… the place …

Balsamea: a bit of Adirondack forest

          The Balsamea Forest Refuge (BFR) is a privately owned 19-acre forested lot located in the northern reaches of the Adirondack Mountain region of northeastern Upstate New York, west of Lake Champlain and Vermont, within about an hour’s drive from the Canadian border and Plattsburgh, NY.

          Regrown from original forest cleared in the 19^th Century, Balsamea is now the home of (in estimated order of population density) balsam fir, white pine, maple, birch, beech, red pine, spruce, aspen, a rare few oak, cedar, juniper and scotch pine, and a few yet unidentified species of trees, and the wildlife they support.

          Among animals sighted in recent years there are whitetail deer, fox, turkey, red squirrel, porcupine, rabbit, and a variety of birds such as finches, chickadees, sparrows, robins, blue jays, woodpeckers, doves, crows, and hawks.  Though eastern coyotes and black bears have not been seen or heard lately at Balsamea, they are in the area, and a very rare moose may wander through from time to time.  A few harmless snakes are around, all manner of northeastern forest insects, and mice, of course, and the resident game warden, Dr. Buddha Buddy The Miracle Dog.  An American Toad native Balsamean posed in September 2006 for the picture below.  We are not aware of any invasive species, but are concerned about encroachment by the pine-killing Sirex Woodwasp, and suspect that Spruce Budworm takes some firs and spruces to make room for our developing hardwoods.

          A variety of shrubs, berries, grasses and flowers grow throughout, especially many wild blueberries.  About a dozen pink ladyslipper orchids have been spotted, and there are sure to be more decorating the land with their delicate June blooms.  The soil is mossy, acidic and rocky.

          The property is very flat throughout, with no surface water or wetland features, sitting on top of something like a plateau half a mile above a major river.  Although we have a share of black flies and mosquitoes in season, the lack of water features helps make them less a nuisance than in other areas.

          Four rock walls run through the property, ranging from 1 to 4 feet high and from 3 to 6 feet wide.  Part of the property near the road frontage was once the corner of a farm field long ago abandoned to nature, now overgrown with trees.  Guessing from the existence of the rock walls, the property may have been used for farming, livestock grazing, or maybe housing for a nearby iron ore mining village (extinct since the late 19th Century).  No old wells or building foundations have been found on the lot.  There is no evidence of mines or mining equipment on the lot, either.  The mines are located a short distance away, and have, to our knowledge from historical accounts, all flooded and caved in long ago.

          Except for a small camp established by the current owner, and some selective logging of the largest, oldest trees by the former owner around 2002, there has been no human development on the lot since approximately 1890 when the mining village closed down.

          The lot is currently surrounded by other forested properties except for one house across the road.

The Adirondacks

          The Adirondack Mountains of Northeastern New York State are part of the Laurentian Mountain system of Canada, not the Appalachian chain as many mistakenly believe.  Balsamea Forest Refuge is located within the Adirondack “Blue Line,” denoting the roughly six million acre region under the jurisdiction of the Adirondack Park Agency (APA) created in 1971 by the State legislature “to develop long-range land use plans for both public and private lands within the Park.”  The so-called “Park” was originally a forest preserve created in 1892 by amendment to the State constitution, first denoted on a map by a blue line drawn around the preserve (thus the “Blue Line” name).  Today about half of the “Park” is public forest preserve, the other half privately owned lands highly regulated by the APA.  Refer to the Adirondack Forest Preserve page of the NY Department of Environmental Conservation.

 - The Balsamean