Trees

Native conifers

  1. Red pine – Pinus resinosa  (in plantations, native to the state, but not to this area)
  2. White pine – Pinus strobus (rare in the conservation area, some planted recently)
  3. White spruce – Picea glauca (in plantations)
  4. American larch/tamarack – Larix larcina
  5. Eastern hemlock – Tsuga canadensis (not shown on the 2002 plan, but is present on the O’Loughlin property which was added in 2008)
  6. Balsam fir – Abies balsamea (not shown in the stewarship plans, but a few are present in Scout field, where they apparently were planted in the 1980s or 90s.)

Non-native conifers

Both of these exotic trees are present in significant  numbers at the conservation area and have been popular reforestation trees in the past, but there seems to be growing  concern about their potential to become invasive. They are not on New York’s invasive species lists, but a few other northeastern states and Canadian provinces have listed them as invasive.

  1. Norway spruce –  Picea abies (exotic, cultivated & escaped – some fear it may become invasive; others suggest it could be a replacement for hemlock if  it becomes rare,  but even they advise caution)
  2. Scots pine – Pinus sylvestris (exotic, cultivated & escaped – only invasive in niche situations, but may be an undesirable insect, disease vector)

Native hardwoods

  1. Sugar maple – Acer saccharum
  2. Red maple – Acer rubrum
  3. White ash – Fraxinus americana
  4. Green ash – Fraxinus pennsylvanica
  5. Hickory – Carya spp.
  6. Basswood – Tilia americana
  7. Apple – Malus spp.
  8. Black cherry – Prunus serotina
  9. American beech – Fagus grandifolia
  10. Eastern hop hornbeam (ironwood) – Ostrya virginiana
  11. American hornbeam (blue beech, musclewood, ironwood) – Carpinus carolina
  12. Hawthorn/thornapple – Crataegus  spp. (various native)
  13. White oak – Quercus alba
  14. Bur oak – Quercus macrocarpa (cultivated)
  15. Quaking aspen – Populus tremuloides
  16. Big-tooth aspen – Populus grandidentata
  17. Eastern cottonwood – Populus deltoides
  18. Butternut – Juglans cinerea
  19. Black walnut – Juglans nigra
  20. American chestnut – Castanea dentata (cultivated)
  21. American bladdernut – Staphylea trifolia

Non-native hardwoods

One of the most prevalent and invasive trees on the Federal Farm property is common buckthorn. The only other non-native hardwood tree listed in the 2002 stewardship plan was black locust.  The 2009 draft management plan went on to suggest (as an option) planting a black locust grove on one of the hill-top fields of the Federal Farm.  Cornell’s New York Invasive Species Clearinghouse gives buckthorn an invasiveness rank of 81.00, and black locust a rank of 81.11 (both considered very high).  But is it a good idea to plant a grove of trees ranked  as more invasive than buckthorn at a conservation area?

  1. Common/European buckthorn – Rhamnus cathartica (invasive-81.0, DEC prohibited)
  2. Black locust –  Robinia pseudo-acacia (invasive-81.11, DEC regulated)
  3. English hawthorn – Crataegus monogyna (common exotic, invasive in California)

References