Doing history involves doing detective work—following a trail of clues that may challenge conventional
thinking. Historians often do their work in a library, combing through mountains of documents; foresters
and ecologists typically conduct theirs out-of-doors, sometimes literally walking over mountains to find answers.
Michael Kudish has done the latter in an effort to determine how and why he was finding rough-stemmed
goldenrod where he thought none should be in the Catskill Mountains.
NOT ALL
ABANDONED
PA S T U R E S
BECOME FOREST
W
hen I was in college in the 1960s, we were taught in ecology classes
that when old fields and pastures were abandoned, trees soon moved
in and the land became forested. The doctrine was called succession
and climax. Since then, ecologists have found that it does not always
work this way. In New York’s Catskill Mountains, I also found
that this is not necessarily true. Natural reforestation does happen some of the time—but not all the time.
My suspicions of exceptions to the doctrine began in 1970
while I was exploring the Catskills for my dissertation on the history of the region’s forests. I found rough-stemmed goldenrod
(Solidago rugosa) at an elevation of 3,185 feet on the east slope of
Sugarloaf Mountain along the Devil’s Path hiking trail. “What
is this doing way up here?” I wondered. This species of golden-
rod typically grows at much lower elevations—along roadsides,
in fencerows between pastures, and in abandoned fields. How
did the plants get up here on the mountain, at least a mile from
the nearest old field?
As I explored the Catskills further, I found more and more
such remote, high-elevation (3,000 to 3,800 feet) populations of
rough-stemmed goldenrod, sometimes mixed in with its cousins,
the lance-leaved goldenrod (Euthamia graminifolia) and the flattopped white aster (Aster umbellatus, now Doellingeria umbellata).
BY MICHAEL KUDISH
32
FOREST HISTORY TODAY | SPRING / FALL 2010
ALL PHOTOS COURTESY OF THE AUTHOR
Flat-topped white aster (Aster umbellatus, now Doellingeria umbellata),
with rough-stemmed goldenrod.
On a few occasions, Canada goldenrod (Solidago canadensis) and joe-pye weed (Eupatorium maculatum) were present. I have almost twenty such small, naturally open sites
on my list now.
Because my more recent studies focus more on the
middle and lower elevations of the Catskills, I find these
same plants in great abundance in old beaver meadows.
When beaver ponds flooded the forest, the trees drowned.
Later, after the beavers left, the dams gave way and the
waters drained. The goldenrod and its associates then
invaded the sunny meadows. They also occur abundantly
on portions of floodplains where trees were killed by
excessive volumes of water.
Whether it be a high-elevation site, a beaver meadow,
or a floodplain, these native, shade-intolerant plants always
grow in open, sunny areas. All of these sites are naturally
occurring, many in first-growth forests (see Kaatskill Life,
Winter 2008–2009: 14–19)—none were ever cleared for
pasture or cropland—and yet they have the same plants as
many abandoned fields and pastures. Native Americans
created very few open fields in the interior of the Catskills;
the forest was first cleared for crops and pasture by settlers
Closeup of a joe-pye weed, Eupatorium maculatum.
WIKIMEDIA COMMONS
A rough-stemmed (or rough-leaved) goldenrod, Solidago
rugosa. Note the wasp feeding on its nectar.
The author’s research was conducted in the northern Catskill Mountains,
which lie within the boundaries of Catskill Park (in dark).
FOREST HISTORY TODAY | SPRING / FALL 2010
33
of European origin mainly after
the Revolutionary War.
How did these plants migrate
from the old fields and pastures
into the beaver meadows and
floodplains and up to small openings nearly at the tops of the
mountains? It finally occurred to
me that I was thinking backward.
They had not. They originated up
on the mountainsides, in the
beaver meadows, and on the
floodplains and had migrated into
many abandoned fields! Each seed
of these plants is inside a small
fruit equipped with a parachute
(much like the dandelion, a nonnative, European cousin). Travel
by wind is quick and easy.
Some of those places, as well
as many abandoned fields and pastures, have remained nearly free of
trees, even after a half-century to
a century or more. The best examples are old fields in the Catskills
that became part of the New York
State Forest Preserve. If we know
when they were acquired, then we
have a record of at least how many
years these lands have not been
planted with crops, mowed,
grazed, or burned. I am compiling
lists of these old fields for future
historians who wish to see how
long these sites stay open.
