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Areas of the Nature Preserve
Harpur Pond
The area that is now occupied by Harpur Pond was observed to be a marsh
and poorly drained pasture in the 1930s and earlier. The aerial photos
show this land to have a stream running west to east draining the land
into Fuller Hollow Creek. Judging by the amount of vegetation present
in the '36 aerial photo, the land appears as recently abandoned and
allowed to grow. A little ways north of the Marsh trail, which runs the
length of the pond to the north, there are plow lines still visible,
either from an old cultivated field or an attempt to cultivate this
soggy land. By 1955 this land was on its way to becoming fully
vegetated. Then in 1962, Sun Oil cut across through this land southeast
to northwest with a pipeline that headed toward the Hinman dorm
community area. The pipeline backed up water to the west forming Harpur
Pond. Soon after its construction, there was a gas leak and the
potential for a disastrous situation led the company to remove the line
and place it at its current location along the east side of campus
beginning near Stair Park and heading north through Newing woods,
behind the Newing dorm community.
The backed up water continued to accumulate, especially in the 1980s
when beavers moved in and built a dam across the pond. The dam
increased the level of the water and the reach of the pond in the
direction of the Hinman community. The aerial photos show that in 1965
what was to become Harpur Pond was beginning to grow; by 1977 the pond
had increased by about another half in size. There are three ponds
present in the 1990 photos, since the pictures were taken after the
beavers had moved in around 1984 and placed another dam on the west end
of the pond. This backed water up into the area that is now wetlands
near the west entrance to the preserve. The vegetation, which was
growing there at the time, is now represented by dead snags of Red
maples that were killed when the area was flooded. The dam was removed
and the area drained leaving it a wetland when, in 1986, the beavers
were exterminated by the university.
There was a bit of controversy on campus dealing with the beavers and
their activity in the preserve. In July of 1986 the university had the
beavers exterminated and the pond destroyed for fear of property damage
due to excess water flow if one of the dams were to fail. Estimates of
total excess water from behind the dams and flow capacity of culverts
were made and the university determined that it was not safe for the
beavers to be present. A letter from Associate Professor of
Anthropology, Vineas Steponaitis to Ralph Miller, Acting Chair, of the
Committee on University Environment, reexamined the data and estimates
the university used in making its decision to remove the beavers and he
came up with quite different results. Associate Professor Steponaitis
found that much of the data used by the university was either incorrect
or much too high favoring the decisions made. While the beavers do cut
down many trees in search of food and building materials, Steponaitis
explained that the beavers "created a far more attractive habitat for
many wetland species" and increased "the number and diversity of water
birds" present.
Beavers moved back in the next year and have been working on their
damns ever since.
The farthest west wetland area was one of the main causes for the
existence of the Nature Preserve. During the late 1960s the university
wanted to fill in this wetland area and build playing fields in its
place. They also hoped to construct a road that would connect west and
east campus south of the main developed area. Bulldozers moved in,
began to fill in the wetland and scraped the ground clean of any and
all vegetation. Due to the combined efforts of campus-wide student and
faculty protests, the construction projects were halted. The decision
to build the playing fields was abandoned but not without an effect on
the wetland. Today the "swamp area" (so called by the university) is
being taken over by Phragmites and Purple Loosetrife, both invasive
species that choke out other native species and reduce the
biodiversity of a system.
Pond Trail Land
The Pond trail stretches all the way from CIW, to Lehigh Avenue south
across the Connector Road. The land surrounding the Pond trail, on the
south side of the Connector Road, has a similar origin to that of the
Marsh trial area. In the 1930s, this land was an open field that was
probably used for pasture and farming. The soil was probably saturated
and not of great quality, that being coupled with runoff from the land
added to the natural development of the stream running west to east.
This stream flows through a fairly deep ravine at some points, and it
is hard to believe that this ravine formed naturally, it might have
been affected when construction was occurring in this area. In 1962 the
Pond trail was formed when Sun Oil made a road along the base of the
hill. The present trail partially follows the actual road used by the
gas company, where about thirty feet of land were cleared on either
side of the road. Some of this land is now under water or marsh, but
the remainder has been growing since the land was abandoned in the late
'30's.
