Round Lake: Enter the Boreal Core

The Adirondack Atlas refers to it as the 'boreal core'. No hard boundaries define this region and you'd be hard pressed to name the characteristics that make it distinct. The presence of boreal species and assemblages is certainly part of it, but it's also weather patterns and the glacial landscape dotted with lakes, streams and swamps. Lots and lots of swamps. For me it's the just feel of the place. Traveling west out of Long Lake you enter a landscape that feels different from areas to the east and south. The eastern Adirondacks can lay claim to the scenery but the core has the wildness.

Recent additions to the Forest Preserve make it easier than ever to enjoy that wildness. From the Adirondack Hotel in Long Lake it's barely 20 minutes to the first canoe put-in for the William C. Whitney/Round Lake Wilderness. There is a ranger station and canoe put-in for Little Tupper Lake at the old Whitney Industries Headquarters (with lots of parking) but you can also put your canoe in the water right along the road where you first come to Little Tupper Lake (there is good parking). From there you can head downstream following the flow into Round Lake or cross under the bridge into Little Tupper. From our base in Long Lake Elle and I were able to take advantage of this easy access on successive days over the long 4th of July weekend.

Round Lake is a large lake; 750 acres, but it is overshadowed by its' even larger neighbors; Little Tupper and Lake Lila. Perhaps this is why we saw only a smattering of people over the course of our two visits. Or maybe it was the black flies and mosquitoes. There's no shortage of either of those species.

The great boreal forests of Canada reach a southern limit in the Adirondacks. Vast amounts of water and long cold winters are necessary to produce the conditions in which boreal species thrive.

One of the small islands on Round Lake. Like the others, this island is wind swept and fragile.

Pitcher Plants in one of the many bogs and swamps that ring the lake.

The lake is home to multiple pairs of loons. We also spotted a Bald Eagle soaring overhead, a Cooper's Hawk (most likely ID) Cedar Waxwings and other common Adirondack species.  

What we used to call a Kodachrome moment.

I think this is Pickerelweed (Pontederia cordata).

Whatcha lookin at?
Dragon Flies are apparently attracted to pink. We know for sure that Black Flies are. Ellie's sweater seemed to collect them like a magnet.

You can just make out the dam on the outlet of Round Lake outlet. Click the picture to see the full size image. The dam comes in from the right (I'll try to get a better picture next time). The concrete dam is apparently just remnant of the original structure. My Dad worked on Whitney Park in the late 50s and early 60s and he tells me that at that time there were mechanisms to control the water level and a second wooden dam designed by Bert Stanton (my great uncle). The wooden dam is gone, and the concrete is eroding, but the remaining structure still raises the water level of Round Lake and of Little Tupper Lake. Looks like it raises the water level by only a couple of feet but, given the size of these two lakes, that's still a lot of water.

The Round Lake dam in an image captured from Google Earth. This view from downstream shows the remnant dam clearly coming into the flow from the left and you can see that the dam has been breached (intentionally???). The block of concrete seen in this image is the same one that you just make out in my photo (above). This image is from May of 2013 (according to the Google Earth metadata) at a time when the water level was well below the top of the concrete. My photo from July 6, 2015 was taken following a month of heavy rains and the water level in Round Lake was just an inch or so below the top of the concrete dam; a couple of feet higher than when this satellite image was made. That fits with what we had seen elsewhere on the lake. We already knew that Round Lake was just an inch or two below the high water marks visible on exposed rocks.  

Another image of the dam from Google Earth. 

Geyser Creek to the Kaydeross

Most visitors to Saratoga Spa State Park experience Geyser Creek by strolling to see the impressive travertine deposits along its' banks or as the lovely stream that flows through the Geyser Creek picnic area. Fed by deep springs, the creek's waters are cool and attractive on even the hottest summer days. From the picnic area a trail follows the stream to the bridge that carries the park East West Road over the creek. At that point Geyser Creek is 20 feet wide and it typically carries a good flow of water. Downstream from the bridge you can see that the the creek flows into a swampy area, but there is no hint that within a quarter of a mile the stream will have all but vanished into that swamp. Water does flow out the other side, but that flow is in the form of seeps and trickles that add to the Kaydeross at various points. Some maps show Geyser Creek as a continuous line from the bridge to the Kaydeross, but don't believe them. There is no single, reliable, channel.

