Berean Park
Highland, Town of Lloyd, Ulster County, New York
No Pets Allowed.

Directions:

Route 9W north to Village of Highland; just 0.2 of a mile past the Mid Hudson Bridge to Poughkeepsie, turn left onto Tilson Avenue; drive 0.3 of a mile and at the intersection with Route 55 and 44 turn left; drive 0.1 of a mile and turn right onto Reservoir Road; follow for 0.4 of a mile to the end of the road to the park.

Facilities:

Playground, picnic tables, barbequing stands, basketball court, small beach on the pond.  There is a swimming platform in the middle of the front pond. 

Trails:

There are two ponds here, one close to the park entrance and another, larger one behind it, the two separated by a wooded causeway. 

I walked down by the beach and then started around the smaller pond.  I think there are some informal trails in the woods on the south side of the park area, but I did not have time to explore them.  I walked on the causeway.  One cannot easily make a loop around the small pond because there is a water treatment facility here that has an elaborate sign saying: No Swimming, No Biking, No Mountain Biking, No Hiking, No Trespassing.  I used their gravel road to finish the last 50 yards of my circuit around the small pond.  No one bothered me, but I was there for only a small amount of time.  Might be interesting to return to the park in order to explore the area around the larger pond.  Dr. Patrick L. Cooney.

PLANT LIST:
Dr. Patrick L. Cooney
* = plant found in bloom  on day of field trip, August 27, 2004

Trees:
Acer platanoides (Norway maple)
Acer rubrum (red maple)
Betula lenta (black birch)
Betula populifolia (gray birch)
Carya ovata (shagbark hickory)
Castanea dentata (American chestnut)
Cornus florida (flowering dogwood)
Fraxinus americana (white ash)
Morus alba (white mulberry)
Pinus strobus (white pine)
Populus deltoides (cottonwood)
Populus grandidentata (big tooth aspen)
Prunus serotina (black cherry)
Quercus alba (white oak)
Quercus prinus (chestnut oak)
Quercus rubra (red oak)
Sassafras albidum (sassafras)
Ulmus rubra (slippery elm)

Shrubs and Sub-shrubs:
Berberis thunbergii (Japanese barberry)
Comptonia peregrina (sweet fern)
Lonicera morrowii (Morrow's honey suckle)
Rhus glabra (smooth sumac)
Rhus typhina (staghorn sumac)
Rosa multiflora (multiflora rose)
Rubus sp. (blackberry)
Salix sp. (willow )
Sambucus canadensis (common elderberry)
Viburnum acerifolium (maple-leaf viburnum)

Vines:
Cuscuta sp. (dodder)
Polygonum scandens (climbing hempweed)
Toxicodendron radicans (poison ivy)
Vitis labrusca (fox grape)

Herbs:
Apocynum androsaemifolium (spreading dogbane)
Apocynum cannabinum (Indian hemp)
Asclepias syriaca (common milkweed)
Aster divaricatus (white wood aster) *
Centaurea maculosa (spotted knapweed) *
Cichorium intybus (chicory) *
Coronilla varia (crown vetch) *
Daucus carota (Queen Anne's lace) *
Desmodium sp. (tick trefoil) *
Erigeron annuus (daisy fleabane) *
Eupatorium rugosum (white snakeroot) *
Euthamia graminifolia (grass-leaved goldenrod) *
Hemerocallis fulva (tawny day lily) *
Impatiens capensis (orange jewelweed) *
Lythrum salicaria (purple loosestrife) *
Medicago lupulina (black medick) *
Melilotus alba (white sweet clover) *
Oenothera biennis (common evening primrose) *
Oxalis sp. (yellow wood sorrel) *
Plantago lanceolata (English plantain) *
Plantago major (common plantain)
Polygonum cespitosum (cespitose smartweed) *
Polygonum cuspidatum (Japanese knotweed) *
Polygonum pensylvanicum (Pennsylvania smartweed) *
Prunella vulgaris (self-heal) *
Silene vulgaris (bladder campion) *
Solidago bicolor (silverrod)
Solidago canadensis var. scabra (tall goldenrod) *
Solidago juncea (early goldenrod)
Solidago rugosa (rough-stem goldenrod) *
Trifolium pratense (red clover) *
Trifolium repens (white clover) *
Typha latifolia (cattail)
Veronica officinalis (common speedwell)
Xanthium strumarium (clotbur)

Rushes:
Juncus tenuis (path rush)

Sedges:
Cyperus sp. (nut or umbrella sedge)

Grasses:
Echinochloa sp. (barnyard grass)
Setaria faberi (nodding foxtail grass)
Setaria glauca (yellow foxtail grass)

Ferns:
Onoclea sensibilis (sensitive fern)
Pteridium aquilinum (bracken fern)