It is said that invasive species are second only to habitat destruction in their damaging impacts on wildlife, not to mention agriculture, economics, and human health. Countless billions are spent annually coping with invasives, whether they be insects like the emerald ash borer that is destroying all species of ash trees in our central and eastern U.S. forests, the aggressive tropical aquatic plant hydrilla found last year in Cayuga Inlet, or malaria that has spread around the world’s tropics.

Garlic mustard forms long pods that will dry out and disperse hundreds of seeds in the weeks that come.

In the short video that follows, I introduce and discuss one of the scourges of our forest community, garlic mustard, one of best known introduced plant species that have emerged as major pests. At this moment in the Finger Lakes region, garlic mustard is forming its seed pods, so if you should remove it, be careful to dispose of in a way that prevents the seeds from escaping and spreading (e.g., one suggestion is to put plants in a black plastic garbage bag and leave it in the sun for a few days to thoroughly kill it, and then put it in the trash.). For more information, see the New York Invasive Species Clearinghouse.

And now the video (5 minutes):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tvr5WA1_PjQ

In the short video post that follows (1 1/2 minutes), Gorge Guy reflects on the greening of Buttermilk Glen, on May 8, 2012.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dwJxpLEEgmQ

A flower in the snow tells a story: a warm early spring fools wildflowers and other plants to emerge early, only to be shocked by unusually late snow on the night of Earth Day, April 22-23.

This white trillium along the Bear Trail in Buttermilk Falls State Park begins to lift its head following the humiliation of a late April snowstorm.

The melting snow feeds the creeks in our gorges, which in turn feed the Finger Lakes.

A witch hazel shrub displays new leaves over the April 23 snowfall that melts and feeds Buttermilk Creek.

It’s been such a strange winter, the warmest on record, with very little snow in the Ithaca area. The official six inches in this storm was the heaviest for the season. A woman living by Connecticut Hill told me there was a foot up there.

Six gates at the northern end of the lake, in the left of this photo, allow the state to control the level of water in Cayuga Lake within a range of several feet. (Photo courtesy of Bill Hecht)

Each year, the NYS Canal Corporation lowers the level of Cayuga Lake in the fall to accommodate big surges of water flooding into Cayuga Lake from its watershed, including the gorges, from melting winter snows, particularly in March and April. With the lack of snow this winter, there has been little spring run-off compared to other years, leaving the lake level lowered much longer into the spring than in a normal year.

Bill Hecht's March 7 photograph of Great Gully on the east shore of Cayuga Lake in Cayuga County reveals considerable shallow areas above the waterline with the winter's drawdown by the state. The gates have been closed since this date, and the recent snow and rain is helping to slowly bring the lake level up, albeit way behind schedule for boaters and marinas.

In the following short video from 2010, Dennis Montgomery, owner of Tiohero Tours and the Cayuga Lake Floating Classroom, explains how the state manages water levels in the lake.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a0XCeU7KAtQ

The perennial forest wildflower hepatica is one of the earliest to emerge in the spring, sending up its flowers before its new leaves. These pushed aside dead leaves in early April on a ridge in Buttermilk Falls State Park, but many were seen during March this year. Hepatica are finished blooming now in most locations in the area, though in a normal spring they still would be blooming.

People who watch woodland spring wildflowers are amazed at how early they have emerged this season with the record warm temperatures. There is a progression of species from March into June and we are well underway with the parade. Watch this one-minute video for an introduction to our spring wildflowers, featuring representatives from Buttermilk Falls State Park and Sixmile Creek Natural Area in Ithaca, NY.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=siIJGqSU9GU

Before some gorge trails in the Finger Lakes region can be opened to the public, the cliffs overhead must be cleaned of winter-loosened stone. Shale, the dominant type of rock in gorge walls, is easily weakened and fractured by exposure to frost. Clay layers in the shale absorb moisture and water seeps into cracks; when rock freezes it fractures and is poised to come crashing down without warning. In the state parks, teams of “scalers” must systematically remove as much loose rock from cliff faces as they can before the trail can be opened. This typically takes place during April. Scaling was completed at Buttermilk Falls State Park last week and the Gorge Trail is open this weekend!

I took the following photographs in previous years.

