BOTANICAL EVALUATION OF THE GOAT ISLAND COMPLEX, NIAGARA FALLS, NEW YORK
P. M. Eckel
Buffalo Museum of Science
1020 Humboldt Pkwy
Buffalo, NY 14211 U.S.A.
www.buffalomuseumofscience.org

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A. GOAT ISLAND

1. Central Woods Remnant
In 1900 the forested area of the Goat Island Complex appears to have completely covered all areas (see map in the 19 Ann Rep Comm, 1903). The intact forest on Goat Island was bisected here and there by roads, some areas at the viewing stations at the American and Horseshoe Falls prospects were opened up, and remnants existed of the openings made in the northeastern areas east of the bridge to Green Island. Contrary to expectations, the southeastern portion of Goat Island was depicted as wooded, or covered with vegetation if less dense than elsewhere on the Island.

Day, and others, felt in 1901 that the Goat Island woods was "almost unchanged from its natural condition" (see section on land use), and yet Chamberlin, from Buffalo, New York, in a letter to the magazine Garden and Forest written in 1892, referring to the botanical richness at the Falls wrote "especially is this true on Goat Island, which is now one of the few spots in this vicinity that are covered with primeval growth. It is probable that even here the earlier timber has been removed, for that which remains is not very large, but the absence of stumps shows that no cutting of trees has taken place for a long time. The timber is chiefly of the ordinary hard-wood trees, Beach [sic] and Maple predominating, with an occasional Oak, Ash or Tulip-tree, and near the paths many small Cedars, white and red, Hemlock and prostrate Yew-bushes."

Since Goat Island was said to have had a primeval forest in its first decades as a Reservation, one would expect the woods to be composed of relatively well-spaced trees of some maturity, a dense canopy above, darkness below and herbaceous vegetation or bare soil beneath the trees. Many old woodlands can be seen that present this kind of climax, such as Fonthill Preserve in Ontario, and as close as DeVeaux College Woods, several miles north on top of the gorge behind Whirlpool State Park, New York. The canopy is closed and where light-wells occur, small islands with dense populations of herbs are established. At DeVeaux, these islands contrast sharply with areas without vegetation characteristic of the deep shade. As a climax forest, species diversity in the Goat Island forest would be low, and most of the energy for potential species abundance would have been monopolized by the dominant vegetation - the Beech - Maple species.

The primitive Goat Island forest presented an aspect to Mr. Chamberlin, in 1892, of disturbance. The chief agent of disturbance with which he was acquainted was lumbering. The island looked as if lumbered, but he could not see the stumps to prove it. Mature trees one associates with climax-primeval forests are large - yet Chamberlin remarked on the youth of much of the island forest. There is a picture of what might be termed young, native growth in the Goat Island woods published in the 21 Annual Report of the Commissioners of 1905 - the Reservation by then having been in existence for twenty years. Many of these trees are older than twenty years, and there are many saplings. The large stump in the picture is not the result of lumbering, but of "cleaning up" the forest after a storm has damaged a tree - a practice still in use on the island today. The wood's aspect in this picture seems to reflect what Chamberlin may have observed for himself in 1892.

"Thicket" is a term used by the first Superintendent of the Niagara Reservation, Thomas Welch, to describe a habitat or the condition of habitats on Goat Island. A thicket, in contrast to a woodland, usually implies an area of dense, rather impenetrable high growth of shrubs or young trees. Thickets may be ecotonal, i.e. associated with community boundaries, such as at the edges of woods and meadows or other openings, or a function of environmental gradients, such as shallowness of soil, exposure to incoming wind at the margins of land, on cliff edges, etc. Thickets may also be successional, temporary communities of vigorous young forest growth intergrading and in competition with shrub communities. One area of significant disturbance and secondary growth was the east end of Goat Island (the meadow) which appears to have been cleared some time in the eighteenth century. One shrub species in 1885 formed a monoculture there (Staghorn Sumac, Rhus typhina).

Young trees appear to have abounded on Goat Island for Welch reported in the 7th Annual Report of the Commissioners, 1891, that "young trees, 1,122 in number, have been taken from the thicket on Goat Island and planted in the nursery plot. They comprise 636 maples, 130 ash, ninety-one basswood, fifteen elm, twelve ironwood [Ostrya], one beech and four osier [Willow]. Seventy-five Norway spruce [Picea abies] and seventy-five white cedar [Thuja occidentalis] have also been procured for the nursery." When Welch reported that "a great variety of young trees and shrubs, suitable for placing in the nursery, can be obtained in the woods on Goat Island," he seems to imply that the "thicket" was nearly synonymous with the "woods." Again, "the trees overturned by the storm of January 13, 1890 have been cleared away. A number of dead trees in Prospect Park, which were considered dangerous, have been removed and a large quantity of fallen branches removed from the thicket on Goat Island" (7 Ann Rep Com, 1891).

And yet the thicket "on the Reservation" also produced a quantity of shrubs: twenty ninebark [Physocarpus opulifolius], sixty euonymus [Euonymus atropurpureus] and forty snowberry shrubs [Symphoricarpos albus] for the Goat Island nursery in 1891 (8 Ann Rep Comm, 1892) - species that could hardly have come from a forest-community.

