This morning I visited Hendershot Gulf, one of Schuyler County's Unique Natural Areas. I entered the top from Swan Hill Road and walked down through the "lost gorge" nearly a mile and a half to the end of state land, before retracing my steps. The typical hemlock ravine birds are in there: Winter Wrens, Canada Warblers, Louisiana Waterthrush, Blue-headed Vireos, Veeries, Hermit Thrushes, Acadian Flycatcher; it's much the same as the Cayuta Outlet Gulf, but narrower, trail-less, with only a tiny stream today in place of the cataclysmic end-Pleistocene torrent that carved it.
Writing about Hendershot Gulf in his now-classic book "The Finger Lakes Region, its Origin and Nature", Cornell geology Professor O.D. von Engeln ended thus: "It is somehow comforting to conclude that the "Lost Gorge", under any name, will never become a concrete equipped public park. It would be gratifying to have it made a natural history preserve, so that the forest on its slopes and floor would always be spared the lumberman's axe." Since Hendershot Gulf lies within the Connecticut Hill Wildlife Management Area, and is visited at this time of year only by the occasional birder or botanizer, I've always figured that Professor von Engeln's wish had effectively been realized. So I was dismayed to find that the gulf has been penetrated just recently from private land at the south, to the depth of half a mile into the state WMA, by someone who is forcing an exploratory route right up the streambed with ATV and chainsaw. It looks like the goal may be to make passage for ATVs through the entire length of the gulf, which would certainly degrade this unique and highly vulnerable natural area. I wonder if any Cayugabirds readers may have contacts at DEC who could be persuaded to take some kind of action to prevent this? At the very least, I would hope for one of DEC's signs at the state boundary, like the ones I see at various other Conn Hill locations, declaring MOTORIZED VEHICLES PROHIBITED. -Geo Kloppel -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/cayugabirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
