Farmscape Ecology Program

a Hawthorne Valley Association Program

Ancient Forest Project

Introduction:

During our research for the Field Guide, which was necessarily broad in nature, we identified three habitats of potentially high biodiversity value that are at risk of being unwittingly destroyed, because they are difficult to distinguish from similar, more common habitats in our region. These at-risk habitats are ancient forests, dry meadows, and wet meadows. To build upon the Field Guide, we have begun an initiative of projects and studies to dig deeper into these habitats. To learn more about this initiative and its goals click here.

The following briefly describes what ancient forests are, why we consider them worthy of more attention, what actions we hope to take to better document and raise awareness about them, and our latest update on the work.

What are Ancient Forests and why do they need to be conserved? 

A forest is considered “ancient” if it has remained continuously forested through the peak of agricultural clearing and its soils were not homogenized by the plow. This status is determined based on evidence from historical aerial photos, LIDAR scans, and “ground-truthing.” These forests may have been logged to varying degrees and/or served as forest pasture, so most of our regional ancient forests are not “old-growth,” and don’t have large or particularly old trees.

Agricultural conversion can dramatically alter soils and destroy slow-to-disperse plant populations. Studies (including our own research) have shown that ancient forests can harbor species that are absent from the secondary forests which have regrown on former farmland within the last 80-120 years. This “post-agricultural” forest makes up most of our county’s forest, especially on the flatland.

Unfortunately, most people do not distinguish between ancient and secondary regrowth, and thus development activities rarely differentiate between these two forest types. Ancient forests are often located on relatively inaccessible terrain, such as hilltops/ridges. New building technology means such areas are now increasingly targeted for residential development.  Once a parcel is developed, its ancient forest has been destroyed and the ecology of adjacent ancient forest stands may be at greater risk due to fragmentation and edge effects. Once ancient forests are destroyed, they are–by definition–gone forever.

What are we doing to learn more and conserve them?

  • Creating a map of “Potential Ancient Forest Remnants” in Columbia County, which is being shared with towns and land conservation organizations.  
  • Conducting field research to document additional differences between ancient forest remnants and neighboring post-agricultural forests. 
  • Sharing and educating the general public about the value of these unique forests through guided walks, presentations, online resources, and printed materials.

Map of Potential Ancient Forests

This fall, we are finally ready to share our “Map of Potential Ancient Forest Remnants” of Columbia County. Linked here is a description of how this map was made and a GIS shape file is available upon request (email fep@hawthornevalleyfarm.org).

Field Study

In 2024 and 2025, FEP conducted a paired study, comparing ancient and post-agricultural forests in Columbia County. The goals were to document potential differences in the biodiversity of these forest types with different land use histories. We surveyed for organisms that were not fully represented in the Field Guide research: spring wildflowers, mushrooms, ants, and other soil invertebrates, and general forest structure characteristics. In 2024, sites were selected in the northeastern part of the county (New Lebanon, Canaan, and Austerlitz) to learn more about our ancient northern hardwood forests, which are known for their rich spring flora. In 2025, another set of sites was studied in the oak-dominated forests of southern Columbia County, in Gallatin, Taghkanic, and Ancram. 

In March of 2025, Josie, Kyle, and Laura gave a presentation introducing the project, sharing a bit about the mapping, and then describing some preliminary results of the first study year.

Outreach

  • Recording and a PDF of slides of the first Ancient Forest Project talk given in 2025.
  • PDF of slides from an updated talk in 2026. A recording will be available at some point.
  • “Columbia County has Ancient Forests” newspaper article by Deborah Lans.
  • Recording of our talk titled “Not all forests are created equal: A Closer Look at Our Forest Habitats and Their Biodiversity” for the Town of Taghkanic’s Forests in Your Backyard series.
  • Discussion of the Ancient Forest Project on “Who’s that Expert?!” podcast.
  • Blog Posts
  • Ancient forest ecology walks at High Falls, Wally Farms, Harris, Schor, and on private land in Canaan. Join our email list for walk announcements.

How to Support this Work

We are grateful to have secured funding to create a publicly accessible map of potential ancient forest remnants in Columbia County, which will serve as a tool to protect these special forests. We are still looking for support to continue studying these forests in detail and creating ways to share this with town boards, CACs, and the residents of Columbia County. Please consider contributing to this work by donating.