Olmsted and Vaux (3 Ann Rep Comm, 1887), also made reference to the density of the central woods when they recommended "numerous trails through the thick woods." Walkers on these foot-paths would enjoy "forest seclusions," indicating the visible impenetrability of the primal forest.

To Welch's thinking, echoed by Olmsted and Vaux, there were thicket or dense shrub communities on Goat Island, and also that the woodland community was unusually dense. The young trees to which he referred may have been successional (post disturbance) regrowth in the cleared eastern section of the Island, or the forest may have had an intrinsic disturbance regime.

Evidence for the nature of this disturbance, with respect to the forest community on Goat Island, is given in the first several decades of the Reservation's existence when winter storms were reported to have blown down many trees. It is unlikely that these storms were much different than winter conditions prevailing throughout the nineteenth century, and that toppled trees every winter was the norm. This likelihood is obscured in the annual reports because the custodians of Goat Island treated these events as somehow unnatural (although note that the explosion of the island Karakatoa near Sumatra occurred only a year or two prior to the Reservation's establishment, and temporary intensification of winters may have resulted).

Other evidence that winter storms were typical of conditions on the Island comes from the decades of reference to the dead brush, fallen branches, etc. which were slated for removal by the Superintendents of the islands down to the present day.

The type of primeval or climax forest on Goat Island must have been a kind of disclimax, or modification of a primary climax forest, that is, a climax community depending for its maintenance on continuing disturbance (Daubenmire, 1968). The source of disturbance in the central woods was winter winds, aggravated, perhaps, by the lack of structural cohesiveness of the sediments underlaying the forest and by the weight of ice in the canopy. Climax communities without persistent disturbance in their environment, such as by fire, "usually exhibit a mosaic of rather well-defined climaxes that are relatively simple in their floristic composition. As disturbance begins, the distinctiveness of floras among the ecosystems declines and floristic complexity increases ..." (Daubenmire, 1968). A true disclimax community, classically, will eventually develop its own distinctiveness and reduction in floristic complexity. However, on Goat Island, the nature of the disturbance is not cataclysmic or uniform in space or time. Typical conditions prevail, and disturbance is random and patchy. The primeval situation appears to have been a typical climax forest with enough disturbance to permit invading species to flourish, but not to overwhelm the typical species communities. Enough variation in substrates, enough disturbance and conditions leading to ecological optima for growth appear to have all contributed to the unusual character of the vegetation on the islands at the brink of the falls.

The frequency of what appears to be White Pine in the old photographs and drawings of the Goat Island forest may also be accounted in part by the relatively frequent blowdowns in the forest dominated by Sugar Maple, seedlings of White Pine requiring "at least 20 percent of full sunlight ... to keep ... seedlings alive" (Fowells, 1965). Although generally this species is considered a part of the climax forest throughout the extent of its range, "in Canada it is considered that many of the present white pine stands are edaphic or pyric relics and that present climatic conditions are against its maintenance as a major species" (Fowells, 1965).

Additional indirect evidence for the presence of White Pine in the Goat Island forest is in those old depictions showing the crowns of some conifer species overtopping the deciduous canopy. White Pines 150 feet tall "were not unusual in the virgin forests of Pennsylvania ... and New England" (Fowells, 1965). Hemlock trees, the other alternative, average around 54 feet in height in New York at age 140 years (Fowells, 1965).

Day makes the enigmatic statement that both the White Pine and the Hemlock "are not as plentiful upon the island as their beauty demands. They should be at once, and largely, replanted" (Day, 1901). The suggestion here is that by 1901 these species had been removed from the Goat Island forest.

Red Cedar (Juniperus virginiana) occurs in the literature of the Commission reports and in photographs. It enjoys growing on the crestline areas along the Niagara River gorge and competes on occasion with Arbor Vitae there. This is another conifer that could be seen as taking advantage of a changing environment, as it is associated with recovery after disturbance, or is successional.

It is possible that only the side of the islands exposed to the direct force of the wind suffered from extensive blowdown - especially in its oldest trees. It is convenient that the surface sediments on the south side of Goat Island are of coarse gravel, and those on the north side are composed of a "boulder-clay" (see section on soils). Perhaps the sediments here are less competent to support the mass of an old tree with a large canopy laden with frozen spray in a high wind, and a disclimax situation would prevail here more than in more protected situations on the island, with a corresponding difference in species abundance on the forest floor, and closure of the canopy above.

Again, the reported frequency of windthrow may have been in part the result of modifications in the natural woodland structure by the developers: "windthrow is most prevalent among trees growing in dense stands that, through logging or natural damage, are suddenly exposed to the full force of the wind" (Smith, 1966).

But for openings in the canopy by blowdown, or windthrow, the canopy appears to have been a dense and dark ceiling. How dark may be seen in a photograph of the forest just back from the crest of Goat Island, on the island's western end, included in the 28 Annual Report of the Commissioners for 1912 (reprinted above). This area today is completely clear but for "shade trees." In the first few decades of the Reservation's existence, the canopy afforded such dense shade that the rain and mist did not evaporate and the dirt and gravel roads remained difficult. "Portions of the roads on Goat Island are so thickly shaded by the primitive forest that mud remains upon them ... long after the rain has ceased" (6 Ann Rep Comm, 1890).