For much of the year bushwhacking into this area is a daunting prospect. Two small ridges punctuate the marsh but most of the area between the Park East West road (on the north) and Northline Road (on the south) is relentlessly wet, muddy, overgrown and buggy. During times of high water it's an impassable quagmire. The few people who visit the area mostly do so from the Kaydeross Creek. I've written previously about floating this stretch of the Kaydeross and a determined explorer could leave the creek at any number of points. As the crow flies it's just over two miles from the Canoe Launch at Gray's Crossing (Northline Road) to the launch site on Driscoll Road. The creek, however, takes four miles to cover that distance and the elevation differential is less than 20 feet. This is a flat landscape.

But there is one time of year when it is possible to enter the area on foot. In the dead of winter you can readily cross the frozen muck and mire to get a closer look at the topography and forests if not the impressive variety of flora and fauna seen during the warm weather months. Figure One shows a scene looking across the Kaydeross during the blizzard of Feb. 8, 2015. It was snowing hard.

Figure One: The banks of the Kaydeross during the blizzard of Feb. 8, 2015. Snow was falling at a rate of 2 inches per hour adding to the already deep snow pack. 

Lest you think I'm being overly dramatic talking about the conditions as a "blizzard'. You can judge for yourself from this short video. Watch the video in full screen to get the full effect.

Figure two shows my route. The snow pack was deep and airy so I left the parking near the Rte 50 Park entrance with my show shoes on. I first followed the Wetlands Overlook trail and then an abandoned road to reach the closed (and capped) Park Landfill. From there another abandoned Park road leads southwest into the forest. After a short distance I left the old road (on the left) bearing south and downhill to the edge of the swamp. I followed a route I had worked out ahead of time across the marshes and a small ridge to the Kaydeross. This route was selected to allow me to stay on State land though it's a somewhat arbitrary point in the winter. The trip covered only three miles for the round trip but with the deep snow and harsh conditions it seemed further.

Figure Two: Route from Rte. 50 parking to the Kaydeross
Map Image from Google Earth

Figure Three was made from the Ecological Communities map in the Saratoga Spa State Park Master Plan. The map legend is shown separately in Figure Four. This map also shows the outline of the State Owned lands and my route is represented by the prominent red line.

Figure Three: Ecological Communities - Saratoga Spa State Park south of the park East West Road. The red line shows my route.
Map Image captured from the Park Master Plan

Figure Four: Ecological Communities Map Legend
Image captured from the Park Master Plan

The Ecological Communities map shows the area to be a matrix of wetland community types with forest and successional fields mixed in. This is a rich ecological mix with the oxbow lakes and vernal pools being especially noteworthy. A vernal pool is an area that is reliably wet each spring but also completely dry for at least part of the year. That means no fish will be present and no fish makes vernal pools an attractive breading habitat for amphibians. Two vernal pools are shown on the map but there are certainly more. One reason that wetland complexes like this are so interesting is that the conditions are highly variable and the lines between community types are constantly being redrawn.

The weather on this day was harsh so most birds and beasts were keeping a low profile, I did see White-Tail Deer and common winter birds; Crows, Juncos, Blue Jays, a Hairy Woodpecker and a Pileated Woodpecker. In warmer weather this area is particularly rich in bird life and it is a designated Bird Conservation area. This is as good a place for bird watching as can be found in northeastern New York.

And my destination for this hike was not selected at random. I knew that the remnants of an old dam can be seen about half way between Grey's Crossing and Driscoll Road. You can find the location in the maps above because my route ends there. But the distinctive 90 degree change of direction taken by the Kaydeross at that point makes it easy to spot on any map. The broken down spillway creates a rapids and, even in this very cold winter, that's enough to maintain a small area of open water (Figure Five). As I approached the edge of the creek two White-Tails dashed into the woods. The ice around the open water was covered with deer tracks and we might surmise that they come here to drink.

Figure Five shows the spot but the flat light and deep snow make it difficult to see the outline of the former structure. I wonder when the dam was in use and its' purpose. I have not found much in the way of specific information about the dam or this area in general. If you know more, or have sources for this information, please leave a comment.

Figure Five: Open water below the old dam on the Kaydeross.

Mystery Lines: What are those lines seen in the satellite images?

I love to visually explore an area using Google Earth (or similar software) and then go off and match up what is actually present on the ground with what I could see on the computer. Google Earth provides easy access to high resolution images but, if you are willing to dig a little deeper, there are many other sources of spatially referenced data that can be analyzed to learn about areas we want to study.

But let's talk specifics. Looking at satellite images of the Hemlock Forest area I noticed that there are some odd looking parallel formations present in one area of the forest. You can just make them out in the image from Google Earth (Image One). What are they? What process created them?

Image One: The lines are seen in the center of the image running at a 45 degree angle from upper right to lower left. The straight line that runs from top to bottom is a stone wall. Source: Google Earth, Historic imagery from April 1997.

