Hillside Woods Restoration Project Background

Hillside Woods is Disintegrating

Hard to see it if you don’t know what you’re looking at, but there are close to zero trees regenerating in Hillside Woods (no very young saplings), and what’s replacing them are invasive species. There is no longer a lush understory except for invasive shrubs. There are next-to-no native wildflowers left in the woods. Forests are a complex dance of interconnected species; insects and fungi—not just trees—are critical to forest health. But Hillside's entire ecology is disrupted. 

Hillside woods versus a healthy woods:

Why?

Mainly: deer. There were over 100 deer per square mile in Hastings before the immunocontraceptive study, but a healthy forest can only support ten or fewer deer per square mile. Having denuded the woods, the deer browse in surrounding yards to survive, returning to the woods at night to sleep.

In addition: as invasive species encroach the forest (here's a guide to common ones in our area), they impact its ecology. Some literally change soil chemistry, and invasive vines compromise or topple trees where there's sufficient light, like on forest edges or gaps. Deer and birds carry consumed seeds from alien invasive plants, many of which are in our yards, back into the forest.

And then there are humans, dogs and climate change. Humans compact the trails and leave trash. Dog waste alters soil chemistry, and therefore changes plant populations, by enriching a naturally nutrient-week substrate with nitrogen-rich waste. This also favors non-native plants. Dogs erode the edges of Sugar Pond, preventing pond-edge plants from emerging, which are crucial to a pond’s ecology.

Climate change stresses all living creatures. Storms like Sandy poke holes in the canopy by felling large trees, which makes surrounding trees more vulnerable to the next big storm. In addition, with no saplings in the barren understory to occupy the newly formed gap, more invasive species march in. Extremes in temperature and disrupted precipitation patterns stress the capacity for all flora and fauna to survive.

For one expert's assessment of Hillside Woods, click here.

What Should Hastings Do?

Two public sessions on the “State of the Woods” in April and May of 2017 drew capacity crowds to the Community Center where a panel of experts explained what is happening in the woods and then laid out possible solutions. Following those sessions the Parks and Recreation Commission and the Conservation Commission jointly formed a plan of action to save the woods. The Village secured a grant from DEC for a comprehensive study and forestry plan.

The consensus from all the foresters and the ecological consultants we employed is to build a deer exclosure for as large a portion of Hillside Woods that Hastings can afford, with ample S-gates, which allow people and small mammals to enter but not deer. Because any method of reducing deer population density in Hastings to 10 per square mile of fewer will take many years, even if successful, and may never reduce the deer population to a level that allows the woods to recover, they argued that the only real solution is to build a deer exclosure. These have worked in other areas in our region, allowing those forests to heal.

The proposed exclosure will create an exciting opportunity for residents to participate in re-planting native species and to continue eliminating invasives while watching the woods come back to life. (Click here to volunteer.) We can be cheered by the fact that by helping our ecosystem rebound, we are helping the greater northeastern biome and also helping reduce atmospheric carbon.

In 1993 our community, along with Westchester County, invested $3.35 million to save Hillside Woods from development. That land is now worth $100 million. Since then we have not invested in—and have not actively managed—this remarkable natural resource. Now is the critical time to take action.