In the 25 (1909) and 27th (1911) Annual Report of the Commissioners a photograph was included that shows another side of the density and complex structure of the primeval central woods. Vegetation along the path and beneath the tree/shrub layer was dense. In both pictures, however, there are extensive "light-wells" from openings in the canopy above. These openings may have been made as the path was constructed and trees removed, but the density of the surrounding vegetation was well established by the time the pictures were taken. If winter storms removed some large trees every winter, open canopy in many places would result naturally.

The Superintendent described the woodland response to severe gales in 1909 as follows: "the soil, especially on Goat Island, was very soft affording but little support to the trees which first rocked gently then with increasing force until many of the finest ones, those overtopping the surrounding forest by many feet thereby presenting large areas of exposed surface, were blown down, carrying many smaller ones with them" (26 Ann Rep Comm, 1910).

For an alternative discussion of "thickets" see the section on crest vegetation below.

Perhaps it is through the open patches of the primeval canopy that can be attributed the unusual abundance of the woodland flora. Reports for woodland herbaceous species occurring in "profusion" by Day (1901) and others include the two species of Hepatica, both now extirpated from Goat Island, of Squirrel-corn and Dutchman's breeches (Dicentra), "noted for their abundance and beauty" of Toothwort (Dentaria diphylla), Spring Cress (Cardamine douglassii) now absent from the island, and Lyre-leaved Rock Cress (Arabis lyrata), also now absent, and the Violets (Viola cuculata, V. rostrata, V. pubescens and V. canadensis, Bloodroot (Sanguinaria canadensis), Spring-Beauty (Claytonia caroliniana), the Wild Crane's-bill (Geranium maculatum) both presently extirpated, as are the Early Saxifrage (Saxifraga virginiana), Foam Flower (Tiarella cordifolia), Miterwort (Mitella diphylla), Blue Phlox (Phlox divaricata), Green Valerian (Polemonium reptans), Large-Flowered Bellwort (Uvularia grandiflora) among others. Much of the ground cover then was probably as it is now, Virginia Creeper (Parthenocissus) and young Grape (Vitis riparia).

Chamberlin (1892) and Day (1901) both noted Sugar Maple being the primary tree species in the Goat Island forest - a condition which is prevalent today. One major difference is the predominance of Beech (Fagus grandifolia) in 1892, mentioned by Chamberlin, and referred to as abundant by Day (1888) but which is today reduced to perhaps five trees on Goat Island, and none observed in the interior of the central woods. Ashes, which are second only to the Sugar Maple in abundance today, were considered "occasional" according to Chamberlin and probably have replaced the Beech component present when the woods was repurchased by the State .

Day (1901) noted the presence of Red, Silver and Mountain Maples (Acer spicatum) in the Goat Island forest. He mentioned the species of Sumac known to have grown there. Native Plum (Prunus americana), and two cherries, both still present: Chokecherry (Prunus virginiana) and Black Cherry (Prunus serotina). The Black Cherry, like the Beech already mentioned, is reduced to several trees - the Black Cherry of the nineteenth century "attaining upon the island a wonderful development" (Day, 1901).

Native Thorn on the island prior to 1901 included Crataegus coccinea, C. tomentosa and C. crus-galli), both species of Elder (Sambucus canadensis and S. pubens), and of the Dogwoods Cornus florida and five others and six Viburnums - unfortunately Day includes the shrubs of the banks of the Niagara Gorge in his list, but today both Elders may be found on the island in the woods, Cornus stolonifera, C. racemosa and C. rugosa on the margin of the woods and many Cornus alternifolia throughout and of good size. No native Viburnums presently exist on the island. Day also does not report Ash as abundant on the island. Basswood (Tilia americana) was "plentiful upon the island, and of extraordinary size and beauty" (Day, 1901). Day's listing of the nut-producing trees, or native Poplars, Birches or Elms and Willows gives no indication whether he found them on the island or along the river. No account of the reason for the "unfortunately disappearing" Red Cedar (Juniperus virginiana) was given.

The girth of the trees ranged downward from the five-foot in diameter specimen of Sycamore (Platanus occidentalis) blown down in 1889 (6 Ann Rep Comm, 1890), the largest tree on the island. Trees were blown down during the winter storm of 1909 and "many of these trees were noble specimens being two to five feet in diameter, some of them without a blemish" (26 Ann Rep Comm, 1910). The sizes of the trees of this untouched woods must be inferred from allusions made to them in the literature, for example the "wonderful development" of the Black Cherry. In pure stands, dominant Black Cherry trees may reach a diameter of 10 to 24 inches in 50 to 60 years (Fowells, 1965) and today the one Black Cherry noted in the central woods measured sixteen inches. A "magnificent specimen" of Tulip-tree (Liriodendron tulipifera) grew in the woods (Day, 1901), a tree which can reach diameters of ten feet, with second-growth trees attaining diameters of 18 to 24 inches in 50 to 60 years (Fowells, 1965). The Basswood was of an "extraordinary size and beauty." This tree on a good site can have a four foot diameter (Fowells, 1965), a far cry from the single five inch diameter tree which crossed the transect line in the present study. Much larger trees occur in the south slope and that to the north (to thirteen inches diameter). For comparison, fourteen of thirty-six trees blown down on the Three Sisters Islands in 1890 were each two feet in diameter (basswood, elm, beech, ironwood (hop-hornbeam), maple, Arbor Vitae, red cedar, pine, white oak and hemlock). "Two of the elms were three feet in diameter" (7 Ann Rep Comm, 1891).

