Significant Habitats in the Town of Pound Ridge, Westchester County, New York
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SIGNIFICANT HABITATS IN THE TOWN OF POUND RIDGE, WESTCHESTER COUNTY, NEW YORK C. Graham © 2012 Report to the Town of Pound Ridge, the Hudson River Estuary Program, and the Westchester Community Foundation By Christopher Graham, Elise Heffernan, and Gretchen Stevens August 2018 Hudsonia Ltd. P.O. Box 5000 Annandale, NY 12504 SIGNIFICANT HABITATS IN THE TOWN OF POUND RIDGE CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ....................................................................................... 1 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ..................................................................................... 3 INTRODUCTION Background ........................................................................................................ 4 What is Biodiversity? ........................................................................................ 6 What are Ecologically Significant Habitats? ..................................................... 6 Study Area ......................................................................................................... 7 METHODS Gathering Information & Predicting Habitats ................................................. 11 Preliminary Habitat Mapping & Field Verification ........................................ 13 Defining Habitat Types ................................................................................... 14 Final Mapping & Presentation of Data ............................................................ 14 RESULTS Overview ......................................................................................................... 16 Habitat Descriptions: Upland Habitats Upland Forest ............................................................................................ 20 Red Cedar Woodland ................................................................................ 26 Crest/Ledge/Talus ...................................................................................... 28 Rocky Barren ............................................................................................. 31 Upland Shrubland ...................................................................................... 34 Upland Meadow ........................................................................................ 36 Orchard/Plantation ..................................................................................... 38 Cultural ...................................................................................................... 39 Habitat Descriptions: Wetland Habitats Swamp ....................................................................................................... 41 Intermittent Woodland Pool/Pool-like Swamp ......................................... 44 Buttonbush Pool ........................................................................................ 47 SIGNIFICANT HABITATS IN THE TOWN OF POUND RIDGE Marsh ......................................................................................................... 48 Wet Meadow ............................................................................................. 50 Fen ............................................................................................................. 51 Spring & Seep ............................................................................................ 53 Open Water ................................................................................................ 55 Constructed Pond ....................................................................................... 56 Stream and Riparian Corridor ................................................................... 57 CONSERVATION PRIORITIES AND PLANNING .......................................... 63 Planning for Biodiversity General Guidelines for Biodiversity Conservation ........................... 63 Townwide Planning ........................................................................... 66 Reviewing Site-Specific Proposals .................................................... 67 Landscape-scale conservation ................................................................... 69 Priority Habitats in Pound Ridge ............................................................... 72 Large Forests ...................................................................................... 77 Crest/Ledge/Talus & Rocky Barrens ................................................. 83 Intermittent Woodland Pools & Pool-like Swamps ........................... 89 Fens .................................................................................................... 96 Wetland Complexes ......................................................................... 100 Streams, Floodplain Forests, & Riparian Corridors ......................... 103 Enhancement of Settled Areas ................................................................. 109 Enhancing Habitat Characteristics ................................................... 110 Minimizing Disturbance to Resident and Migratory Biota .............. 113 CONCLUSION ................................................................................................... 115 REFERENCES CITED ....................................................................................... 117 APPENDICES A. Mapping Conventions ............................................................................. 124 B. Explanation of Rarity Ranks ................................................................... 127 C. Species of Conservation Concern ............................................................ 130 D. Common and Scientific Names of Plants Mentioned in this Report ....... 134 SIGNIFICANT HABITATS IN THE TOWN OF POUND RIDGE FIGURES 1. Study area ................................................................................................... 9 2. Bedrock Geology ...................................................................................... 10 3. Ecologically Significant Habitats .............................................................. 18 4. Contiguous Habitats .................................................................................. 19 5. The Eastern Westchester Biotic Corridor and the study area ................... 73 6. Habitats in the Towns of Pound Ridge and Bedford ................................. 74 7. Contiguous Forested Patches ..................................................................... 81 8. Crest/Ledge/Talus and Rocky Barrens with Conservation Zones ............. 87 9. Woodland Pools with Conservation Zones ............................................... 95 10. Fens with Conservation Zones ................................................................. 99 11. Wetlands ................................................................................................. 102 12. Streams with Conservation Zones .......................................................... 107 TABLES 1. Ecologically Significant Habitats Identified in Pound Ridge .................... 17 2. Priority Habitats, Species of Concern, and Conservation Zones ............... 76 The Conservation Board contracted with Hudsonia Ltd. for this report: Significant Habitats in the Town of Pound Ridge (2018). Hudsonia Ltd., in an advisory role, included recommendations in this report. The recommendations are non-binding to town boards and agencies. SIGNIFICANT HABITATS IN THE TOWN OF POUND RIDGE SIGNIFICANT HABITATS IN THE TOWN OF POUND RIDGE ACKNOWLEDGMENTS - 1 - ACKNOWLEDGMENTS We are extremely grateful to the Hudson River Estuary Program of the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, the Westchester Community Foundation, the Town of Pound Ridge, the Aquarion Water Company, the Henry Morgenthau Preserve, the Pound Ridge Land Conservancy, the Rockrimmon Country Club, and the Wellspring Monastery, who provided funding for this project, and to the Pound Ridge Land Conservancy for their partnership and support. Carolynn Sears of the Town of Pound Ridge Conservation Board was instrumental in conceiving the project, acquiring funding, and assisting Hudsonia biologists along the way. Jeff Main of Westchester Parks was extremely helpful in allowing us to study the Ward Pound Ridge Reservation. We thank Diane Briganti of the Pound Ridge Assessor's Office, Laura Heady of the Hudson River Estuary Program, and the New York State GIS Clearinghouse for providing GIS data, and the New York Natural Heritage Program for providing data on rare species occurrences. The Pound Ridge web mapper (https://www.axisgis.com/Pound_RidgeNY/) was of great utility for viewing spatial data across the town. Kathleen A. Schmidt, Hudsonia’s scientific illustrator, created the drawings that appear throughout this report. Finally, we thank the following landowners and land managers of the Town of Pound Ridge, who graciously allowed us access to their land for field work or provided other valuable information: Aquarion Water Company Meredith and Tom Brokaw Rod Christie (Mianus River Gorge Preserve) Jeff Main (Ward Pound Ridge Reservation) Krista Munger (Pound Ridge Land Conservancy) Sondra Peterson The Town of Pound Ridge Kenneth Wang SIGNIFICANT HABITATS IN THE TOWN OF POUND RIDGE ACKNOWLEDGMENTS - 2 - SIGNIFICANT HABITATS IN THE TOWN OF POUND RIDGE EXECUTIVE SUMMARY - 3 - EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Hudsonia biologists identified and mapped ecologically significant habitats in twenty-four selected tracts of land throughout the Town of Pound Ridge during the period of June 2017 through July 2018. Through map analysis, aerial photograph interpretation,