Chestnut Ridge Park: Rules and Safety for Foragers
Chestnut Ridge in Orchard Park, New York has been a treasured place to connect with friends and family—both human and botanical—throughout my life. Growing up, I watched fireworks from the hilltop, chatted on park trails, played tennis terribly on the courts, and smooched on its picnic benches once or twice. My high school cross country team’s home course was at the park, and we often hopped on a bus after school to practice there. The beautiful forest scenery and miles-around view might be the only thing that kept me on the team with all the slogging up hills and trotting through creek beds. (Competitive runner I am not).
As friends and I have moved away from and back to WNY, Chestnut Ridge has continued to host long walks and picnics during visits. When my husband and I started dating, he showed me hiking trails in more remote areas, and I got to know the park in a new way. Patrick and I tied the knot in a wooded nook at Chestnut Ridge in 2019.
Patrick and I getting hitched, with our dear friend Bristol officiating. Photo courtesy of Hilary Stevenson Photography
According to the Chestnut Ridge Conservancy, Chestnut Ridge is the largest park managed by Erie County Department of Parks, Recreation, and Forestry at around 1200 acres (2022). It’s named for the chestnut trees that populated its hills before chestnut blight decimated the population in the eastern United States. Erie County acquired the land in 1926, and the facilities and grounds were developed by the Works Progress Administration in the 1930s (2022). The park’s sledding hill and Eternal Flame trail are two claims to local fame.
Cross country practice often took me past the fire training tower, a structure several stories high along one of the main park roads. As I’ve learned more about PFAS chemicals, I’ve become aware of the toxic legacy left behind by PFAS-containing fire suppression foams. I wondered if these products had ever been used at Chestnut Ridge.
I was also interested in learning whether foraging certain edible and medicinal plants (particularly non-native species) would be permitted in the park. Given the invasive species and disease challenges faced by many NY State parks, I was curious about how chemical pesticides have been employed at Chestnut Ridge.
I’m grateful to Chuck Bartlett, Supervising Park Ranger at Chestnut Ridge, for taking the time to thoughtfully answer my questions during a busy season.
Light filters through a deciduous forest canopy
1.) Would Chestnut Ridge allow the removal of invasive species, if done in a discreet way that leaves no hole or unsightliness?
Would Chestnut Ridge allow the harvest of other non-native species?
Would Chestnut Ridge allow the harvest of abundant native species? ex. goldenrod flowers.
Chuck shared the rule on the books for Erie County Parks (Local Law 1980-6 §5(b)):
§5. Preservation of Property. It shall be unlawful for any person, other than employees of the Dept. of Parks & Recreation acting in pursuant to their assigned duties:
(b) To remove, injure or destroy any tree, flower, shrub, grassed area or any other vegetation, or fruit or seed thereof, found within a park, and including the stripping of bark or cutting of any tree.
Chuck expanded on this law and explained some factors at play:
* Chestnut Ridge is one park in a park system containing 30+ properties. The Rangers, who are tasked with enforcing the park rules and laws across the system as a whole, have to be consistent from property to property. We can't address how we handle the enforcement of a park law differently for each property.
* There have been recent issues within the park system related to the park law mentioned above. Due to these issues we want to send a message and make it clear that it is not OK to remove plants from the parks, for any reason. Some of these issues include:
* Removal of native species listed as "vulnerable to exploitation" including many of our spring ephemerals and an orchid species
* Collecting of an unsustainable amount of fiddleheads
* Park users and neighbors cutting down trees on park properties
* Unauthorized trail work & construction of new trails
It’s a shame to hear about foragers disregarding sustainability issues and park rules to collect plant material for themselves. This includes gardeners who dig plants to relocate to their garden beds. Since orchids tend to be picky about the fungal and plant communities they’ll grow in, it’s unlikely that poached plants survived the relocation (assuming the whole orchid plant was removed, and not just the flowers).
When I forage for edible and medicinal plants in amenable locations, not once have I encountered another forager at work. This has the potential to feed a conscious or subconscious belief that I’m the only person who harvests there—or that I’m the only forager in the tri-county area. I imagine this plays into the psychology of over-harvesting and illicit harvesting by “nature-loving” foragers. Chuck’s big-picture snapshot of foraging activity in county parks—where foraging isn’t even allowed—is an important reminder that our actions are significant—especially when compounded by the actions of folks we may never see.
Baby garlic mustard (Alliaria petiolata) leaves emerge along a trail
I’ve learned from other WNY parks that joining invasive species removal efforts is a potential way to take home a tasty haul of garlic mustard, multiflora rosehips, Japanese knotweed shoots, and more—even if park rules generally disallow foraging. After sharing the rules and rationale behind the no-foraging rule at Chestnut Ridge, Chuck added:
That said, there are potential pathways for volunteer efforts to assist with invasive species removal that start with submitting a request for an Activities Permit or volunteering through one of our partner agencies/organizations. Once an application is received, the Departmental Office, County Forester, Park Superintendent, and myself can work together to see if and how the request can be accommodated.
