Chernick Sanctuary
Beech Hill Road, Mount Pleasant
6 acres

Marsh and swamp habitat bordering Pocantico River. Only access across ConEdison power line easement. Limited parking.

Directions:

Saw Mill River Parkway north; get off at the Hawthorne exit; turn left at the light onto Route 9A; gett off the exit for Route 117; at the light turn left; drive 0.3 of a mile and turn right onto Beech Hill Road; drive 0.7 of a mile (passing Briarwood Lane) and park on the left side of the road south of the small bridge over the Pocantico River.

Trails:

Never seen so much stinging nettle in one place before (by the river). Pushed through a ways and then picked up a deer trail and walked further into the place. You soon come to some regular forest beyond the floodplain. Was not there very long.

Source:  http://www.sawmillriveraudubon.org/Chernick.html

PLANT LIST:
Dr. Patrick L. Cooney
* = 10/11/03, plant found in bloom

Trees:
Acer platanoides (Norway maple)
Acer rubrum (red maple)
Acer saccharum (sugar maple)
Cercis canadensis (redbud) planted
Fraxinus americana (white ash)
Prunus serotina (black cherry)
Ulmus americana (American elm)

Shrubs:
Clethra alnifolia (sweet pepper bush) planted
Cornus amomum (swamp dogwood)
Cornus florida (flowering dogwood) planted
Elaeagnus umbellata (autumn olive)
Lonicera morrowii (Morrow's honeysuckle)
Rosa multiflora (multiflora rose)
Rosa rugosa (wrinkled rose) planted
Rubus sp. (blackberry)
Salix discolor (pussy willow)
Viburnum lentago (nannyberry viburnum)

Vines:
Cuscuta sp. (dodder)
Parthenocissus quinquefolia (Virginia creeper)
Toxicodendron radicans (poison ivy)
Vitis sp. (grape)

Herbs:
Achillea millefolium (common yarrow)
Asclepias syriaca (common milkweed)
Aster spp. (heath aster types) *
Bidens frondosa (beggar ticks)
Callitriche sp. (water starwort) forms large green streamers in the river
Centaurea jacea (brown knapweed) * fully dev rays]
Cirsium discolor (field thistle)
Daucus carota (Queen Anne's lace)
Epilobium coloratum (purple-leaved willow herb) *
Euthamia graminifolia (grass-leaved goldenrod) *
Geum canadense (white avens)
Impatiens capensis (orange jewelweed)
Lysimachia nummularia (moneywort)
Lythrum salicaria (purple loosestrife)
Monarda daytime (wild bergamot)
Myosotis scorpioides (forget-me-not) *
Oxalis sp. (yellow wood sorrel) *
Phytolacca americana (pokeweed)
Pilea pumila (clearweed)
Plantago major (common plantain)
Polygonum hydropiperoides * lots and lots
Polygonum cespitosum (cespitose smartweed) *
Polygonum sagittatum (arrow-leaved tearthumb)
Ranunculus sp. (buttercup)
Rumex obtusifolius (broad dock)
Solidago rugosa (rugose-leaved goldenrod) *
Sonchus sp. (sow thistle) *
Taraxacum officinale (common dandelion)
Thalictrum pubescens (tall meadowrue)
Urtica dioica var. dioica (stinging nettle)
Urtica dioica var. procera (tall stinging nettle)
Verbascum thapsus (common mullein)
Verbena urticifolia (white vervain)

Rushes:
Juncus effusus (soft rush)
Juncus tenuis (path rush)

Sedges:
Cyperus sp. (nut or umbrella sedge)

Grasses:
Lythrum salicaria (purple top grass)
Panicum clandestinum (deer-tongue grass)
Phragmites australis (giant reed grass)
Setaria glauca (yellow foxtail grass)

Ferns:
Onoclea sensibilis (sensitive fern)