Hillside of the Nature Preserve
The Hillside of the Nature Preserve was formed during the last glacial
period about 15,000 years ago. When the glaciers advanced from the
north they pushed up the land before them and accumulated sediment
(till). During the glacial melt, a moderately thick layer of this till
was deposited on the steep north facing slopes, while the south facing
slopes were left covered with a thicker layer of till. According to the
aerial photos, the majority of the hillside has been vegetated since at
least the early 1900s.
Oak Trail Forest
Located on the south-east side of Harpur Pond, the Oak trail forest is
found on the north facing slope and can be described in terms of an
upper and a lower section. The upper section is characterized by deeply
pitted hillside with 15-35% slopes, and dry, strongly acidic, low
fertile, erosion prone, soils, which are underlain by an impermeable
layer of glacial till. With the characteristics of a steep slope and
the poor soil quality, this site was not very available for many of the
local land use practices such as tilling, logging, or grazing. Deer,
who can greatly affect the regeneration of a forest, also cannot
readily reach this area since the slope is too great for them to easily
climb, especially in winter. The lack of easy access has allowed this
land to grow relatively undisturbed for many years, leading to the Oak
trail forest containing normal populations and reproduction having
being some of the oldest forest on campus with many trees 110 to 160
years old.
The lower Oak Trail Forest has different land characteristics than the
upper forest. The main differences between the two areas are the
gentler hillside slope (2-15%) and type of soil present. Even though
the gentler slope allows the land to be less prone to erosion and
drought and soil acidity is lower here, the soil still has low
fertility and poor drainage.
In a study done by Haworth in 1999, it was found that the lower trail
forest was at a slightly further point in succession than the upper
woods. However, the difference was small enough to assume that the two
sites were at similar phases of succession. By examining the 1937
aerial photos, the Oak trail forest is seen to be only one small
section of an area that has been fully vegetated for quite some time.
The exact origin of these woods is not known, but being at similar
points in succession lends support to the idea that these two areas
could have had a similar origin and time period.
Saddle Trail Forest
The trail that runs through this area is named for the shape of the
land, a saddle. When the glaciers came down from the north, they were
slowed up by some of the hills. Over time the glaciers formed a
"saddle", a rounded out, depressed area in the hillside. Since the
saddle faces the north and certain areas lack direct sunlight during
the day, cooler microclimates can form and allow certain tree species
to grow that would not usually be able to inhabit land in this warm of
a climate.
Moving farther up the hill, the forest transitions to a pole stand
forest on land, which used to be tilled. According to the photos, the
land was abandoned as farmland somewhere between 1940 to 1950, and by
1965 there were areas of light vegetation on both the north and east
sides of the property.
Field Trail Forest
The old field gently slopes up here with a gradual north to south
transition from forest to young forest to shrub land to field. The
ever-increasing shrub land due to habitat maintenance is close to 7
acres.
Extensive work has been done in this field to create a maximum
diversity habitat for birds. The field atop the preserve is incredibly
important because it is some of the only remaining open field habitat
in the county. To date, the Friends of the Nature Preserve have cleared
about 3.2 acres of grassland on the top field and a little less than 7
acres of shrub land just north of the field. Hopefully with the open
area, we can attract early brush and shrub land birds. Bird boxes,
which were constructed by the Friends, have been placed on the borders
of the open field are now being used by birds such as the House Wrens,
Tree Swallows, and Black-capped Chickadees.
Going down the Saddle trail the path remains straight but is actually
heading away from the old field, to the east where this transition
occurs is a roughly 14 acre piece of forest that was acquired as part
of the Martin property. Signs of old age for this forest can be found
by looking at the multiple trunked Red maples that are present. These
trees are estimated to be about 80 years old; meaning that the they
were logged leaving a stump behind to regrow more then 80 years ago.
But 80 years is not even the age of the forest, for it to be worthwhile
to cut the trees they must have been of a decent size and growing for
some number of years. Therefore this area could have been forest
anywhere from 110 to 150 years ago.
Following the Saddle trail down the hill it makes a 90 degree left
turn, almost where the Ridge trail and Saddle trail meet. Continuing on
the Saddle trail to the north is an older forest with Sugar maples and
oaks. The trail crosses over an old road that used to be used for
either logging or for moving hay and other products of the field. The
road is now littered with stones and has become an ephemeral stream.
