Friday Field Group Trip Schedule
Field Trips for the Friday Field Group 2005
All Friday trips meet at 5:30 PM
Join the Friday Field Group a mix of amateur and professional plant lovers devoted to the natural history and identification of plants. We use Newcomb’s Wildflower Guide and other keys to identify plants at various sites around the Capital district. The trips do not have an official leader or sign-up but if you have questions call the contact listed for that trip. All trips begin at 5:30 PM and end at dusk. If severe weather is threatening, use your judgment or call the contact person. All trips are at your own risk.
April 29 Plotterkill Preserve, Mariaville, Schenectady Co. Scenic ravine with waterfalls and many diverse habitats. Meet at the parking lot on Mariaville Rd just before Rynex Corners (if you get to Rynex Corners there is a firehouse, you’ve gone too far). From the E, get off the Thruway on I-890. Almost immediately get off on Rt 7 W. Proceed to 5 corners where you get on Rt 159. After passing Gordon Rd and Coplon Rd on the right, look for the parking lot on the right. It is about 5-6 mi. from the 5 corners. Contact: Ed Miller 482-4343
May 6 Thatcher Park Albany Co. Spring wildflowers. From I-90: Take exit 4 Slingerlands/Rt 85. Drive w on 85 for about 14 mi until road heads up hill. Bear right onto Rt157, following signs for Thatcher Park. You will enter Park in about 4 mi. The first picnic area on the left is Hop Field. Contact: Ed Miller 482-4343
May 13 Brunswick Community Center, Rensselaer Co. A preliminary botanical survey of a small fragment of maturing forests typical of the lowlands of western Rensselaer Co., mostly with hemlock-northern hardwood forest and Appalachian oak-pine forest. Meet at the parking lot to the center at the end of Keyes Lane S of NY 7. Traveling from Troy, take NY 7 to about 1 mile E of the Wal-Mart Plaza in Brunswick and about 0.2 miles W of the jct. with NY 142. Contact: David Hunt 279-4124
May 20 Bears Den, Cherry Plain,Rensselaer Co. Rich fen, calcareous ledges and Yellow Lady Slippers. Meet at the Berlin High School on the E side of NY 22. Contact: Bob Ingalls 272-2978
May 27 Mill Hollow Schaghticoke Rensselaer Co. A more detailed survey of this site briefly explored in 2004. We will look for rich soil indicators such as maidenhair fern and continue to seek out yellow lady slippers along rich steamside coves in maple-basswood rich mesic forest. Park in the shopping center lot at the SE corner of NY 40 and NY 125 (Stillwater Bridge Road) at the N edge of the village of Schaghticoke. Contact: David Hunt 279-4124
June 3 NY Flora Association Trip to Valcour Island. See website www.nyflora.org, No Friday trip that day. For Valcour Island Meet to carpool at the Wal- Mart parking lot in Latham at 6 a.m. sharp. Contact Troy Weldy at twweldy@gw.dec.state.ny.us for reservations.
June 10 Kinderhook Creek Nassau Rensselaer Co. Preliminary survey of this site on private lands along the Kinderhook creek, a small midreach stream. Contains floodplain forest, maple-basswood rich mesic forest and small patches of potential calcareous cliff community. Meet at the E Nassau post office on Rt 66 1.1 mi N of intersection with NY Rt 20.Mostly flat to gentle sloping trails with short optional side trips into wet forest and on steep rocky slopes. Contact: David Hunt: 279-4124
June 17 Kieweg Property East Nassau Rensselaer Co. Revisiting this site from last year. Surveying the N side of the road for potentially calcareous slopes. Meet at the E Nassau post office on Rt 66, 1.1 mi N of intersection with NY Rt 20. Contact Chuck Kieweg: 794-7598
June 24 Hand Hollow Preserve New Lebanon Columbia Co. A new reserve owned by the Columbia Co Land Conservancy. Go S on Columbia Co. Rt 9 from NY Rt 20 about 1 mi. Meet on the pull-off on the Rt side of Rt 20 just before junction with Columbia Co. Rt 34. Contact: Ellen Kieweg 794-7598
July 8 Totem Lodge Wetlands Nassau Rensselaer Co. Explore large wet land of Rensselaer Co. Meet at the parking lot of the Burden Lake Country Club on SE side of Burden Lake. Take Rens. Co. Rt. 50 E from junction with NY Rt 150. Turn left onto Totem Lodge Rd after Millers Corners and travel about 1 mi to the parking lot on the left. Contact: Thomas Phillips 479-3739
July 15 Quacken Kill Headwaters Grafton Rensselaer Co. First attempt by the group to compile a species list of the flora and fauna along an “aquatic transect”. We will walk along and wade in a 2 mi stretch of stream, a mosaic of rocky headwater stream and marsh headwater stream. We will note vascular plants bryophytes, macro invertebrates and fish, mostly submergent to floating. Mask and snorkel encouraged. A wet suit is optional. Meet at David Hunt’s house at 348Jay Hakes Rd, 1mi S of NY Rt 22 in Grafton. Involves slippery bedrock shelves and mucky spots. Contact: David Hunt 279-4124
