Tree Cover

Catskills are Highly Tree Covered

While certainly not a surprise to most observers, the Catskill Mountains are largely wild, without much housing development or agriculture. Tree covered areas are a deeper green, while cleared areas are white or clear.

Meet Pam Byrne and John Huerta of West Virginia

Meet Pam Byrne and John Huerta of West Virginia

Ownership of land comes with incredible benefits. If you treat your land right, it can provide you so much value in return. However, it also comes with its challenges. Without the proper care and technical expertise, maintaining large areas of natural landscapes quickly becomes a slippery slope, full of uphill work and hidden surprises. The couple was excited to own their acres of incredible wilderness right in their backyard. They wanted to do as much as they could to promote the health of their woods and its native species – without making it a full time job. And as with other landowners, invasive plants and animals are of growing concern for the two as well. Pam and John are well aware of the thorny bushes and invasive insects slowly eating away their natural landscapes. They quickly realized they needed help to understand their woods better and how to treat them for improvement. So when Pam and John learned about the Family Forest Carbon Program, it wasn’t long before they became early adopters of the program for their state.

Ash Stands On State Forests

For this map I queried the NYS DEC STANDS database to make a map of state reforestation lands that ash are the dominant tree species on. Ash you can see, there are ash stands on most state lands, with white ash most common in the southern part of the state, with a mix of green and black ash on state lands primarily north of the Adirondack Park. For viewing of the polygon layer, you may want to switch to satellite view.

Purple/White = White Ash Stand
Green/Green = Green Ash Stand
Blue/Dark Gray = Black Ash Stand

Data Source: DEC State Land Forest Stands. DEC State Land Forest Stands Polygon data showing forest cover types delineated by state foresters on DEC state land. Balloons added to make easier to see. http://gis.ny.gov/gisdata/inventories/details.cfm?DSID=1356