Buxton Gorge

off Buxton Road, Bedford Hills, Westchester County, New York

94 acres

Geology:

Broad Brook flows north toward Beaver Dam River.

History:

early 1950s – the property was mostly pasture.

Lakeover Development LLC owns Buxton Gorge and wants to subdivide Buxton Gorge into two parcels, one of 13 acres and the other of 81 acres (the one that Bedford Hills wants to buy).

Buxton Gorge is close to the Bedford Hills Elementary School and so the town wants to make it available for educating school groups.

Habitats:

deep hemlock gorge

Trails:

There is a network of walking trails. The Bedford Riding Lanes Association is interested in extending its trails through the property.

5/20/04.  Stopped at a pull-off on the right hand side near the bridge over Broad Brook. I do not know for sure if this is the actual place, but it is near Broad Brook.

PLANTS:

hemlock, red cedar, black birch, oak and red maple

http://www.westchesterlandtrust.org/archive/wlt10870.htm and

Sean Gorman, October 16, 2003, "Study pushes Bedford’s Buxton Gorge as education tool." The Journal News. http://209.97.59.110/newsroom/101603/b03p16bedbuxton.html

PLANT LIST:
Dr. Patrick L. Cooney
* = date plants found in bloom, 5/20/04

Trees:
Acer saccharum (sugar maple)
Cornus florida (flowering dogwood)
Fagus grandifolia (American beech)
Ulmus americana (American elm)

Shrubs and sub-shrubs:
Berberis thunbergii (Japanese barberry)
Euonymus alatus (winged euonymus) *
Lindera benzoin (spicebush)
Rosa multiflora (multiflora rose)

Vines:
Celastrus orbiculatus (Asiatic bittersweet)
Parthenocissus quinquefolia (Virginia creeper)
Toxicodendron radicans (poison ivy)

Herbs:
Alliaria petiolata (garlic mustard) *
Allium vineale (field garlic)
Arisaema triphyllum (Jack-in-the-pulpit)
Aster sp. (aster)
Chelidonium majus (celandine) *
Impatiens capensis (orange jewelweed)
Maianthemum canadense (Canada mayflower)
Oxalis sp. (yellow wood sorrel)
Plantago major (common plantain)
Polygonum virginianum (jumpseed)
Ranunculus abortivus (kidney-leaved crowfoot)
Rumex obtusifolius (broad dock)
Symplocarpus foetidus (skunk cabbage)
Taraxacum officinale (dandelion)
Thalictrum pubescens (tall meadowrue) *
Veratrum viride (swamp hellebore)
Viola sp. (violet)

Sedges:
Carex stipata (sedge)
       
Grasses:
Dactylis glomerata (orchard grass)
       
Ferns and Fern Allies:
Athyrium filix-femina (lady fern)
Onoclea sensibilis (sensitive fern)
Osmunda claytoniana (interrupted fern)
Polystichum acrostichoides (Christmas fern)