The largest native tree diameters are presently those of the White Ash (31 inches on the transect), Sugar Maple (25 inches) and the occasional American Elm (Ulmus americana, 28 inches).

The path-side Arbor Vitae and Red Cedars, the Hemlock and Yew (Taxus canadensis) noted by Chamberlin (1892) are all absent from the present forest.

The original and presumably central mandate of the Reservation administration was and is to preserve the native, primeval vegetation and to reforest or revegetate lands adjacent to Niagara Falls to conform with the intact forest on Goat Island. From the beginning of the Reservation's existence, a plan for the maintenance of the forest in its primitive state was not created, nor was there a definition of "primitive" made based on the original conditions of the forest, nor an assessment made of its character so the forest could be monitored and master plans created which would protect its integrity.

Nowhere is this more apparent than in the decision to "clean" the woods up, that is, to remove dead trees from the central woods, both by cutting standing trees and removing those that have fallen, initiated after the death of Superintendent Welch in 1903. Without a rationale for such "improvements" to the primitive forest, the Commissioners declared in 1911 that "in the forests dead and dying timber must be replaced by young trees" (28 Ann Rep Comm, 1912). This presaged a purgation or sanitization of the woods. In that year began the "general cleaning up in the woods of the dead and fallen timber, brush and vines" (28 Ann Rep Comm, 1912). Under Superintendent Eckert, succeeding to Harries, "several hundred old tree stumps were dynamited and a large number of dead trees felled and removed from the forest" (29 Ann Rep Comm, 1913). In 1908 "a large amount of work has been done toward cleaning the forest on Goat Island of fallen trees, rotted stumps and the tangle of underbrush, vines, etc." (25 Ann Rep Comm, 1909).

It was this very tangle of nameless underbrush and vines that was the essence of the native forest, the fallen wood, the blowdowns an essential part of the character of the primitive woods. Fallen tree trunks and branches also contribute to the visual complexity and aesthetic values of a natural environment, such as Goat Island's is required to be. Regular sameness is a characteristic of an urban environment and its carefully maintained biological sterility.

At the same time as the woods was being "cleansed," trees and shrubs were continuously being planted on the Reservation, such as the ten thousand trees and six hundred shrubs planted on the islands and the mainland in 1912 (28 Ann Rep Comm, 1913). Rather than planted according to a thoughtful plan regarding extending the primitive forest, these plantings were on the order of "shade trees" - a type of tree not present in the native forest. These were the sorts of trees which required pruning, trimming, spraying with arsenate of lead to ward off insects, characteristic of the policy of the Superintendent around 1910. Lawns invariably surround such trees - in other words, a totally different, artificial ecology was being instituted to replace the native one. "For twenty-six years conditions have been steadily improving, but year by year the burden of proper maintenance has become more exacting and more costly ... with the growth in the number of shade-trees and their insect enemies greater care and greater expense are required to hold these pests in check. In the forests dead and dying timber must be replaced by young trees" (28 Ann Rep Comm, 1912). The State thus began its expensive commitment to the maintenance and development of an urban park, rather than the primitive forest, and the New York State Legislature was asked to produce more money for "upkeep of the grounds." This policy of removing "brush," that is, Dogwood, Frost Grape, native Virginia Creeper is still in place today and is destructive of the native ecosystem.

Fallen tree-boles, when they are well rotted, maintain a higher water-balance in the forest as well as provide centers of protection, warmth and moisture conducive to the germination of seeds in natural forest regeneration. Removal of fallen trees may terminate the ability of certain species, such as Hemlock, to regenerate in the forest and are notably absent from the central woods interior today. Nutrients provided by the environment spent in the growth and structure of the bodies of native trees and shrubs is continually being removed from that environment. The absence of ferns from the Goat Island flora may be due to loss of this vegetable mold, these natural bedding frames.

The process of decay involves many living things, and decaying tree boles provide a substrate for a wealth of inconspicuous organisms, primarily of fungi, of which Goat Island displays a great potential (see mycological list), and of lichens, mosses and liverworts, not to mention habitats for insects, snails and small animals. Standing trees provide habitat for bee and other insect colonies, useful or critical in the pollination of native plants and dispersal of their seed, and yielding a food source for other animals, such as birds. Birds and mammals nest in the dead boles. The species diversity and abundance of the island, remarked upon by eminent naturalists when it stood intact at the Reservation's inception, is and has been impoverished by the removal of this material.