A member of the Finger Lakes State Parks scaling team dislodges loose rock from the cliff above the parking lot in the Main Entrance at Watkins Glen State Park.

Scaling loose rock on cliffs requires considerable strength, agility, endurance, and courage.

Scaling the cliffs above the mile-and-a-half-long Gorge Trail at Watkins Glen State Park typically takes about four weeks and often is not complete until May.

A scaler works on a high cliff in the "Glen Alpha" section of Watkins Glen, the first full section of gorge beyond the Main Entrance.

Cleaning off the cliff over the Gorge Trail next to Buttermilk Falls. The trail is now open.

Tropical Storm Lee last September caused flooding that did serious damage to the trail in the rugged upper gorge in Robert H. Treman State Park. Park staff are not sure when repairs will be complete. In the meantime, the section around Lucifer Falls will remain closed.

Two scalers work the huge cliff next to Lucifer Falls in Robert H. Treman State Park.

The Gorge Trail at Buttermilk Falls State Park was opened this week. Hikers take pictures on the steps by Pinnacle Rock.

I made the following short video last year. It features the scaling of the big cliff by Lucifer Falls at Robert H. Treman State Park. I think you will find it amazing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ytidlMfduz0

Kathie Notarfonzo, Finger Lakes State Parks Assistant Regional Director, tells me that one scaling crew will continue at Watkins Glen State Park during April and that they are making good progress; and the other scaling crew will work at Taughannock Falls this week and then move on to two other parks where gorge scaling is done–Stony Brook State Park in Steuben County and Fillmore Glen State Park in Cayuga County.

Our thanks go to these great teams that do this hard and dangerous work to make our visits to the gorges as safe as possible!

Find out about my award-winning book, A Walk through Watkins Glen–Water’s Sculpture in Stone.

Access to the famous gorge called Watkins Glen has always been an engineering challenge. From the wide and high Main Entrance (called the Entrance Amphitheatre by the Victorian operators of the resort that preceded the state park) the gorge narrows in to Entrance Cascade and allows no passage. Originally, this was overcome by a wooden staircase, which periodically had to be rebuilt following the rigors of gorge winters, rockslides, and floods.

One version of the wooden staircase built to climb around Entrance Cascade. You can make out the bottom of Entrance Cascade in the lower left. Photo by William T. Purviance, courtesy of Wikimedia

Following the creation of Watkins Glen State Park in 1906, the wooden stairs were replaced by a concrete stairway ascending through a tunnel cut in the cliff to the right of the waterfall! The tunnel was cut by drilling through the rock and some limited blasting may have been employed, though this was dangerous due to the risk of de-stabilizing the shale cliffs. Entrance Tunnel was complete by 1908.

The original Entrance Tunnel was reached by a concrete staircase, as seen in this old, colorized postcard. The tunnel climbs and bends 90 degrees to the left to exit onto the right-hand side of Sentry Bridge, which passes over Entrance Cascade below.

The view back into the Entrance Amphitheatre from the original Entrance Tunnel.

A disastrous flood in July, 1935 tore through the glen and ripped out most of the original state park trail structures. The Entrance Tunnel was left stranded above where the stairway had previously stood.

The 1935 flood caused terrible damage in the glen. As you can see in this picture taken right after the torrent had passed, the parking lot had been ripped out and the stairs up to the tunnel were gone (on right), leaving the tunnel suspended on the cliff. Photo courtesy of Montour Falls Library

The damage to the glen was repaired over the next three years, including the construction of a ramp up to the tunnel entrance.

Visitors approach the Entrance Tunnel in the Main Entrance in Watkins Glen State Park. Entrance Cascade is visible in the lower left, and the stone-clad Sentry Bridge passes above. Photo by Tony Ingraham

The staircase inside the tunnel ascends toward Sentry Bridge. Photo by Tony Ingraham

During the past two years, state park stone masons have been building a new approach to the tunnel.

A new staircase has been built from the walk above Glen Creek in the Main Entrance to the Entrance Tunnel. Photo by Tony Ingraham

Find out about my richly illustrated book about Watkins Glen State Park.

A Google Earth image of Buttermilk Falls State Park. The long cascade of the falls is is in the lower middle portion of the picture.