Finally at the base of the hill the Saddle and Connector trails meet.
Where the Connector trail goes east from this junction, the land
extends up hill with a gentle slope. The Connector trail continues to
the east over uneven ground around the base of the hill until it joins
with the west end of the Oak trail. Along the way the trail comes into
a stretch of woods on the uphill side that is the most expansive and
oldest forest on campus. Heading in the opposite direction on the
Connector trail, west from where it meet the Saddle trail, one can pick
up the Redwing trail. The Redwing trail is named for the Red-winged
Blackbird; that can be seen along it throughout the spring and summer.
On its western most edge near the base of the water tower trail, the
woods have undergone rapid change. The land started out as open field
in the early 1930s but by 1965 had become quite populated with Red
maples. Then in the '80s the beavers moved in and constructed a dam
drowning the land and killing all the young trees. The area then
drained in the late '90s due to the destruction of both the beavers and
the dam. Now a wetland remains.
A cleared track splits off and heads up the hill at the start of the
Redwing trail. This steep rocky, eroded area heads to the water tanks
atop the hill. These three tanks supply campus with water and run on a
gravity feed system. During night hours when there is a low demand for
water, water is pulled up the hill and stored in the tanks; then
throughout the day during peak water use periods, water is sent by
gravity, down hill and fed to all the buildings on campus. The water
tank that used to supply campus was located in a small clearing in the
southern portion of the CIW woods. The tank was removed by the late
1970's, when the university was growing and demand from water was too
high for the single tank. By 1965 one of the three current tanks was
built, the next followed by 1977, and the third sometime in the mid-
1990's.
East and north of the tanks is the Forest Loop trail, beginning and
ending on the West Access Road. The western leg of the Forest Loop
trail meets up with the Water Tank Spur which heads out in a
north-westerly direction. Traveling over level ground, this trail is
set on a series of benches that run below the water tower. Situated
between the water tower and the Forest Loop trail, this small section
has been growing and forested for more than seven decades.
One of the most interesting features of the Nature Preserve is the
community of anthills that inhabit the woods and right of way south of
the water towers. Formica exsectoides, the Allegheny Mound-building
Ant, build mounds that can reach dimensions of four feet long by two
feet wide by two feet high. Most of the hills have short steep north
facing slopes, usually covered with grass, and long gradual, bare
slopes on the south side in order to maximally absorb heat from the
sun, a beautiful example of passive solar design. A clearing in the
center of the woods is found with more than twenty separate hills.
Turning and heading west from here one can pick up the Anthill trail,
which is part of an old right of way that is beginning to become
overgrown. The trail is also lined with these anthill structures,
mainly on the east side of the trail, all the way back to the water
towers. Few studies that I know of have been done on these insects,
perhaps because they bite, but I am sure these ants and their way of
life would make an interesting future independent study.
Tatich Property
The university has recently acquired a patch of land, about 45 acres,
at the southern end of the right of way running behind the water tower.
All of the land to the west of the right of way, down to Fuller Hollow
Road, was either being tilled or regularly cleared in the 1930's. By
1955, most of the tilling had ceased but up through 1965 cutting was
still being done, possibly for hay. The 1977 aerial photos, however,
show that by then most of the land had been abandoned. The area has
probably remained in the shrub stage for so long since there is not
really any direct seed source west of there, where most of the winds
come from.
Bunn Hill Road Property
This roughly 55 acre property is actually a combination of seven
parcels of land. Most of the southern portion was donated to the
university by Aswad. Access to this land is easiest from Bunn Hill
Road; there is a small pull off to the west before Dodd Road. The pull
off is actually a man-made land bridge filling in part of the ravine.
The earth used to construct this bridge was taken from the site of the
Anderson center when it was being built. All of the material from the
site was dumped here forming this mound cross over. The most important
feature of this land is the deep ravine that runs through it in a
north-east to south-west direction.
Like the Tatich property, this land has no official designation, and
truthfully not many people realize that the university owns this land.
As part of a project to develop a management
plan for the Nature Preserve, Liz Phares has drafted a
proposal for camping
at this site.
Information adapted from History and Natural Resource
Inventory of Binghamton University's Campus Nature Preserve and Natural
Areas, an honors thesis by Kevin Brozyna, Spring 2003.
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