Split Rock Wildway, NY
In March 2004, the Northeast Wilderness Trust accepted a conservation easement on a 60 acre property know as Beaver Falls, part of the Split Rock Wildway. Beaver Falls contains upland forest, open and shrub wetland, and successional agricultural field. Surface waters on the property are two tributaries that join to form Beaver Brook, and their confluence is located near the center of the parcel. Beaver activity in the northern tributary and downstream of the confluence is a principal dynamic in the wetland and riparian areas.

Forest ecosystems of several different types occur on the property. The property hosts clayplain forest, hemlock forest, floodplain forest, wet mesic black ash-hemlock forest, rocky ledges, hardwood forest, sedge meadow, alluvial forest/shrubland, and open wetlands. A 39 cm-dbh hemlock was cored to reveal an age of 105 years and the pit-and-mound microtopography on a portion of the property reveals its older age.

According to ecologist Marc Lapin, “Beaver Falls’ natural community diversity is a fine example of small-scale ecological diversity in the Champlain Valley. The juxtaposition of clayplain, rocky hill and wetland is very characteristic of the valley; not only do all of those occur on the parcel, there are also fine examples of forest and open wetland natural communities. Mosaics of wetland, upland, riparian area and aquatic ecosystems are known to be important for numerous animal species, and the fact that much of the forest at Beaver Falls is ecologically intact suggests that numerous species of small mammals, birds, invertebrates, amphibians and reptiles would find the site to have appropriate breeding and non-breeding habitat. The sedge meadow is a classic beaver meadow and as such is characteristic of the natural openings in the Champlain Valley landscape.”

Lapin also notes, “It is interesting to see such a well-developed alluvial community associated with such a small stream. Small streams in the Champlain Valley are among the most highly modified ecosystems, since most have been cleared of forest to their edges, ditched, straightened and chemically altered due to the preponderance of agricultural land use. Conservation of a Champlain Valley ‘natural’ stream of this size that is not fully bordered by open lands is significant in its own right.”

Beaver Falls is an important addition to conservation in the Champlain Valley. As a low-elevation conservation parcel situated in the well-conserved Split Rock Mountain landscape, Beaver Falls contributes to filling conservation gaps in the region. 

Reference: Lapin PhD, Marc, Beaver Falls Ecological Assessment, October 2003.

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