The long cascade of Buttermilk Falls in Ithaca, NY is fun to look at from a number of angles. For more than ten thousand years, Buttermilk Creek has been splashing down the steep east slope of Inlet Valley, just a few miles from the south end of Cayuga Lake, the longest of the eleven Finger Lakes. Over the millennia, the creek has polished out a charming gorge that ends in the long, frothing falls.

Buttermilk Falls from the air. Photo by Bill Hecht.

Ithacans and visitors have enjoyed the unique, soothing beauty of Buttermilk Falls since the early 1800s. Local businessman and philanthropist Robert H. Treman and his wife Laura Treman donated the falls to the people of the State of New York to become Buttermilk Falls State Park in 1924.

Buttermilk Glen as seen from West Hill in Ithaca

The deep crease in the side of Inlet Valley that is Buttermilk Glen can be seen for miles around.

The upper portion of Buttermilk Falls as seen from the Rim Trail

The main falls as seen from the Gorge Trail

As it is still early spring, the Gorge Trail has not yet been opened by the state park. Though the huge ice formations that block the gorge in winter are mostly gone (freezing weather could make the trail treacherous again), there are other hazards that must be minimized before it is deemed safe to open the trail. Each winter, water that has penetrated the surface of the shale cliffs freezes and splits the rock, which can crash down onto the trail without warning. A team of “scalers” must systematically rappel down these cliffs and remove loose rock before the trail will be opened, which typically occurs in April.

A member of the "scaling team" removes winter-loosened stone from the face of a cliff over the Gorge Trail.

Buttermilk Falls is said to have gotten its name from the milky appearance of the water as it splashes down hundreds of short ledges.

Buttermilk Falls swashes down from its gorge in early March.

Buttermilk Falls is one of the grand natural wonders of the Finger Lakes region and New York State.

An Ithaca tradition for more than a century, Cornell Dragon Day took advantage of the balmy weather as first year Architecture students hauled their 100-foot-long dragon around campus on Friday, March 16.

Students line up behind Rand Hall in preparation for the Cornell Dragon Day parade around campus.

It was one of the best! If you didn’t see it, see it here in this 6-3/4 minute video!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ot_Tyx_WVsk

Last week, on March 7, Bill Hecht took pictures of the Cayuga Lake area from an airplane, including some shots of Taughannock Falls State Park on the west shore of the lake.

Taughannock Falls and Gorge. Photo taken March 7, 2012 by Bill Hecht. The Falls Overlook is by the gray parking lot to the right of the falls and gorge.

This is what the waterfall looked like in February from the Falls Overlook on Taughannock Park Road. Taughannock Falls, at 215 feet, is one of the tallest waterfalls in the East and drops more than Niagara Falls.

Taughannock Falls from the overlook in February. Photo by Tony Ingraham

And looking from the west; this view gives a good feel for how Taughannock Creek eroded the gorge and deposited the eroded rock and soil into Cayuga Lake, creating Taughannock Point.

Looking east over Taughannock Gorge toward Cayuga Lake. Photo by Bill Hecht. Can you find the top of the falls? How about the overlook parking area? Taughannock is actually two gorges, one above the falls and the larger gorge below it.

Taughannock Falls Gorge Trail is one of the few trails in area gorges that remain open in the winter. It’s a beautiful day, so why not do a little hiking?

With the mild weather this winter, there is little ice and snow on the waterfalls, though there is still ice on the trails in gorges around Ithaca and in the Finger Lakes area. Recent rain has nicely filled the falls.

At Buttermilk Falls State Park in Ithaca, the Gorge Trail, of course, is still closed. It won’t be opened until probably sometime in April after ice is gone and scaling and trail repairs are done. But you can see the falls from the Rim Trail and from the base of the falls.

Buttermilk Creek rushes through the gorge on its way to Buttermilk Falls.

Buttermilk Falls careens down the steep bottom of the east side of Cayuga Inlet Valley.

See the falls come to life in this short (1 min., 50 sec.) video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DRqFqga2Rxw

Many people were ignoring this sign and heading up into the gorge, despite lingering winter ice and the danger of rockfalls caused by winter loosening of rock on the cliffs above. Buttermilk Falls State Park, Ithaca.