Part of the original forest was once described by Superintendent Welch as a thicket, that is, it was very dense and visually impenetrable, as can be seen in many of the photographs of woodland path systems established on Goat Island, and included in the reports of the Commissioners. The forest was thinned to some extent in the early years of the Reservation, of hundreds of trees and shrubs to provide native stock for replanting the naked sod in place after the shoreline buildings were removed. The present forest must be viewed as denuded in comparison. It is an open forest from which the roads and island traffic are visible looking from the north to the south margin. This opening of the central forest was not due to biological factors, but is a result of administration policy. I was told by one of the workmen on Goat Island that as little as thirty-five years ago, in winter one could not see out to the other side of the forest. Presently in winter, one can stand in the center of the woods and see the cities of Niagara Falls, New York, looking north, and Niagara Falls, Ontario to the south and southwest. All traffic can be seen circling the island from the center of the forest. All perimeters are visible. I was told by another official that the woods was being "managed." Far from the aspect of a primitive forest, it resembles a young woodlot typical of the farms of western New York.

The central forest possesses little native thicket boundary typical of woods where the canopy ends, especially on the edge on the south facing the direction of the wind. What native thickets there are are composed of Panicled and Red-osier Dogwood (Cornus racemosa and C. stolonifera), Purple-flowering Raspberry (Rubus odoratus and more in the shade, Elder (Sambucus pubens). On the southwestern margin of the central woods the understory of the forest has been removed, the trees thinned out and lawns established for a picnic area. This area is where the forest receives the most wind and the spray from the Horseshoe Falls and the direction of severe winter storms.

Unimpeded winds in the forest stress microhabitats, removing cells of moist, warm, still air from moisture-sensitive organisms, such as bryophytes and fungi, tending to reduce the number of microhabitats and hence the potential and actual species diversity.

Without the forest structure to block them, strong winds evaporate the moisture that drifts over the island intermittently, and carry more of it away. Mist can be felt at the extreme east end of the island during strong winds. This wind desiccates the woodland soils and habitats increasing evapo-transpiration regimes for spring ephemerals and other woodland species that would otherwise benefit from this added water. Desiccation may prevent the germination or success of the seedlings spring vegetation, to the detriment of natural forest recovery, especially without the development of a vegetable mold from rotted tree material.

In one recent study, it was recommended that "cluster plantings should be introduced, especially in viewing areas to provide wind breaks and shaded areas for moderating climatic extremes. Clustered groups also appear more natural and will require less staking than separately planted trees" (The Promontory Partnership, 1981). Clustered plantings would include a brake of shrubs on the windward side.

Perhaps the most important factor in maintaining lush vegetation was the atmospheric moisture developed from the mist of the Horseshoe Falls. In winter this mist accumulates in the canopy probably farther back from the Falls than was once the case, because of loss of forest in the Terrapin Point area in the island's southwest end. Such vegetation once "scrubbed" the burden of moisture from the air, so its mechanical effect on the forest was lessened as it traveled north and northeastward over the island vegetation. Now, there is little to remove or buffer the central and eastern portions of the island from ice build-up and freezing rains such that certain species of maturity (Cornus alternifolia) appear to have been wrenched from the soil and destroyed. Evidence of wind effects due to lack of a buffer may be seen today in the central woodland shrubbery being bent in a direction opposite to general direction of the wind.

This exposure to low temperature and ice burden, and strong wind may contribute to trunk rupture of various kinds at various times of year in trees, especially old or otherwise vulnerable ones. Many of the trunks in the central woods display bursting and deformations along their trunks. This stressful environment may contribute to vulnerability to disease, which compounds the problem.

If the forest is thinned of trees removed for aesthetic policy reasons, because of deformity, etc., associated increase in environmental stress from weakening of the forest structure may produce more diseased and deformed trees initiating a vicious cycle of a policy of continued woodland depletion leading to extermination of the forest.

The forest edge seems unusually naked for an old-growth forest. The cultivated lawns extend right up to the forest edge and the ground passes on into the canopied areas as exposed soil and gravel. Visually significant species of the present developing edge include several vines: two species of Virginia Creeper (Parthenocissus quinquefolia and P. vitacea), and especially River Grape (Vitis riparia). Occasionally the latter is so dense as to smother or destroy the vegetation over which it grows and this necessary growth and protective screen is the subject of concentrated efforts of removal. Natural, mature stands of Grape and Virginia Creeper are quite spectacular and visually attractive in addition to being essential members of the edge plant-community. The sacrifice of some trees and shrubs at the forest boundary as an auxiliary to their growth is part of the natural dynamics of the Goat Island ecosystem.

Pending further observation, it appears as though Grape populations are fundamental to the recovery of vegetated areas which have lost their forest cover. The apparent difficulty of horticultural species to survive in natural conditions in the wet ends of the islands does not appear to reflect any inability on the part of the native forest cover to establish itself in the original ecosystem. Observation of extensive populations of grape in these areas today, and from historic information suggests the native Grape actually may be critical in screening the destructive elements from the trees and shrubs developing beneath and behind it. In time the young (shade-tolerant) vegetation would emerge through the temporary Grape canopy, the entire community always dense and structurally able to withstand excessive moisture, ice and wind (see discussion on the crest vegetation).

