip Tree (Liriodendron tulipifera), American Beech (Fagus grandifolia), Black Oak (Quercus velutina), Scarlet Oak (Q. coccinea), White Oak (Q. alba), Black Birch (Betula lenta), and Red Maple (Acer rubrum). In the present instance the combination of dominants, as determined by inspection, is Tulip Tree, Red Oak and American Beech, and in lesser numbers but still dominant, Black Oak, Red Maple and Black Birch. Many of these trees--particularly the Tulip Trees and the Red Oaks--are of large diameter and are evidently quite old. In places, particularly around the periphery of the site, the non-native Norway Maple (Acer platanoides) has invaded the forest to a limited extent, probably as a result of disturbance and increased amount of sunlight on the forest edges. Only limited attention was given to the lower forest strata, but the Flowering Dogwood (Cornus florida) and Maple-leaf Viburnum (Viburnum acerifolium) that were noted are consistent with the published description of this forest type (ibid., p. 98). Ground-layer herbs have for the most part died to the ground at this time of year, and were not looked for. Each of the communities listed in "Ecological Communities of New York State" has been assigned a rarity rank based on the ranking system employed by the New York Natural Heritage Program (NHP*). In the case of the Oak-Tulip Tree Forest the ranking is G4 S2S3. G4 is a "global" ranking and the 4 indicates that the community type is apparently secure globally; S2S3 is a "state" ranking, and the 2 and 3 indicate, respectively, that the community is demonstrably very vulnerable with typically 6 to 20 occurrences, or that there may be 21 to 100 occurrences. Both S2 and S3 communities are treated as rare by NHP (see Edinger et al., 2002, appendix A). ___________ *NHP is a joint program of NYSDEC and The Nature Conservancy.
It should also be noted that a number of plants of Spicebush (Lindera benzoin) were seen, especially in the drainageways between the hills. Spicebush is treated as a facultative wetland species (FACW) by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (Reed, 1988, p. 78). FACW means "usually occurring in wetlands (estimated probability 67%-99%), but occasionally found in non-wetlands" (ibid., p. 9). This classification is used by NYSDEC in determining wetlands boundaries.
Orland J. Blanchard, Jr., Ph.D. |
|||||||
|
REFERENCES CITED Edinger, G.J., D.J. Evans, S. Gebauer, T.G. Howard, D.M. Hunt, and A.M. Olivero (eds.). 2002. Ecological Communities of New York State. Second Edition. A revised and expanded edition of Carol Reschke's Ecological Communities of New York State. (Draft for review). New York Natural Heritage Program, New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, Albany, New York. Reed, P.B., Jr. 1988. National list of plant species that occur in wetlands: national summary. U.S. Fish Wildl. Serv. Biol. Rep. 88(24). Reschke, C. 1990. Ecological Communities of New York State. New York Natural Heritage Program, Latham.
|
|||||||