Haas Sanctuary
Tripp Street, New Castle
7.5 acres

Directions:

Route 22 north past Cranberry Lake and turn left onto Route 128; head through Armonk for 1.1 miles (passing School Street) and turn right on Leslie Farm Road; turn left onto High Street; drive 1.6 miles (passing by Searles Street on the left) and when the road forks bear/turn left onto Tripp Street (no street name sign when I was there, but there was a street sign for the right fork -- Sheather Road); drive 0.7 of a mile and park near the sanctuary gate on the right hand side of the road. (The sanctuary is opposite the house at #102 Tripp Street).

Geology:

Small isolated sanctuary with spectacular glacial boulder cliff. The area is very interesting topographically. It almost looks like some ancient bull-dozer had pushed through small shallow valleys all over the area. It is very cut-up with interesting rock cliffs.

History:

Saw Mill River Audubon Society sanctuaries are open year-round from dawn until dusk for members and the general public for study and enjoyment. Guided group tours of the sanctuaries are available upon request. Trail maps are available for the six sanctuaries with trails and bird lists and nature trail booklets are available for Brinton Brook and Pruyn Sanctuaries. (Saw Mill River Audubon Society website.)
Fence of sugar maples.

Trails:

10/11/03. Go through the white gate and diagonally left to the MAP box (which is now ruined and without maps). The website said there was a trail loop here, but I did not find one. But you can make a loop trail by heading east to the border of the hillside (that heads steeply down the hillside to Sheather Road); turn right (south) and head down to the southeastern boundary of the property. Here you will find the beginning (end) of the white trail. The trail heads up along a small stream, past an interesting rock cliff, and up a shallow valley that will take you back to the starting area near the sanctuary entrance.

This place is not visited enough. Someone is using the northern area by a neighboring house as a dump: there are three old abandoned cars, a red couch, thrown-away shrubs, stumps, etc.

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

Trees:
Acer saccharum (sugar maple)
Betula lenta (black birch)
Carya ovata (shagbark hickory)
Carya tomentosa (mockernut hickory)
Fagus grandifolia (American beech)
Fraxinus americana (white ash)
Picea abies (Norway spruce)
Pinus strobus (white pine)
Quercus alba (white oak)
Quercus prinus (chestnut oak)
Quercus rubra (red oak)
Quercus velutina (black oak)
Tsuga canadensis (eastern hemlock) dead

Shrubs:
Berberis thunbergii (Japanese barberry)
Euonymus alatus (winged euonymus)
Hamamelis virginiana (witch hazel)
Lindera benzoin (spicebush)
Rubus phoenicolasius (wineberry)

Vines:
Smilax rotundifolia (round-leaved greenbrier)
Vitis sp. (grape)
Wisteria sp. (wisteria)

Herbs:
Alliaria petiolata (garlic mustard)
Arisaema triphyllum (Jack-in-the-pulpit)
Aster divaricatus (white wood aster) *
Eupatorium rugosum (white snakeroot) *
Galium sp. (bedstraw)
Plantago major (common plantain)
Polygonum cespitosum (cespitose smartweed) *

Sedges:
Carex laxiflora type (loose-flowered sedge type)
Carex pensylvanica (Pennsylvania sedge)

Grasses:
Cinna arundinacea (wood reed grass)

Ferns:
Dryopteris marginalis (marginal woodfern)
Polypodium sp. (rock cap fern)
Polystichum acrostichoides (Christmas fern)