Native thicket species are being presently replaced by the planting of ornamental shrubs, some known as noxious weeds, on some of the woods boundaries, such as Acanthopanax, Buckthorn (Rhamnus cathartica) and a horticultural species of Dogwood (possibly Cornus sanguinea, see species catalogue). The Buckthorn is already beginning to infest the depleted woods interior. How much of the occurrence of the ornamental Dogwood is due to planting or natural dispersal will tell whether this species will become noxious in the future.

Selective reduction to the point of elimination of the native understory, traditionally treated as "brush," has exposed the forest floor to the invasion of Garlic Mustard (Alliaria officinalis). This alien species forms dark green carpets in all woody borders and throughout the central woods, vivid throughout the winter, when it gets an advantage over the present spring ephemeral flora. This species forms monocultures. In a stand of "naturally regenerating" woods along the lower Niagara River in Ontario, Garlic Mustard grows taller than the spring woodland wildflowers, shading them out and will perhaps destroy them in the decades ahead. Another potential weed pest in danger of infesting the natural wooded areas is Celandine (Chelidonium majus), which is already well established on the terrace or wooded slopes of the mainland facing Goat Island at the eastern entrance to the Reservation. Invasion of Celandine on the terrace is directly related to the recent stripping of the wooded slopes here of its natural shrubs and especially the Grape (Vitis riparia) and Virginia Creeper (Parthenocissus sp.) which forms an effective native ground cover. Celandine covers the disturbed forest floor in the same Ontario woodland just mentioned.

The establishment and maintenance of extensive lawns constituting monocultures of one or two grass species and alien weeds constitutes the most significant substitution for the native habitats. Mowing in particular contributes to the suppression of native forest recovery, especially at the forest edges. The road system, including the west parking lot, bounds the central forest on all margins except the eastern one. An extensive grassy verge is maintained beside all roads except the mid-forest road.

Selective thinning seems to have left behind an overabundance of two tree species (Acer saccharum and Fraxinus americana), both of which are now considered to be subject to disease, especially the latter species. Maximizing tree species diversity in the central woodland would have protected the native tree populations from decimation by host-specific disease-causing organisms. Although beyond the scope of this study to explore, there is the possibility that reducing the diversity of tree species once co-dominant with Sugar Maple, such as Beech (Fagus grandifolia) or Black Cherry (Prunus serotina) or Pine may have reduced the amount of mycorrhizal fungi in the soil, and decreased the availability of nitrogen throughout the forest.

Forest disease evidenced appears to affect mostly Ash species, such as Fraxinus americana, and many dead trunks are to be seen, many designated to be removed this year (1988). What contribution these trunks may make to the overall structural integrity of the central woods in resisting wind and ice stress will be lost with the removal of these trees. (They have since been removed).

Winter storms may still be seen to blow down trees in the native woodlands at Niagara Falls - this writer has seen Hemlocks blown down at Dufferin Islands, Ontario, in the past several years. During one field trip to Goat Island, undertaken on Nov. 10, 1988, high winds were prevalent there. The winds bore straight through the central woods, as there was nothing to block their force. Old specimens of Alternate-leaved Dogwood (Cornus alternifolia) within the past were observed uprooted from the soil and lying on the present forest floor, their crowns pointed away from the direction of the prevailing winds, as though exposure to wind caused their destruction.

In a condition with the woods very much thinned, dead standing tree boles may contribute significantly to what structural integrity the woods may still possess to withstand the prevailing winds, especially in winter, both in the upper layers, and maintaining unevenness or irregularity (microhabitats) on the forest floor. Olmsted and Vaux recognized both the destructive effect of the wind on the island's trees and the exposure to this effect by thinning or opening up the forest - "We feel ... that the road should be as narrow as it can be and tolerably answer its purpose, because at best many trees must be destroyed to make way for it, and the wider the opening the more havoc will storms make with trees left standing near by" (Olmsted and Vaux, 1887).

The eastern end of the central woods bordering on the Meadow area on Goat Island has suffered extensive thinning and reduction during the past twenty-five years (R. F. Andrle, personal communication). It is probably in the open areas at this end of the island that supported the pheasant populations, which prefer "the open fields, hedgerows and marshy areas, rather than the deep woodlands," (Beardslee & Mitchell, 1965). It is a policy of disturbance of habitat here that may have accounted for the extirpation of pheasant populations from Goat Island which existed earlier in the century, well within the recollection of local residents who once tended these birds like they presently do the Gulls, Mallards and Pigeons.

Examples of inappropriate use of the central forest is as a storage area for dumping garden soil, gravel, stakes, transplanted trees still with their roots in burlap, and other material used in maintenance of the Reservation. Large vehicles are used to dump and load this material, which destroys forest vegetation and soils and creates a large area of weedy plant and shrub species within the forest interior.

In a recent study, it was recommended to "allow existing forests to become more "natural" by establishing a "hands-off" maintenance policy that allows trees to age and die naturally, returning nutrients to the soil" (The Promontory Partnership, 1981).

