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

Moodna Biodiversity
L. Heady, 19 June 2008 DRAFT
The following recommendations for landscape connections incorporate suggestions included in
the Orange County Open Space Plan (Figure 5):
• Goosepond Mountain to Sterling Forest
• Goosepond Mountain to Schunnemunk Mountain
• Schunnemunk Mountain to Stewart State Forest
• Schunnemunk Mountain to Storm King
• Black Meadow Reservoir to Purgatory Swamp
• Otter Kill/Moodna Creek corridor (linear along river)
• Stream corridors throughout the watershed.
Land cover and fragmenting features in these potential connections will need to be assessed to
determine feasibility for establishing functional biodiversity corridors. In addition to
maintaining existing connections, there may be opportunities to restore linkages severed by
major roadways, dams, and other barriers. Academic institutions, graduate students,
conservation organizations, and the Hudson River Estuary Program may serve as good partners
for conducting such analyses. Subsequent steps may require intermunicipal partnerships,
outreach to landowners, coordination with land trusts, and planning tools such as conservation
overlay zones, critical environmental areas, and conservation subdivision guidelines.
Establishment of a biodiversity network does not necessitate outright purchase and protection of
all lands, but it does require careful planning and innovative designs to maintain a permeable
landscape, where wildlife does not perish due to vehicular traffic, lawnmowers, stormdrain
pitfalls, household pets, and impassable barriers.
While habitat connections at the regional scale are very important, finer-scale assessment of the
watershed is needed to identify the importance of local-scale connections; e.g., forested
connectivity between clusters of woodland pools, or connections between core wetlands and
upland overwintering habitats used by northern cricket frog. Because they provide important
landscape links, stream corridors should be analyzed to evaluate the condition of riparian buffers
and identify opportunities for restoration or conservation. (See Figure 3.)
Threats and Conservation Opportunities
• Data gaps. More information is needed to build a strong smart growth plan for the
watershed, which preserves cores and connections for biodiversity, while adequately
addressing the needs for future growth of human communities. The Orange County
Watershed Authority may want to convene an advisory committee to identify priority
data gaps, pursue further studies, and refine recommendations to implement a plan for
conserving Moodna’s conservation network.
• Updates to County plans. Orange County’s “Priority Growth Areas,” which suggest
future population growth centers, contradict the recommendations set forth in the Orange
County Open Space Plan for biodiversity cores and connections. For example, a priority
growth area is projected for the area between Goosepond and Schunnemunk Mountains,
but this same area was identified as an important corridor in the open space plan. These
discrepancies should be resolved or compatible priorities should be established to
accommodate future development in appropriate areas. The upcoming update of the
county comprehensive plan presents an excellent opportunity to reevaluate these
recommendations.
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