Viewed in Google Earth I couldn't see enough detail to come up with a plausible explanation for what the lines represent or how they were created. But, for locations in New York State, other options exist including the very high resolution orthoimagery available from the New York State GIS Clearinghouse (NYSCG). Orthoimagery is a fancy name for aerial photographs; pictures taken from airplanes using high resolution cameras and techniques that minimize distortion. When you take pictures of the earth from a satellite the distance between the satellite and the ground pretty much ensures that the camera is at a right angle to the ground. So there is little or no distortion of the image. When you take those same pictures from an airplane, if the camera is not perfectly parallel with the ground, the images are distorted.

The imagery available from the New York State GIS Clearinghouse (NYSCG) covers (nearly) all of New York State and is available to the public via the NYSGC website. The catch is that there are thousands of files and they are big files. And, once you find the right images, you need a way to view them. These images are geo-referenced meaning that using the right software you can view the images and they will line up correctly with other map-based data layers. The software you use is commonly referred to as GIS; an acronym for Geographic Information System. Loaded into a GIS these geo-referenced images can be analyzed using a variety of methods. They can also be used to provide a base layer on which you overlay other data. This is much like what you do when you view satellite imagery in Google Earth and then add points or lines or outlines (polygons) on top.

The Hemlock Forest orthoimagery (Images Two and Three) (viewed using Quantum GIS) reveals a lot more detail and those curious lines now take on a distinctly man-made look. Particularly telling is the track that comes in from the left and crosses the formation (Image Three). They look like tire tracks but when taking measurements in the GIS I found that the lines in main set are about 50 yards apart. That made me think that they might be ditches created using a tractor or bulldozer. It is also more apparent from the orthoimages that the formations are filled with water. The dark color seen in the formations is the same as the color of small ponds and streams present in nearby areas.

Image Two: The lines are in the center of the image running at roughly a 45 degree angle to the top of the image. The red lines represent the boundary of the State Park. The park boundary is a separate layer viewed on top of the images in the GIS. Source: New York State GIS Clearinghouse.

Image Three: Zooming in for a closer view the structures and the "track" coming in from the left have a distinctly man-made look. Source: New York State GIS Clearinghouse

Still, I had to wonder why someone would create ditches -about 50 yards apart- through the forest at this place. That left only one solution: field trip. From the Hemlock Trail parking area twenty minutes by trail and another half hour winding my way through the swampy forest brought me to the place pictured in Image Four. This, clearly, was one of the ditches seen in the orthoimagery and it was also immediately apparent that these are ditches that someone dug.

Image Four: The ground view of one of the water courses seen in the aerial photos. Filled with debris and leaf litter these were probably a few feet deep when created. The surrounding area is a swampy, nearly level. The entire area has very poor drainage. So it seems likely that someone dug these ditches to provide drainage for some type of agriculture.

The ditches are roughly 50 yards apart and run in straight lines through the forest for two to three hundred yards. What was not apparent from the aerial imagery is that the area where these ditches are found is very flat and very swampy. A few larger and older trees are present but most of the trees are roughly the same size (and age). Based on the size of the trees I estimated that this area was probably in use for some type of farming 50 years ago.

But something was still missing. The surrounding areas were all clearly used for agriculture in the past but this area is very wet and it is surrounded by swamps. My visit took place in late November and it had been generally dry, and even so, every depression in this area is filled with water. During wetter parts of the year this area would likely be flooded. The trees that are present are types that you find in a hardwood swamp or floodplain forest.

However, after poking around a bit more, a possible explanation appeared. One of my interests is in how invasive species compete against native species so I'm always on the lookout for invasive plants and trees. And I noticed the presence of a number of small, stunted, trees interspersed among the common species. Being late November, with the leaves down, I couldn't tell right away what those trees were. Then, one of them gave up its' secret, on a branch I spotted a small apple. The stunted trees are apples trees and now I could see that someone had tried to drain the area to create an orchard.

It appears that that plan did not work out very well. Apple trees prefer well drained soil and perhaps the farmer was unaware that this area is notable for lying over a layer of impermeable clay. Not too far away that clay, combined with the nearly flat topography, has produced a type of wetland known as a "perched" swamp. A perched swamp is a wetland where the water on the surface is not connected to the local water table but where the drainage is so poor that you get a swamp anyway. In most swamps the water level rises and falls along with the local water table but this is a place where the water doesn't drain through the soil and runoff is slow or non-existent. Creating an orchard here was never going to be easy. Which may be why we now have this wonderful little wild area to explore and enjoy.

