NATURAL RESOURCE INVENTORY FOR THE TOWN OF DOVER DUTCHESS COUNTY, NEW YORK 2019 i This Natural Resource Inventory was prepared by Hudsonia Ltd. Gretchen Stevens Elise Heffernan in collaboration with the Town of Dover Town Board Supervisor Linda S. French Deputy Supervisor Andrew J. House Councilman Richard Yeno Councilwoman Jane Meunier Councilman Redmond Abrams and the Climate Smart Dover Task Force Supervisor Linda S. French Councilwoman Jane Meunier Constance DuHamel Evan van Hook Debra Kaufman Greggory Mendenhall Katie Palmer-House Janet Pickering Tamar Roman Preparation of the Natural Resource Inventory was funded by a Climate Smart Communities grant to the Town of Dover from the New York State Environmental Protection Fund through the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. Hudsonia Ltd. ii Town of Dover Natural Resource Inventory Acknowledgments ACKNOWLEDGMENTS from the Dover Conservation Advisory Council and the Climate Smart Dover Task Force The labor and dedication that contributed to this publication and its bounty of insight and information about Dover’s natural ecology are acknowledged below with heartfelt appreciation. We humbly thank the former and current members of the Town of Dover Town Board whose support was invaluable and instrumental to the pursuit of NYS Climate Smart Communities (CSC) certification and for the creation of this Natural Resource Inventory as their legacy for future generations. We commend our fellow members of the Town of Dover Conservation Advisory Council and the Climate Smart Dover Task Force who lovingly shepherded this effort with integrity and mindfulness of its ecological and archival significance from inception to completion. We thank the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation and its Office of Climate Change, in particular, Climate Policy Analysts Dazzle Eklad, Myra Fedyniak and John Wimbush, for their generous and resourceful assistance through the Climate Smart Communities Certification Grant Program. We offer our profound admiration and appreciation to Gretchen Stevens, Director of the Biodiversity Resource Center at Hudsonia Ltd. and to Elise Heffernan, Hudsonia biologist, for their expertise preparing this publication from countless hours of research exploring and documenting the matchless natural resources of the Town of Dover. We thank Hudsonia biologists Chris Graham, Kristen Bell Travis, and Nava Tabak (Nava is now with Scenic Hudson), who identified the significant habitats in Dover and supplied much valuable information for the NRI, and Lea Stickle and Erik Kiviat at Hudsonia for research, data compilation, editing, and other assistance with the NRI. Chris also made final edits to the NRI map figures. We express continued gratitude for our longstanding and successful partnership with the Housatonic Valley Association, Inc. and to Michael Jastremski, CFM, HVA Watershed Management Director, Maria Grace, former NY Watershed Manager, and Tim Abbott, Regional Conservation and Greenprint Director, for contributing data, information, and ideas for the NRI. Many thanks to Rebecca Thornton, Art Collings, and their colleagues at the Dutchess Land Conservancy for conservation work in Dover and throughout the county, and for providing data on conservation easements for this NRI. (see over) i Town of Dover Natural Resource Inventory Acknowledgments We thank Joe Heggenstaller and (now retired) Bob Wills at the Dutchess County Department of Planning and Development who provided spatial data unavailable elsewhere. We extend special thanks to Michael Adamovich of Adamovich Nature Photography, Elaine Bruno, Stancy DuHamel, Debra Kaufman, Ken Luhman, and Janet Pickering for contributing local photographs that convey the awe-inspiring beauty of Dover’s landscape. The NRI is presented in abiding recognition of all Town of Dover residents—past, present, and future—who have or will come to know that sublime natural beauty is not only found from mountaintops and at wonders of the world, but right before our eyes in our own backyards. “Look deep into nature and then you will understand everything better.” -Albert Einstein THE TOWN OF DOVER CONSERVATION ADVISORY COUNCIL and the CLIMATE SMART DOVER TASK FORCE Evan van Hook, Chair Constance DuHamel Linda S. French, Town Supervisor Debra Kaufman Greggory Mendenhall Katie Palmer-House Janet Pickering Tamar Roman ii Town of Dover Natural Resource Inventory Contents CONTENTS CONTENTS Summary ..................................................................................................................................vii Introduction ............................................................................................................................... 1 Physical Setting ......................................................................................................................... 3 Resource Uses ........................................................................................................................... 9 Natural Resources ................................................................................................................... 19 Enduring Features .................................................................................................................. 19 Air ......................................................................................................................................... 20 Mineral Resources .................................................................................................................. 24 Water Resources ..................................................................................................................... 31 Biological Resources ............................................................................................................... 48 Farmland Resources ............................................................................................................... 89 Renewable Energy Resources .................................................................................................. 93 Scenic Resources .................................................................................................................... 97 Recreation Resources ............................................................................................................ 101 Threats to Resources of Conservation Concern ................................................................ 107 Climate Change .................................................................................................................... 107 Threats to Water Resources.................................................................................................... 113 Threats to Biological Resources .............................................................................................. 116 Threats to Farmland and Agriculture ..................................................................................... 128 Impacts of Recreation ........................................................................................................... 130 Conservation Principles and Measures ................................................................................. 133 Conservation of Enduring Features ....................................................................................... 133 Conservation of Water Resources .......................................................................................... 135 Conservation of Biological Resources .................................................................................... 139 Conservation of Farmland Resources .................................................................................... 143 Conservation of Scenic Resources ......................................................................................... 145 Conservation of Recreation Resources ................................................................................... 146 iii Town of Dover Natural Resource Inventory Contents Protected Lands ..................................................................................................................... 148 Legislative Protections for Natural Resources ....................................................................... 151 Identifying Conservation Priorities ....................................................................................... 158 Achieving Conservation Goals ............................................................................................... 161 Conservation Tools ............................................................................................................. 161 Landowner Education ......................................................................................................................... 161 Land Acquisition ................................................................................................................................... 161 Conservation Easements ..................................................................................................................... 162 Land Use Legislation and Other Local Measures ............................................................................ 162 Conservation Partners ........................................................................................................ 165 State and County Agencies .................................................................................................................