We've been invited to join the Victor Hiking Trails educational event
Rush Oak Openings Unique Area
Sunday, April 27th from 2-4 PM.
Some wildflowers, and some
geology! Join us for an educational tour of Rush Oak Openings Unique
Area. Geologist Fred Haynes will lead this tour. The 230 acre Rush Oak
Openings Unique Area features the globally rare plant community commonly
referred to as an "oak opening" or "oak savanna." This site is the only
known intact oak opening remaining in New York state. Oak openings were
common in the Midwest (where the prairie met eastern forests) prior to
European settlement. In addition to the oak openings habitat, there are
oak woodlands, limestone woodlands, wetlands, successional old field
communities and the transitions between each of these types.
Directions
From exit 11 on I-390, head south on Route 15 (West Henrietta Road) about 3.1 miles to the parking lot on Route 15.
GPS 42.96156, -77.68659
Parking
There is a small parking lot at the end of a 200 yard dirt road when you pull off Route 15. See photos.
Reference
• https://dec.ny.gov/places/rush-oak-openings-unique-area
Fred shared this link if you'd like more information about Rush Oaks Opening: https://guides.nynhp.org/oak-openings/
It was a gorgeous sunny day with temperatures in the 60s. Almost 30 people from Victor hiking and Canandaigua Botanical Society met to learn about chert.
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| Doctors Bruce and Fred |
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| Fred tells us about the chert |
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| Bruce tells about the service berry |
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| service berry |
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| A control burn was done 3 days prior to our visit |
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| Early Saxifrage |
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| more early saxifrage |
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| shagbark hickory |
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| long spurred violet |
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| trout lily |
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| mayapple, trout lily leaves, spring beauty, young solomon seal |
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| spring beauty |
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| Onondaga limestone |
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| small leaf buttercups growing on rock |
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| cutleaf toothwort |
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| long spurred violet |
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| gray tree frog |
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| bluecohosh |
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maidenhair fern
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| trillium |
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| turkey tail |
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| Christmas Fern |
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| solomon seal and mayapple |
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| may apple |
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| hepatica leaves and true miterwort |
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| hepatica |
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| miterwort |
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| scarlet cup |
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| brown cup about the size of a dollar bill |
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| white lettuce - nabalus albus |
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| hepatica |
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| lots of hepatica |
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| carex pensylvanica |
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| herb robert |
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| white trilium |
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| ramps/wild leeks |
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| spring cress |
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| early blue cohosh |
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| black cherry |
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| red admiral |
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| lots of mayapple |
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| bloodroot |
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| pussytoes |
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| willow gall |
These two images were on the DEC Week in Review email - controlled burn at Rush Oak Openings:
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