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Camillus Forest
Unique Area
Camillus, New York
Surveys: September 7, 2003, October 5, 2003; October 18, 2003
Sunday, September 7, 2003 Leader: David Yarrow Assistant: Pam Rosatti Data |
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We entered Camillus Forest by a backdoor, parking near a microwave tower off Devoe Road. From there, a short hike along the edge of a recently harvested grainfield took us to the northwest corner of the woodland. The high elevation gave a broad vista west and south of the rolling but level terrain of open fields that occupy most of this hilltop plateau. Camillus Forest protects the southeast edge of this upland basin. We slipped through the wall of underbrush at the field's edge, stumbled over an old stone fence, and quickly confronted a cathedral space of tall, old growth maple and beech well over two foot DBH and 100 feet high.
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With limited time, we only explored the north end. This initial scouting visit would assess the forest's old growth potential and characteristics, and recommend a team visit.
First we examined trees, measuring and photographing a few giants—mostly sugar maples with thick, deeply furrowed and platy bark. Several had spiral bark. All still carried spray paint marking them to be cut down for timber, confirming the story I heard about the forest's 11th hour salvation. Canopy is over 100 feet, with one maple estimated 123 feet tall. Species are mostly sugar maples, with a few reds. We saw a few large beech, but the largest were already dead, becoming snags or rotting logs. An abundance of maple and beech saplings dominated the understory. The tree sizes and bark qualities suggest the trees are at least a century old, perhaps from the early 1800s settlement period.
Clearly this is an ancient forest, with trees older than old—at least a century. My intuitive assessment dated the two largest maples at nearly two centuries. But is this a virgin, uncut forest? Seems unlikely. In highly trampled, densely settled central New York, virgin is rare—essentially nonexistent.How could this easily accessible 40 acres survive the axe and chainsaw?
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Soon the ground plants captured my attention. An impressive diversity: lily, herb robert, false solomon seal, sedges, toothwort, ferns, trillium, cohosh, wild ginger, wild leeks.... Obviously this forest was never plowed, and perhaps never clear cut at all. Wild leeks and ginger suggested this hilltop forest somehow maintains high soil moisture, at least in spring. These ground plants seemed to be growing vigorously, despite obvious signs they are heavily grazed by deer.
The wild leeks and ginger suggested to me that this forest has an abundant supply of soil moisture. This is surprising considering the height of this hilltop. The abundant diversity of the understory hinted the soil was very fertile, The combination of fertility and moisture will assure optimum growth rates for the trees, too.
Several large trees were fallen, but the small amount of blowdown was much less than I had been led to expect. I had heard the 1998 Labor Day microburst that ripped thousands of trees over throughout central New York had done severe damage to this maple grove. Perhaps the principal damage was in the south end out of sight of this cursory survey.
The next day, after returning home, I searched topographic maps and aerial photos for more information about this forest. On the topographic map, I noticed a stream exiting the woods and tumbling steeply down the east into Nine Mile Creek, suggesting a spring hidden in the middle section of the woodland. I was also struck also by how relatively level the 700 foot south summit around this forest is. And how the entire 300-foot-high hill is a geographic island—a triangle of highland separated from the surrounding topography by deep, post-glacial river valleys. In fact, Clinton's Ditch—the original route for the Erie Canal—was dug through the valley on the hill's southeast side.
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The Earth Restoration and Reforestation Alliance — www.championtrees.org — updated 10/12/2003