Bahar Preserve, Carpenter Falls inducted into Old-Growth Forest Network

NILES, N.Y. — The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation’s (DEC) Carpenter Falls Unique Area and the Finger Lakes Land Trust’s (FLLT) Bahar Nature Preserve are now part of the national Old-Growth Forest Network (OGFN). 

The OGFN’s mission is to “connect people with nature” by creating a national network of “protected, mature, publicly accessible, native forests,” per the FLLT’s Feb. 16 announcement. OGFN’s goal is to preserve at least one forest in every county in the U.S. that can sustain a forest (estimated at 2,370 out of a total of 3,140 counties.) 

Carpenter Falls Unique Area and the Bahar Nature Preserve — contiguous properties in the town of Niles in Cayuga County — together protect more than 6,420 feet along Bear Swamp Creek, which flows through a 100-foot-deep gorge on its way to Skaneateles Lake. 

The forest within the gorge harbors Eastern hemlock, red oak, giant tulip trees, and large oaks well over 100 years old. Together, the properties form a 90-acre retreat with a 1.6-mile trail that leads visitors through a “stunning forest with impressive views and plunging waterfalls,” the FLLT said. 

“We are thrilled to welcome this unique and beautiful forest into the Network as the forest representative for Cayuga County,”  Joan Maloof, founder of OGFN, said. “We want to honor and celebrate the Finger Lakes Land Trust, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation and all of the people who have stewarded and safeguarded this special forest through time, protecting it for future generations.”

OGFN’s program works to identify forests for the Network, ensure their protection from logging, and “connect people to these properties to experience old-growth forests.” OGFN also educates about the “extraordinary ecological and human wellness benefits” of old-growth forests. It also speaks out regarding immediate threats to specific ancient forests. 

The DEC’s 37-acre Carpenter Falls Unique Area provides an elevated boardwalk and viewing platform constructed to be accessible to people with disabilities, allowing all visitors the opportunity to view the upper falls as it cuts through a notch in the massive overhanging limestone caprock and plunges over 80 feet into a deep pool. 

The trail connects to the Finger Lakes Land Trust’s Bahar Preserve, which winds its way along the south rim of the gorge through old-growth Eastern hemlock and red oak to the shores of Skaneateles Lake. The preserve protects 65 feet of lakeshore.

To maintain the “unique, deep-shade forest habitat” that hemlocks provide — “emblematic” of many gorges in the Finger Lakes region — both the DEC and the Finger Lakes Land Trust say they are treating the “most ecologically important” trees to protect against further infestation of the invasive hemlock woolly adelgid.

“Carpenter Falls Unique Area is already a Central New York gem, popular with tourists, recreationists, and the community alike,” Christopher Sprague, DEC region 7 forester, said. “DEC is honored that Carpenter Falls now also holds the distinction of providing public access to picturesque forest in Cayuga County which will be protected from harvesting and allowed to mature into old growth forest.”

OGFN has more than 185 forests in 32 states. The forest of Bahar Nature Preserve and Carpenter Falls State Unique Area will be the 19th New York forest to join the Old-Growth Forest Network. 

It joins Old Growth Trail - Green Lakes State Park in Onondaga County; Zoar Valley Unique Area in Cattaraugus County; Thain Family Forest - New York Botanical Garden in Bronx County; Rockefeller State Park Preserve in Westchester County; Ancient Forest Trail and Woodland Trail - George Landis Arboretum in Schoharie County; and Ampersand Mountain in Franklin County.