Since this leaves the door open for invasive species removal (ie. harvesting), it’s worth exploring whether the edible and medicinal invasive species at Chestnut Ridge are safe to take home for dinner. For example, if Chestnut Ridge applies glyphosate to Japanese knotweed to manage the population, I’ll be harvesting knotweed roots and shoots elsewhere. I asked Chuck a few more questions to learn about pesticide use at the park.
2.) Does Chestnut Ridge apply pesticides, herbicides, or other chemical inputs?
Chuck shared:
* In 2019/2020 HWA (Hemlock Wooley Adelgid) was identified in the park and the County Forester has started using pesticides to treat the area where it was first identified and to preemptively treat the Eternal Flame Grove, which has been determined to be an an important stand (due to size/age of trees and proximity to the Eternal Flame) at high risk of infestation. The Forester is working on a Regional HWA Assessment for not only Chestnut Ridge, but the entire Erie County Parks System, to identify where HWA currently is and to identify the most important stands to start protecting.
* One of our partner organizations, Western New York PRISM, has been treating areas along Shale Creek for Japanese stiltgrass for the past several years.
* Outside those two, I know that an exterminator has been to the park within the past year to treat a yellow jacket nest in one of our rental buildings.
Though hemlock tips are edible and medicinal (Tsuga canadensis — the coniferous tree, not the toxic carrot family plant known as poison hemlock), I abstain from plucking the fresh, new growth from its branches to avoid increasing its vulnerability to pests and disease. As a foundation species, hemlocks fill an important niche in WNY forest ecosystems. They keep stream temperatures cooler for aquatic species, help prevent erosion, provide shelter for wildlife, and more (NYSDEC, source 1). When I lived in Western NC, I saw entire mountainsides devastated by hemlock woolly adelgid, with dead stands of hemlock stretching for miles. Learning that this pest is being spotted more regularly in WNY is troubling.
Though protecting vulnerable hemlocks is a good enough reason to leave them be, knowing that parks and forests may be treating the trees with pesticides offers another nudge to leave them untouched. I opt to harvest other conifer species’ tips for vitamin C-rich teas and vinegars—particularly non-native species. (Be sure to research which conifer species are safe and sustainable to use before filling your basket.) Since Chestnut Ridge doesn’t allow the harvest of native species anyway, this point is moot in the park.
The tip of a hemlock tree branch, adorned with short green needles
Since I’m not aware of medicinal or edible uses for Japanese stiltgrass, its treatment with herbicide is potentially a non-issue for foragers helping with invasive species removal; I wouldn’t take that plant home anyway. If I were harvesting other invasives as part of an approved invasive species removal effort, I wouldn’t use plants that were removed from areas near or downstream from the stiltgrass stand, or near hemlock trees.
3.) Would it be possible to learn details or view records of pesticide/herbicide applications at Chestnut Ridge?
Chuck shared:
For recent efforts it is certainly possible to learn about the details. It will take time for me to gather info on the specific chemicals and locations in the park.
For records, that gets to be more difficult. Each [Pesticide] Applicator has been responsible for maintaining their own records and there has been a lot of turnover recently…The further back in time we go, the less clear the picture on use is. I am not aware of any major efforts related to invasive specie treatment in the park prior to 2015, however I wouldn't rule it out. Also the further back in time we go, I wouldn't be surprised to learn that staff had used chemicals, such as Round-up, around buildings and shelters.
4.) Regarding the fire training area, I see in this New York State survey that there aren’t records of Class B firefighting foam being used at the training area. Were there other products of this nature used in training? If so, would it be possible to obtain a record of this?
As noted in my question, I was able to find survey results online offering general information about Chestnut Ridge’s relationship with Class B fire suppression foam. This is the class that PFOA/PFOS-containing foam belongs to—though not all Class B foams contain these chemicals (NHDES). The survey indicates that Chestnut Ridge does not and has never stored this type of foam, and Class B foam has never been used for training purposes at their facility.
Chuck delivered this welcome news:
Per the Deputy Commissioner of Fire Services, only water has been used at this facility. They only use Class B Foam and related products for emergencies, they do not train with any such products. If you need any additional information, you can reach out to the Department of Emergency Services Fire Services Division.
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Sources
Chestnut Ridge Conservancy. “Chestnut Ridge Park: A Brief History.” website. Viewed September 30, 2022.
New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC), source 1. “Hemlock Woolly Adelgid.” Website. Viewed October 2, 2022.
New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC), source 2. “Class B Fire Suppression Foam Usage Survey - New York State Fire Training Centers.” Results at this Website. Viewed September 7, 2022.
New Hampshire Department of Environmental Sciences (NHDES). “Class A and Class B Firefighting Foam.” Website. Viewed September 7, 2022.
