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Site Description
The Preserve is located on the
western edge of the Helderberg Plateau (42 10’N, 74 10’W)
in the towns of Rensselaerville and Berne, New York. The elevation
ranges from 360 to 650 m. The Plateau, 117 km square (45 miles
square), has a well defined 260 meter escarpment that rises abruptly
from the Hudson Valley in the east and the Mohawk Valley to the
north. The elevation of the Plateau rises toward the west reaching a
maximum of 600 meters on the westernmost portion of the Preserve.
Catskill Creek to the southwest and Schoharie Creek to the northwest
separate the Plateau from the Catskill Mountains.
Natural habitats on the Preserve
include several water falls, a 40.5 ha lake, 4 ha pond, beaver
ponds, kilometers of permanent and intermittent streams, a bog
(total wet areas = 5%), old fields (15%), mature hemlock forests,
pine and spruce plantations (3%), and extensive areas of maturing
and mature hardwood forests (72%).The remaining 5% are roads, trails
and building sites.All of the Preserve’s 800 ha are available for
research. Because the HPBRS is also a nature preserve, we do have
about 2000 visitors per year. Our management plan calls for keeping
the public on trails around Lake Myosotis and near the
Rensselaerville Falls. This generally keeps the public away from
most research areas. To date we have had few problems with vandalism
or other interference with research sites.
The climate of the Helderberg
Plateau is essentially continental although influenced by the Hudson
River, Great Lakes and Atlantic Ocean. Winters (Dec-Feb) are cold
(mean = -6.6C) to frigid (min. = -32C) with ample snow (mean = 1.3
m/yr). Summers are warm (mean = 21C) with short periods where 38C
may be reached. Rainfall is higher in spring and fall than in
summer, with an annual mean total of 900mm. Winds are northerly in
winter and northwesterly in summer. Weather data available for the
HPBRS and for Albany County (back to 1871) were recently summarized
by Thaler (1992, 1994). The HPBRS’s 60-year long research and
monitoring record provides valuable baseline data against which
change may be evaluated.
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