One old field in Lot 13 along
and near the west end of the
Huckleberry Brook Trail, on the
south side of Cold Spring Hollow,
was purchased by the state
between 1924 and 1938 and is still
open.
The Devil’s Acre, in the col
between Hunter and Southwest
Hunter mountains, was a clearing Upper photo: This beaver meadow, on the north side of the Beaverkill Range, is dominated by goldenmade by the Fenwick Lumber rods. A few hemlocks have ventured out into the meadow from the edge but face competition. Most of
Company during the first two the meadow will remain open.
decades of the twentieth century.
It became part of the forest pre- Lower photo: Some of the pastures on the hillside are at different stages of becoming forests. Others,
serve around 1921, and parts of it now overun by goldenrods and asters, may not be for centuries. Along Roberts Road, north of
are still open.
Bloomville, N.Y.
An old field near the headwaters of the Batavia Kill, on Lot 62 at the junction of the trails that the plants are at least as tall as you are? Look down as you strugdescend from the Batavia Kill Lean-to and from the Black Head- gle into the dense vegetation. How many tree seedlings do you
see under the thicket, or young plants of any other species, for
Black Dome col, was acquired in 1913 and is still open.
How do these places stay open for so long? Have you ever that matter? These five species of the Composite family are perentried to push your way through a thicket of rough-stemmed gold- nial herbs—that is, the roots and underground portions of stems
live for many years—from decades to centuries. Each spring,
enrod, lance-leaved goldenrod, Canada goldenrod, flat-topped
white aster, and joe-pye weed in late summer or early fall when from buds on underground stems, they send up above-ground
34
FOREST HISTORY TODAY | SPRING / FALL 2010
Upper photo: This pasture in Allaben, N.Y., may become partly forested, but the open areas now
dominated by goldenrod should stay open.
Lower photo: The flood plain of the east branch of the Delaware River between Kelly Corners and
Roxbury, N.Y., contains areas of extraordinary dense goldenrod, asters, and joe-pye weed. This density
will prevent the site from becoming reforested naturally.
stems bearing leaves, flowers, and eventually fruits. They spread
rapidly by these underground stems as well as by seed.
Blackberries and raspberries (Rubus spp.) are in the Rose family and unrelated to the Composites. Their life cycle is different:
they are biennials (they live two years), rather than perennials,
with overwintering buds on above-ground stems called canes. Yet
they grow with such density that they have the same effect of
inhibiting tree reproduction as the Composites.
Once established in an old
field, open floodplain, or open
beaver meadow, all these plants
spread rapidly and produce huge
numbers of above-ground stems
in great density, thousands and
thousands per acre. They can
shade out and choke out tree
seedlings and other plants; they
can absorb nearly all of the available water and mineral nutrients
from the soil.
Some ecologists believe that
goldenrods and asters are also
allelopathic—that is, they produce
biochemicals that retard or prevent
the growth of competing plants.
But even if no allelopathic chemicals are produced, the sheer
intense physical competition is
enough to crowd out almost all
other plants, including tree seedlings.
Why do some old fields and
pastures become forested and others not? I have observed that the
future of the field or pasture
depends on what plants seed in
first after mowing, grazing, or crop
planting ceases. If trees seed in first,
the old field will become a forest.
In a half-century to a century or so,
the young forest will consist typically of aspens, birches, red maple,
black cherry, white ash, shadbush,
hawthorns, pines, and sometimes
oaks. After about 150 years, the old
field will begin to resemble the forest that preceded the agricultural
clearing—a northern hardwoods
beech–sugar maple forest, often
with hemlock.
But if goldenrods, flat-topped
white aster, joe-pye weed (in the
wetter places), blackberries, and
raspberries seed in first, trees
watch out! These plants can keep
that old field, pasture, beaver
meadow, floodplain, and highelevation opening treeless for
centuries.
■
Michael Kudish has been studying the Catskill region for more than forty
years and is the author of The Catskills Forest: A History. He has
also published books on the vegetation of the Adirondacks as well as
histories of the railroads in both regions. This article is an updated version of one that appeared in the Summer 2009 issue of Kaatskill Life
and is reprinted with the publisher’s permission.
FOREST HISTORY TODAY | SPRING / FALL 2010
35
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FOREST HISTORY TODAY | SPRING / FALL 2010
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