A curious section of the central forest, on its eastern and northern boundary, is an area of extremely old trees associated with the old stone "horse barn" building that, during the past decade, has been in the process of being restored following nineteenth century records. Surrounding this building and adjacent to the central forest are a series of horticultural trees that must have been planted as part of a restoration scheme when, or shortly after, the Reservation was established.

In a history of Waterloo, Kingman County, Kansas website (2005) there is a curious quote or paraphrase from Irene Berghamp's book: Kingman County, Kansas, and its People, modified by the Kingman County Historical Society, 1984 that may provide a glimpse into the mind of the designer of this section not only of Goat Island, but of the other little parks established to the north and downstream along the gorge rim at Devil's Hole and Whirlpool State Park:

"A grove of trees, north of the ball diamond, still stands today as a living memorial to John W. Riggs, nurseryman. He came to Galesburg Township in 1885. He experimented with trees from different ams [sic = lands?]: Tree lilacs from Japan, Eucommia from Manchuria; Chinese pistachio and junipers; Royal Engish Oak from England; different pines from France; buckeyes and mulberries from Ohio; Alligator cedar which is a native of Arizona; Bald Cypress, hackberry, sugar maples and various kinds of oaks. Mr. Riggs worked with the United States Department of Agriculture."

Two very old trees of the Manchurian tree: * Eucommia ulmoides Oliver, Hardy Rubber Tree (see vascular plant species list for Goat Island) occur in this area - one behind the stone building and another close to the road that cuts through the center of the forest. Behind the stone building also occur very old * Castanea mollissima Blume Chinese Chestnut, and * Juglans regia L. Persian or English Walnut. Native Acer (Maple), Carya (Hickory) and Quercus (Oak) trees of a similar age grow intermixed. Beside the pedestrian bridge, at the elevation on the east side beside some White Pine (Pinus strobus) grow several old specimens of the Sitka Spruce (Picea sitchensis) native to the Pacific Coast forest at the western extremity of the continent. Across the street, by the Euthamia tree grows an old specimen of the European Larch (Larix decidua). By the Three Sisters wood's edge are specimens of Norway Spruce (Picea abies) native to northern and central Europe. Perhaps there was some idea that the mysterious, exotic and famed hyper-diversity of trees on the island would be enhanced with the addition of these peculiar species, or just that the nurserymen did not know how to identify or procure specimens of the native trees with which they were supposed to restock the Reservation.

English Oak (Quercus robur L.) has been planted by the Cave of the Winds; there is a great White Mulberry (Morus alba L.) from China in the eastern meadow; Hackberry (Celtis occidentalis L.) of great age is among the trees just north of the Schoelkopf Geological Museum along the gorge crest. Buckeyes probably don't include the Horse Chestnut (the Mediterranean Aesculus hippocastanum L. of our city streets) but other native American species in the genus Aesculus: Ae. glabra Willd., the state tree of Ohio, Ae. octandra Marsh., the Sweet Buckeye and Ae. pavia L. the Red Buckeye. Buckeyes have been planted at Whirlpool State Park.

It is tempting to imagine the USDA had a program for distributing exotic trees in American parks in the 1880's, or giving advice about their establishment, were it not for the early zeal for arboretum quality species developed on the Canadian side near the falls of Niagara. There is a great Bald Cypress (Taxodium distichum Rich.) at the base of the Ontario Niagara Escarpment by Brock's Monument. In the present time, selection of trees seems based on availability by commercial nurseries with their rather uninteresting emphasis on Ash trees.

[January 2006] Several mature trees exist on the west end of the forest in the lawn verge beside the large parking lot located there (on its eastern edge). A grove of Fabaceous trees occur there with a Black Walnut (Juglans nigra) presenting a pretty assemblage of trees with compound leaves: Black Locust (Robinia pseudacacia L.), Honey Locust (Gleditsia triacanthos L.) and Japanese Pagoda-tree (Sophora japonica L.). Presumably when all three of these last trees produce long pendulous flower clusters in the spring that this is an attractive sight - a departure from the restoration goal for which the Reservation was first established.

TREES

Acer negundo BOX ELDER. Young - removal is highly recommended - this becomes a noxious weed (monoculture) as it presently is on the southwest slopes.

Acer saccharum SUGAR MAPLE.

Acer nigrum BLACK MAPLE.

Aesculus hippocastanum HORSE-CHESTNUT.

Carya cordiformis BITTERNUT HICKORY.

Celtis occidentalis HACKBERRY.

[Fagus grandifolia BEECH. Once abundant, none were observed in the interior of the central woods, it is doubtful if this tree should be considered a present member of the woodland community, although one mature tree can be found beside the loop road as the road leaves the vehicular bridge on the edge of the forest and within its shade. It is probable that at an earlier time, before the woods was deeply modified, this species formed a larger component of the forest.]

Fraxinus americana WHITE ASH.

Ostrya virginiana HOP-HORNBEAM. Frequent.

Prunus avium BIRD CHERRY. Southwest section.

Prunus serotina BLACK CHERRY.

Tilia americana BASSWOOD.

Ulmus americana AMERICAN ELM.

