Cornell Plantations has added two more natural areas to its just over 4,000 acres of biologically diverse and ecologically fragile natural areas. They are a 120-acre chestnut oak forest with a mountain laurel understory on Bald Hill, 13 miles southeast of Ithaca, and an approximately 20-acre fen -- a wetland with a continuous source of calcium-rich, mineral saturated groundwater -- on Old Stage Road in Groton, 15 miles northeast of campus.

"Both of these additions contain locally rare ecological communities and plant species," said Nancy Ostman, director of natural areas for the Cornell Plantations.

The Cornell Plantations staff oversees some two dozen off-campus sites that include bogs, fens, gorges, glens, meadows, woodlands and other valuable habitats within 45 miles of the Cornell campus.

The new Bald Hill tract, which was owned by the town of Caroline, is now part of the Cornell natural area on Bald Hill.

"Although this ecological community is more common further south, Bald Hill is the only chestnut oak forest with abundant mountain laurel (Kalmia latifolia) in central New York," said Ostman. "Also present are several grape ferns: Botychium lanceolatum and B. simplex are both locally scarce species, and B. oneidense is a state-threatened species. The locally rare Jefferson salamander (Ambystoma jeffersonii) also lives there."

The Groton fen has unusual plants and uncommon birds, Ostman said. The fen's rare flora are maintained by groundwater discharge that keeps the environment cool, moist and highly alkaline with low nutrient availability.

"Many locally rare and scarce plant species are present in this fen, including the Finger Lakes region's second-largest known population of the critically imperiled American globeflower (Trollius laxus)," said Ostman. She noted that the American globeflower is endangered globally. However, the globeflower's eastern subspecies is most abundant between Cortland and Ithaca, "probably because its ideal habitat still remains there," she said.

All of Cornell's natural areas, which were obtained by gift or purchase, are chosen for their biodiversity and are used for research and education. They include: Cayuga Marsh, a low-lying wetland at the north end of Cayuga Lake, 45 miles from Ithaca; the James W. and Helene D. Allen Wetland Preserve on the north end of Cayuta Lake, about 25 miles from Ithaca; and the Ringwood Preserve in Ellis Hollow, about five miles from campus, where researchers study environmental influences on salamander populations, which are considered "early warning indicators" of environmental health.

Cornell Plantations Natural Areas Program also manages about two dozen natural areas -- about 500 acres in all -- on or very near campus. Cornell Plantations also manages 14 gardens that comprise the 200-acre botanical collections and include the 150-acre F.R. Newman Arboretum.

Most of Cornell's natural areas and all of the Plantations botanical collections are free and open to the public and are fully described with directions and detailed maps at http://www.plantations.cornell.edu. The Cornell Plantations offers numerous classes and self-guided and guided tours all summer.