Ridge Environmental Conservation Area (Randall Pond Preserve)
Ridge, Brookhaven, Suffolk County, Long Island, NY
184 acres

Directions:

Take the Long Island Expressway east to exit 68 onto the William Floyd Parkway north; get off at State Route 25 west; turn at the first right onto Randal Road; in a short distance turn into the preserve parking lot on the left.

Geology:

part of the River's watershed

History:

1914  -- the state purchases a 184 acre parcel, known as the Ridge Environmental Conservation Area, to raise bobwhite quail and pheasants.  The area was once known as Middle Island Game Farm.  

Habitats:

grassland, shrubland, forest, wetland, ponds 

Facilities:

picnic area, restrooms, hunter's check station

Trails:

The Randall Pond Nature Trail forms a double loop forming a figure eight.  There is an illustrated interpretive guide is available that refers to numbered posts along the trail.

PLANTS:
Acer rubrum (red maple)
Picea sp. (spruce) planted grove
Pinus rigida (pitch pine)
Quercus spp. (oak)
Salix discolor (pussy willow)
Vaccinium sp. (blueberry)
Barbarea vulgaris (common wintercress)
Corornilla varia (crown vetch)
Fragaria virginiana (wild strawberry)