Resources:
New York State GIS Clearinghouse Orthoimagery

A little Wild: The Hemlock Forest

Things are changing. The way people think is changing. The natural world around us is changing. Everything is changing. This has always been the case; change happens. But one thing is different now. We humans are altering the global environment at a pace and scale that from the perspective of geologic time looks a lot like the great natural cataclysms of the past. Think in terms of huge super volcanoes that shook entire continents or the asteroid that killed of the dinosaurs. We are the human asteroid. We are in effect running a giant experiment on how the earth reacts to change at scale and lots of data is coming in. Our instruments and satellites capture immense amounts of data every day. Leaving us with the questions: "what can we learn?" and "what should we do?". That's the context for this blog.

OK, setting that cheery opening aside, I'm planning to write about very specific places that I think are interesting. One of those places is a small (300 acres) forest that is part of Saratoga Spa State Park. I call it the Hemlock Forest though that name is completely made up. Before going any further, let's look at a map (Figures One and Two).

Figure One: The City of Saratoga Springs, New York and surrounding areas. The green outline represents the boundary of Saratoga Spa State Park. The Hemlock Forest is on the right wedged in between Rte. 9 and the I87 (the Northway). The park covers approximately 2800 acres and that includes a tree nursery two golf courses, a Hotel and an outdoor performing arts center that seats 20,000 people (SPAC).

Figure Two: The Hemlock Forest is outlined in red. This section of Saratoga Spa State Park covers about 300 acres. The forest is separated from the main body of the Park by Rte. 9 (on the left). The northern edge of the forest runs into the rapidly developing urban/'suburban fringe of the City of Saratoga Springs. The southern margin is mostly undeveloped with a connection to the Kaydeross Creek other nearby natural areas.  

There are several interesting things going on in this little bit of forest. One is the presence of wetlands of several different types including an uncommon "perched" swamp (perched referring to how the swamp interacts with the local water table). This particular wet area, though small, hosts an uncommon ecological community anchored by the presence of old growth Swamp White Oak trees. The forest also includes an old growth hemlock forest and good stands of American Beech trees that so far have held up against the Beech Bark Disease that has devastated Beech trees elsewhere. The State Park maintains a two mile long trail that loops through a 150 year old forest that includes hemlocks, White and Red Pines, and Oaks. The existing trails provides direct access to less than half of the total area though the un-trailed southern portion of the forest is hardly an untrammeled wilderness. The entire area is crisscrossed by stone walls, old farm and field tracks, and unofficial trails. Still, parts of the forest have a distinctly wild feel and the range of habitats present make this an important natural preserve.

I enjoy walking the area and capturing data that represents the "current state" of the ecological communities that are present there and that will be one of things I'll write about in this blog. This "Field guide to the Hemlock Forest" will also include information on technologies and methods that I use, and that anyone can use, to gather real data about places like this. I'm sure that some posts will start with something like "saw a  Barred Owl today", but my emphasis will be on acquiring and managing data that represents the ecological and environmental state for this area. My hope is that this data will be useful in the future. In particular, I'm interested in how invasive species interact with native communities and I'm hoping to capture a data set that can be used to learn more about how those interactions change over time.

When I was a kid I loved to read about the explorers and naturalists who traveled the world finding species not known to western science. Unless you are willing to spend a lot of time looking through a microscope it's unlikely that any new species will turn up in northeastern New York, but spotting the arrival of a species that has not been present in the past is a very real possibility. We have tools at our disposal that were unimaginable even 20 years ago. A smartphone with GPS, environmental sensors, and on-line identification guides doesn't match a tricorder quite yet, but that's where we are headed.

If you are reading this it might be because you live nearby and can visit these places. Or maybe you are interested in nature generally and my writing is not so bad as to ruin it for you. Or, maybe, and this is my hope, you want to do something like this where you live. I'll be writing about citizen science and how we can contribute data towards a better understanding of our world.

That's all well and good but you may get an inkling that the for me this is fun. The Forest is less than a mile from my house and I like to walk in the woods. I used to play golf but, to paraphrase Mark Twiain's famous quip, "that's a sure way to ruin a nice walk." There is a parking area with trail access on the northern edge of the forest (access is from Crescent Avenue). The trails are lightly used and I'm yet to see another person while wandering off trail. Much of the area is swampy so if you do go off trail you can expect wet feet. And I'm not worried that publicizing the area will bring in swarms of hikers. For much of the year the hemlock forest is well defended by armies of mosquitoes and ticks (beware: Lyme Disease, seriously I have captured many many Deer Ticks while walking in this area). For now the Hemlock forest is well protected.

Resources:
Saratoga Spa State Park Master Plan (pdf)
Saratoga Spa State Park Master Plan Map