East Irvington Nature Preserve
Taxter Road, Irvington, Westchester County, NY
31.7 acres

Directions:

From Broadway take Sunnyside Lane in Irvington (0.6 of a mile north of Main Street, Irvington) east for 0.6 of a mile. The road becomes Taxter Road; drive another 0.6 miles to the preserve on the right.

From Saw Mill River Parkway (Northbound) get off at Exit 21W, Route 119 Tarrytown; drive on Route 119 west 0.4 of a mile and turn left onto Taxter Road. (Look for the left turn lanes at the light just before the large I-287 overpass). Drive 1.0 miles to the preserve on the left.

Geology:

This small preserve sits on top of a ridge (a southern part of the famed Elmsford Ridge).

Trails:

It is hoped that a number of parks can be linked in a corridor running parallel to the Hudson River that would be the largest parks and open space corridor in southern Westchester.  This would secure 700 contiguous acres.  The parks involved would be: East Irvington Nature Preserve, Irvington's Reservoir Park, V.E. Macy Park, Taxter Ridge and Westwood.

It is also hoped that a east-west corridor route would extend from the Croton Aqueduct Trail in the west and head through Taxter Ridge to East Irvington Preserve, then follow a proposed “escarpment” trail to a link with the Rumbrook, Ridge Road Park, Harts Brook Park, the Greenburgh Nature Center, and finally the Bronx River Parkway.

(Source:   The Greening of Greenburgh, 1973 to 2003. The Aquisition of Wildlife Habitat and Protection of the Environment, by William Lawyer, Executive Director Greenburgh Nature Center.
http://216.239.39.104/search?q=cache:9HzdHFLBoaIJ:www.greenburghny.com/FCpdf/Greening%2520of%2520Greenburgh.pdf+%22East+Irvington+Nature+Preserve%22&hl=en&ie=UTF-8)

8/12/03  --  Enter the trail under the portal. It brings you to a kiosk with a map of the preserve and its trails. Behind the kiosk is a pond. Water Tower Lane goes to the actual water tower and returns. Off Water Tower Lane is the Wecquasgeeks Trail developed by GRASP, 1994. The Wecquasgeeks Trail makes a semi-circle that comes back to Water Tower Lane.

I took a yellow trail off the Wecquasgeeks Trail, but all it did was go all the way down the ridge to the bottom to the exit off the Saw Mill River Parkway just south of the overpass for US 87 (while heading south on the Saw Mill River Parkway).

PLANT LIST:
Dr. Patrick L. Cooney
* = 8/12/03 , date plant found in bloom

Trees:
Acer negundo (box elder maple)
Acer palmatum (Japanese maple)
Acer platanoides (Norway maple)
Acer rubrum (red maple)
Acer saccharum (sugar maple)
Ailanthus altissima (tree of heaven)
Amelanchier arborea (shadbush) planted
Betula lenta (black birch)
Betula nigra (river birch)
Betula populifolia (gray birch)
Carpinus caroliniana (musclewood)
Carya glabra (pignut hickory)
Carya tomentosa (mockernut hickory)
Cercis canadensis (red bud)
Cornus florida (flowering dogwood)
Fagus grandifolia (American beech)
Fraxinus americana (white ash)
Liriodendron tulipifera (tulip tree)
Morus alba (white mulberry)
Nyssa sylvatica (tupelo)
Picea abies (Norway spruce)
Pinus strobus (white pine)
Populus alba (white poplar)
Prunus serotina (black cherry)
Pyrus sp. (crab apple)
Quercus alba (white oak)
Quercus rubra (red oak)
Quercus velutina (black oak)
Robinia pseudoacacia (black locust)
Sassafras albidum (sassafras)

Shrubs and subshrubs:
Berberis thunbergii (Japanese barberry)
Cephalanthus occidentalis (button bush)
Clethra alnifolia (sweet pepper bush) *
Euonymus alatus (winged euonymus)
Forsythia sp. (golden bells)
Lindera benzoin (spicebush)
Lonicera morrowii (Morrow's honeysuckle)
Rubus sp. (dewberry)
Rubus sp. (blackberry)
Salix discolor (pussy willow)
Vaccinium pallidum (hillside blueberry)
Viburnum acerifolium (maple leaf viburnum)
Viburnum dentatum (smooth arrowwood viburnum)
Viburnum plicatum (double-file viburnum)
Viburnum prunifolium (blackhaw viburnum)

Vines:
Ampelopsis brevipedunculata (porcelain berry)
Amphicarpaea bracteata (hog peanut)
Celastrus orbiculatus (Asiatic bittersweet)
Humulus japonicus (Japanese hops)
Parthenocissus quinquefolia (Virginia creeper)
Rubus phoenicolasius (wineberry)
Smilax glauca (sawbrier)
Toxicodendron radicans (poison ivy)
Vitis aestivalis (summer grape)

Herbs:
Acalypha sp. (Three-seeded mercury)
Alliaria petiolata (garlic mustard)
Apocynum cannabinum (Indian hemp)
Artemisia vulgaris (common mugwort)
Boehmeria cylindrica (false nettle) *
Cichorium intybus (chicory) *
Commelina communis (Asiatic dayflower) *
Daucus carota (Queen Anne's lace) *
Duchesnea indica (Indian strawberry) *
Erechtites hieraciifolia (pileweed) *
Erigeron annuus (common daisy fleabane) *
Eupatorium rugosum (white snakeroot) *
Geranium sibiricum (geranium)*
Hackelia virginiana (Virginia stickseed) *
Hypericum gentianoides (orange grass) *
Hypoxis hirsuta (yellow stargrass) *
Impatiens capensis (orange jewelweed)
Lapsana communis (nipplewort)
Lemna sp. (duckweed)
Monotropa uniflora (Indian pipe)
Oxalis sp. (yellow wood sorrel) *
Paronychia canadensis (forked chickweed)
Polygonum cespitosum (cespitose smartweed) *
Potentilla simplex (common cinquefoil)
Prunella vulgaris (self-heal) *
Stellaria media (common chickweed)
Trifolium repens (white clover) *
Verbascum thapsus (common mullein)
Verbena urticifolia (white vervain) *

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

Sedges:
Carex lurida (sallow sedge)
Carex pensylvanica (Pennsylvania sedge)
Carex stricta (tussock sedge)
Scirpus atrovirens (dark-green bulrush)

Grasses:
Cinna arundinacea (wood reed grass)
Dactylis glomerata (orchard grass)
Echinochloa crus-galli (barnyard grass)
Eleusine indica (zipper grass)
Microstegium vimineum (Japanese stilt grass)
Phragmites australis (giant reed grass)
Setaria faberi (nodding foxtail grass)

Ferns:
Dennstaedtia punctilobula (hay-scented fern)
Onoclea sensibilis (sensitive fern)
Osmunda cinnamomea (cinnamon fern)
Polystichum acrostichoides (Christmas fern)
Thelypteris noveboracensis (New York fern)