SHRUBS AND VINES

Cornus alternifolia ALTERNATE-LEAVED DOGWOOD. Mature sizes throughout the woods.

Lindera benzoin SPICEBUSH.

Menispermum canadense MOONSEED. Ground cover, west end.

Parthenocissus quinquefolia VIRGINIA CREEPER. Ground cover.

Parthenocissus vitacea DISCLESS VIRGINIA CREEPER. Ground cover.

Prunus virginiana CHOKECHERRY.

Rhus radicans POISON IVY.

Ribes cynosbati PRICKLY GOOSEBERRY.

Ribes sativum RED CURRENT.

Rubus odoratus PURPLE-FLOWERING RASPBERRY.

Rubus strigosus RED RASPBERRY.

Sambucus pubens RED-BERRIED ELDER.

* Viburnum lantana L. WAYFARING-TREE.

Vitis riparia FROST GRAPE.

HERBS

Most of the herbaceous vegetation (spring ephemerals) occur only in the western section of the woods. Several delicate grasses were observed but not collected - these are probably a species of Muhlenbergia or Poa nemoralis.

Alliaria officinalis GARLIC MUSTARD.

Allium tricoccum RAMP. Once abundant (Day, 1888), only one patch seen.

Arisaema triphyllum JACK-IN-THE-PULPIT.

Aster lateriflorus (L.) Britt. STARVED ASTER, wood’s edge of big west parking lot (2011).

Carex rosea ROSE SEDGE. Woods margins.

Circaea quadrisulcata ENCHANTER'S NIGHTSHADE. Abundant.

Dentaria laciniata CUT-LEAVED TOOTHWORT. Abundant.

Dicentra canadensis SQUIRREL-CORN. Reduced to one or two patches.

Dicentra cucullaria DUTCHMAN'S BREECHED. Frequent.

Erythronium americanum YELLOW ADDER'S TONGUE. Frequent, especially at the bases of trees.

Eupatorium rugosum WHITE SNAKE-ROOT.

Geum canadense WHITE AVENS. Frequent.

* Glechoma hederacea GILL-OVER-THE-GROUND.

* Narcissus pseudo-narcissus L. DAFFODIL. Scattered individuals were found escaped into the central woods from extensive populations planted on the woods margins.

Phytolacca americana. POKEWEED. Especially on weedy margins and disturbed interior of the forest.

Podophyllum peltatum MAY-APPLE. "Abundant," Day, 1888.

Scrophularia marilandica MARYLAND FIGWORT.

Smilacina racemosa FALSE SOLOMON'S SEAL.

Smilacina stellata STAR-FLOWERED FALSE SOLOMON'S SEAL.

Solidago canadensis CANADA GOLDENROD.

Trillium grandiflorum WHITE TRILLIUM. Abundant.

Trillium erectum RED TRILLIUM. Occasional.

Triosteum perfoliatum var. aurantiacum ORANGE HORSE-GENTIAN.

EXTIRPATED FROM THE GOAT ISLAND WOODS

(see species catalogue):

Arabis lyrata LYRE-LEAVED ROCK CRESS.

Asarum canadense WILD GINGER.

Aster divaricatus WHITE WOOD ASTER.

Aster macrophyllus LARGE-LEAVED ASTER.

Botrychium virginianum RATTLESNAKE FERN.

Cardamine douglassii PURPLE SPRING CRESS.

Caulophyllum thalictroides BLUE COHOSH "Abundant," Day, 1888.

Claytonia caroliniana BROAD-LEAVED SPRING BEAUTY.

Cubelium concolor GREEN VIOLET. "near the center of Goat Island," Day, 1883.

Dentaria diphylla TWO-LEAVED TOOTHWORT. "notable for their abundance and beauty," Day, 1901.

Disporum lanuginosum YELLOW MANDARIN.

Geranium maculatum L. WILD CRANE'S-BILL.

Hepatica acutilobula SHARP-LOBED HEPATICA. "Profuse," Day, 1901.

Hepatica americana BLUNT-LEAVED HEPATICA. "Profuse," Day, 1901.

Juniperus communis LOW JUNIPER.

Juniperus virginiana RED CEDAR.

Mitella diphylla MITERWORT.

Phlox divaricata BLUE PHLOX

Polemonium reptans GREEK VALERIAN.

Quercus alba WHITE OAK.

Saxifraga virginiana FOAM FLOWER.

Streptopus roseus TWISTED-STALK.

Taxus canadensis GROUND HEMLOCK.

Thalictrum dioicum EARLY MEADOW-RUE.

Tiarella cordifolia FOAM-FLOWER.

Uvularia grandiflora LARGE-FLOWERED BELLWORT.

Uvularia sessilifolia SESSILE-LEAVED BELLWORT.

Viola canadensis CANADA VIOLET.

Viola cuculata MARSH BLUE VIOLET.

Viola pubescens DOWNY YELLOW VIOLET.

Viola rostrata LONG-SPURRED VIOLET.

CENTRAL WOODS BRYOPHYTES

Fissidens bryoides. Thin soil on limestone cobbles.

Thuidium pygmaeum. Thin soil on limestone cobbles.