Biodiversity of the Moodna Creek Watershed - Orange County Water ...

Moodna Biodiversity
L. Heady, 19 June 2008 DRAFT
the next step is to collect existing information, and recognize that gaps will need to be filled by
further study.
Figure 4 includes recommended conservation areas from MCA’s Southern Wallkill Biodiversity
Plan, which studied Chester, Warwick, and Goshen; Orange County data on rare species;
Important Areas identified by the NY Natural Heritage Program; and matrix forests mapped by
The Nature Conservancy. (The map also shows water resources in the watershed with buffers of
325 ft (100 m) on large streams; 215 ft (65 m) on wetlands and waterbodies; and 165 ft (50 m)
on smaller tributaries.) These collective areas do not represent the only important biological
resources in the watershed, as there is much yet to learn; they also aren’t “hands-off” areas where
development or disturbance is prohibited. Rather, they provide a framework that can be used to
think about the big picture, and employ different approaches to avoid the known threats to local
biodiversity, and to pursue the various conservation opportunities at hand.
Another existing source of information on Moodna resources is the Orange County Open Space
Plan (2004), which identified a number of resources as “Core Biological Diversity Areas” that
are located in the Moodna watershed (Figure 5):
• Hudson Highlands (including Sterling Forest, Storm King, and Black Rock
Forest)
• Schunnemunk Mountain
• Goosepond Mountain (including Goosepond Mountain State Park)
• Purgatory Swamp
• Stewart State Forest.
These large areas, many of which are protected, are known biodiversity hotspots with primarily
undeveloped lands. Studies at more local scales will help to determine what additional, smaller
hotspots may be important components of this conservation network. For example, the Southern
Wallkill Biodiversity Plan emphasized the biological importance of the Black Meadow Creek
corridor and its relationship to Glenmere Lake, which is outside of the Moodna watershed but
supports a northern cricket frog (NYS Endangered) population that crosses the boundary (Miller
et al. 2005). Recent research suggests that habitat restoration efforts should focus on enlarging
core areas, particularly by widening narrow sections of large fragments, to provide more interior
habitat for core-dwelling species and to reduce invasive species, which flourish at the edge of
habitat fragments (Ewers and Didham 2007).
Connections
Identifying and conserving links between biodiversity cores is necessary to allow wildlife to
overcome fragmentation and still move between habitats. These wildlife ‘corridors’ are not the
narrow, straight passageways we’re familiar with in our built environment; rather, they need to
be broad, natural areas without roads, housing developments, and other fragmenting features.
These connections enable wildlife to move safely between breeding and foraging habitats; to
shift habitats when conditions become unsuitable; and to maintain genetic exchange between
populations. Well-connected landscapes will also enable future migrations northward and to
higher elevations, as species respond to increasing temperatures from climate change. This may
be particularly important in Orange County where a number of species, like marbled salamander
and box turtle, are already close to the northern limit of their range.
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