Three Falls Forest Sanctuary Giant Millipede on a moss-covered deadfall Manlius, New York PHOTO Lindsay Speer 7/26/05

Three Falls Forest
Forest Cathedral
Sinkhole Sanctuary
Sweet Road & NY 173
Manlius, New York

Latitude: 43 00 00 N Longitude: 76 00 30 W Elevation: 620 - 780 feet USGS Topographic Quad: Manlius NYSGIS tile: Manlius_SW1

Mixed Hardwood & Hemlock

First Scouting: July 26, 2005 Second Scouting: July 28, 2005

Second Scouting Visit July 28, 2005 Team Leader: David Yarrow Others: Benita Rogers, Lindsay Speer

Fallen Hemlock snapped off in a violent wind? Three Falls Forest Sanctuary, Manlius, NY PHOTO DYarrow 7/28/05

This time we quickly hiked into the wooods

see also: Three Falls Spring Floods Forest Cathedral Escarpment Bluestones Mystery Spot Lime Kilns Slide Show

from the east—from a residential area off Troop K Road straight to the sinkhole. Again, we passed through areas of severe disturbance with fractured bedrock, stone walls, young trees, and invading alien understory. On this lower edge, a major stone wall and wire fence separates former quarry from the Cavalry Club. The Club's lower end is a golf course on Limestone Creek's floodplain, but this upper corner of the Club is neglected and reverting to forest.

At the hemlock grove, I began to take photos. One huge hemlock—nearly three feet in diameter—had broken head-high, and fallen, apparently snapped off in a violent wind. Remembering the other fallen big trees, I wondered how many fell in the Labor Day 1998

FOR MORE INFORMATION on Three Falls Forest as a community ecological resource Manlius Greenspace Coalition P.O. Box 131, Manlius, NY 13104 www.ManliusGreenspace.org Manliusgreenspace@earthlink.net

windstorm. I suspect a big tree inventory of this hollow will reveal several giants fell in the last decade, ripping a large hole in the canopy, admitting more sun and wind into this sheltered space.

It's always a challenge to portray the dimensions and scales of a forest of big trees in tiny photos, but now I also had to capture a very large sinkhole in my camera's little lens hole. Even harder to catch is the silent, reverent atmosphere of order, harmony and balance. I can recall no other central New York environment with such pristine, primeval vitality. How this community survived so long, so well, so intact, is something of a miracle and a mystery—a tiny ecological niche in a notch in the limestone ledge beside The Big Pit that is Jamesville quarry.

Madenhair Ferns sun and shadow in The Sanctuary Three Falls Sanctuary, Manlius, NY PHOTO DYarrow 7/28/05

Shortly after we arrived at the moss-covered deadfall at the bottom, Millie, the Millipede reappeared, strolling across the moss. Then another Millipede emerged. And a third. And another. Soon, we counted six Millipedes emerging from beneath the log. I suggested to my companions this large turnout of Millipedes was asking us the queston: "Is there room for us in your human community? Room enough for our community in your community?"

NOTICE Restricted Access These woods are privately owned. Respect the owner's stewardship of this forest: step lightly take nothing away leave no disturbance

Looking more widely around, i judged this bowl is oval—over 300 feet long, perhaps half as wide and at least 60 feet deep. This lowered wind profile deflects turbulence from disturbing this sunken space, shelters trees from violent events and assures a transquil atmosphere in The Sanctuary below the canopy. This encourages more vertical rise in tree growth to sustain the extra canopy height.

I studied the trees first—the pillars of The Cathedral Sanctuary, soaring to perhaps 100 feet, then speading to create that high canopy. In the bottom are mostly hardwoods, especially sugar maples, with more hemlocks up near the rim. The hardwoods have long, straight boles, not with extra-ordinary girth, but with great height—well over 50 feet to the first branches. Several big maples have white bark seen in other ancient forests.

Ancient Art & Architecture stone, moss and cathedral pillar Manlius, NY PHOTO DYarrow 7/28/05

However, trees are weak, in poor health, with dead limbs and low annual growth. I counted six trees in sight that fell in the last decade or two, plus a curvaceous beech snag ready to drop. Like on a balance beam, Benita walked through ferns and underbrush the nearly 100-foot length of one deadfall. The canopy is no longer closed, but is now collapsing, apparently rapidly, allowing intense midday sunlight to penetrate into this always-shaded basin. A shift in sunlight, a drop in moisture, less humidity, stronger winds, lower pH—suddenly The Sanctuary's pecial habitat is gone.

Few tree seedlings are sprouting in the understory. Despite a thoughtful search, I found only one hemlock seedling to replace several fallen giants. Such poor regeneration by new generation recruitment is a usual acid rain effect to stress trees, lower soil pH, leach minerals and trace elements, reduce seed and soil fertility, and accelerate aging and exhaustion—like osteoporosis of terra firma. Even alkaline limestone bedrock under this sheltered space can't provide immunity to corrosive acid atmosphere. A light treatment with a trace element soil enhancement will help restore vitality and vigor to this precious woodland.

I saw no soggy or moist area in the bottom, or any indication of a vernal pool or similar temporary wetland, so water in this basin must drain cleanly through a crevice in the bedrock. Too bad, since a sinkhole wetland would diversify the habitats and species able to be present.

Benita visited fern beds at the sinkhole's south end. At times, she vanished amid tall fronds. Eventually, she brought leaf samples of four varieties, not including the Maidenhair Fern, and talked about their quest for the elusive and threatened Hart's Tongue Fern. The Sanctuary is nearly a perfect habitat for this rare woodland fern. I was keeping my eye on mossy boulders looking for the equally rare Walking Fern which I've seen nearby in Ram's Gulch in Rock Cut valley, at The Big Hill at Onondaga Nation, and at Petrified Sea Gardens west of Saratoga Springs.

The Cathedral Floor notice the recently fallen giants Three Falls Sanctuary, Manlius, NY PHOTO DYarrow 7/28/05

Too busy taking photos, I didn't meditate in The Sanctuary this day, but I did reflect on the odd time sense enshrouding The Sanctuary. To be in the forest is to step out of the lockstep of industrial time. Elder trees and slow-growing mosses create a time scale measured in centuries, but the post-glacial limestone landscape stretches time into tens of thousands of years, while the limestone itself reminds of Earth's earliest flowerings of single-cell life one half billion years ago. The gray-and-orange Millipedes seem an appropriate symbol of this ancestral time dimension—a primitive life form from a far more ancient Earth, clinging to existence in this geo-ecological niche.

On our way out of the sinkhole, we wandered the woods, admiring moss-cloaked boulders and observing small sprouts of wild ginger and bloodroot. We found another gray-and-orange Millipede curled on a moss-covered rock. One area beyond the sinkhole rin is nearly a small pasture of blue cohosh, with ripening green berries lifting above foliage.

.....narrative to be continued......

—

click here for the First Scouting Visit July 26, 2005

The Earth Restoration & Reforestation Alliance — www.championtrees.org — updated 8/2/2005