Waterfalls on the Esopus Creek : A Place Worth Saving/ Hudson Valley NY Walk.

I decided to take a trip to "The Waterfall Place." It is right beside the road traveling south on 9W from Saugerties before the sign announcing Town of Ulster. A sign on the right announces that waterfall property is for sale 30+ acres. This place has been for sale as long as I can remember. It's definitely a place that is very ecologically fragile. I took pictures of two of the waterfalls and looked at the  habitat that runs along side the creek. I also walked up a tree lined path to view the Esopus from an overhanging rock above. I have gone to this place before and noticed many beautiful wildflowers and had hoped to go back in the spring to check it out.    

One first has to pass heaps of discarded garbage and shot up brought up junk on the way to the waterfalls. Part of this place has been used for years as a shooting gallery. It is rather shocking and very sad. I was looking for nature and for what I could find. Not pictures on how to abuse natural settings.  Part of the property is already suffering due to all the flooding we had last year. It's a fragile ecology struggling to survive. I made a photo collage below to give you an idea of how beautiful I think this place really is.
...... minus the trash.  

Do you like trees, plants, flowers, animals, bugs, fungi or nature photography? About my blog

I'm educating myself to be a better naturalist. I believe Nature can be found all around us. At times I'll be taking nature field trips, doing research, or just writing more in depth on things that helped me. I will be clear about when I'm just posting my opinion.  Sometimes I'll just post pictures.Today I'm trying to post a photo commentary to help explain more of what my blog is about.

I'd love to go places and show people some of the beauty that is around here. We have lakes, mountains and lots of trees. I'd like to see other pictures of other places around the world. I want to learn what other people are seeing, doing or thinking about.

I'll also be documenting and taking pictures of common things like this new growth of pine. I  like lichens, mushrooms, feathers, flowers, bugs, trees, footprints, habitats, mushrooms, birds and animals. As I get more pictures I'll post them. I like to see what I can find. Urban or rural. parks, or backyards,
 Nature is all around us.  

I think the natural world can be experienced from many different perspectives. 

  I'll try to show you the "essence" of a place from either from a naturalist or artistic viewpoint but I can't ignore reality.  It may be part of what I find. I'm also trying to
 "walk my talk" and be more environmentally conscious.
 Relax and enjoy the natural world around us. That is my goal.  

                                                     
I live in the USA in the Hudson Valley area of NY.  This blog represents my on-line journey. I want to learn more about nature, but I also want to remember to experience nature.

Wild Geese. What Can We Do? / updated

  I have been reading a lot of publications that suggest that Canadian Geese have become a problem in many suburban environments. My opinion is that we don't always think about How to Keep Goose Wild.  Here in the US we still have lots of suburban areas. There is no cover of long grass  for predators to hide in around many of our overly cultured lakes and ponds.  In many cases we've destroyed or cleaned out habitats for their natural predators....

 I learned that geese like some of the grasses we've planted. ...  Kentucky blue grass....Yum. Geese love it. As herbivores they like short, tender, succulent grasses and grains in the field or in the water. They like having their water bare and naked down to the shores. They probably think we designed these golf courses and open ponds and lakes just for them, and we did. We just didn't realize it.

 Our history has shown,  we can easily extinguish other creatures that we think are pests easily by over shooting or hunting them. I'm not for extending our hunting season. We've done it in the past. We could do it again.

 But I know I'd miss the wild goose. I don't want to have to show my grandchildren a picture of them. They are social birds..... I can often hear them honking and making different sounds as they fly by.
 
 We can often modify our human habitats and behaviors in a way that discourages animals we like to classify as pests,  whether this be Goose or any other creature. Goose for instance doesn't like tall grass or plants near the water, nor a place that has a lot of trees and shrubs. They like to be out in the open so they can watch out for common predators like skunk and raccoon and other creatures that eat their young or eggs. Adult geese have few predators except in wilder areas. They mate for life and are protective over their young.  I'd like to see more areas of wild natural habits created but I also think we are the ones who need to Start Thinking Differently if we want to co-exist with wild animals on the planet.  We can't just set up a sign saying they can't come here.

Instead of golf courses....Let's plant fields of trees... We could plant fields with tall grasses and wildflowers...

Keep the Goose Wild is my own opinion . Thank goodness I'm not on a board of directors there are many things to consider when making decisions about wildlife management. For those readers  that do have a problem with geese, some habitat environmental management ideas( including how to alter golf courses in a less radical way than I have suggested) can be gleaned from many different publications. I found that one does not have to agree with everything any one publication offers to stimulate thoughts and ideas for environmentally friendly solutions......