July 22 Sjogreen Property Berlin Rensselaer Co Survey of several community types on the Rensselaer Plateau. Go E on the Taborton Rd from Taborton to meet at the junction of Taborton Rd and Dutch Church Rd. Contact: Martha Sjogreen; 658-0740
July 29 Landis Arboretum Esperance , Schoharie Co. Assist in inventory of the native plants. I88 W to Duanesburg exit, W on Rt 20 to Esperance, right up hill following signs (just after you cross the Schoharie Creek bridge). Contact Ed Miller:371-8834
Aug 5 Black River Headwaters Berlin Rensselaer Co. Annual river plot. We plan to sample a 3m x 3m plot within a shallow and bryophyte-dominated rocky headwater stream, one of the least disturbed in the county. We will quantify abundance of plants, macroinvertebrates and fish, community structure, soil, and hydrologic characteristics, and surface features. Mask and snorkels are encouraged. A wet suit is optional. Go E on the Taborton Rd. from Taborton to meet at the cemetery at the junction of Taborton Rd. and Dutch Church Rd. Contact: David Hunt 279-4124
Aug 12 Schaghticoke Falls Schaghticoke, Rensselaer Co Revisit a site explored in 2001. We will sample a small plot in a riverside ice meadow, a state rare community, hypothesized to be the best of only two examples in the county. Time permitting, we may also sample a plot in one of the few best examples of calcareous shoreline outcrop, a sparely vegetated community, in the county. Meet in the village of Schaghticoke at the junction of 2nd St and Main St: traveling N from NY 40/Hoosic River bridge turn right at blinking yellow light onto Main St, go 1 block to 2nd St, park on the road. Involves steep slopes and slippery streamside bedrock shelves. Contact: David Hunt 279-4124
Aug 19 Spider Studies Schenectady Museum Nature Preserve. Meet at the Whitmyer Drive Parking Lot. Bring a copy of the Golden guide Book entitled “Spiders and their kin” by Herbert and Lorna Levi. Drive W on Rt 7 (Troy-Schenectady Rd). In Niskayuna, take a right onto Mohawk Road. At the end of Mohawk Road, take a left onto Rosendale Road. Drive for about 1 mi then go right onto River Road. Drive for another ¾ mi to Whitmyer Drive on the right. Park at the end of Whitmyer Drive next to the Niskayuna Waste Water Treatment plant. Contact: Tony Scalise 393-3056
Aug 26 Woodlawn Bio Blitz Schenectady. We will assist with this year’s Bioblitz by making a plant list of the dunes and the surrounding wetlands in this biologically rich but threatened area of the Pine Bush. Over 500 plant species have been recorded here so far including orchids, sundews, and rare sedges. From the Northway take Central Ave. 5.4 mi W to Mohawk Commons. Continue straight 0.4 mi to light at Gifford St. Go left then continue to the end of Gifford and park at the fence. Contact: Steve Young H 393-0198 W 588-8360
Sept 10 Saturday Mt. Meadow Williamstown Mass. Calcareous seep grass-of -parnassus, fringed gentian and lady’s tresses. Meet at 9:00 AM at the Stewarts shop on Rt 7 at the state line of Mass. and Vermont, just south of the old dog racetrack in Pownel. Contact: Chuck Kieweg 794-7598
Sept 16 Hoosic River Midreach Hoosic Rensselaer Co. Further exploration of this site last visited in 2000, focusing on the areas N of Rt7. We will look at aquatic and upland plants on narrow bands of the county exemplary riverside sand /gravel bar and cobble shore communities along the Hoosic River, a moderate size wadable midreach stream.
Park on the first wide dirt pull-off on E side of NY 22 N (about 0.1) of NY 7. Bring appropriate wear for muddy spots and crossing water 1 to 2 ft deep. Contact: David Hunt 279-4124
Sept 23 Van Vorsts Vly Scotia Schenectady Co. Explore one of the few silver maple ash swamps in the area and review your Polygonum/Persicaria species. From State St, Rt5, in Schenectady go over the Mohawk River Bridge to Scotia and W to Rt 147. You can also take I890 to the bridge over the Mohawk then E on Rt 5 to Rt147. Go N on Rt 147 to a R on Heritage Parkway than 0.6 mi to the end of the road and park. We will be going S on the ATV trail E of stream. Contact: Steve Young H 393-0198 W 588-8360
For schedule changes, or requests to be added to the E-mail list contact Tom Phillips at mossvet@nycap.rr.com
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