Nostalgic Beginnings (Wonder Blog #1)
Wonder Blog Entry #1, Stoney Pond State Forest, 6/22/2022
Content
[1] I first visited my Wonder Blog location (Stoney Pond State Forest) on Wednesday, June 22nd at 6:30 PM until I left at 7:20 PM. The sun is out when I visit, with light winds blowing in from the Southeast. It lightly rained earlier in the day, but no rain clouds were to be seen when I made my visit.
[2] Stoney Pond is a campground and state forest located in the town of Nelson, Madison Country (NY), and is about an 8 minute drive from where I live. The location is comprised of beautiful green forests surrounding a small pond, with some swampland and meadows sprinkled randomly throughout the area. There are trails encircling the pond as well as going off at tangents into the rest of the surrounding forest. I notice the vast array of tree and plant species as I walk around the pond, the insects buzzing around my head and my dogs, I catch a few and hold them in my hand. I inhale the newly arisen petrichor, which is still fresh from the earlier rain. I hear the chirp of birds, the hymn of crickets, and the occasional drill of a woodpecker and the croak of a frog. There’s the occasional dung, accompanied by horse tracks that tend to stay on trail; my golden retriever would randomly explore the woods, and when I followed I caught glimpses of the occasional wildlife, mostly deer but once a red-tailed fox.
[4] Question Marathon
1- How big is Stoney Pond?
2- What natural communities is Stoney Pond comprised of?
3- How was Stoney Pond made/assembled?
4- What geologic event created Stoney Pond?
5- What animal and insect species inhabit Stoney Pond?
6- What tree/plant/fauna or shrub species inhabit Stoney Pond?
7- When was Stoney Pond created…discovered…established?
8- What is the ecosystem/food chain like?
9- How has human disturbance to the area affected Stoney Pond?
10- How much traffic does Stoney Pond receive?
11- How is Stoney Pond affected by the aspect on the Eastern shore (large hills, creating valley and noticeable shadows)?
12- Is Stoney Pond natural or man-made?
13- Are the forests second-growth or natural?
14- Is Stoney Pond the result of a merging of drainage basins?
15- What type of feces is this (Viewer Discretion: Pictures shown above)?
16- Does logging/timber production occur here or nearby?
17- If so, how does this affect Stoney Pond?
18- How biodiverse is Stoney Pond?
19- How did the stone foundations and walls come to be at Stoney Pond?
20- Do blue or grey herons occupy the pond (couldn’t tell from afar)?
21- How does the allowance of water vehicles affect the ecosystem of the Pond?
22- How does Stoney Pond drain?..fill?
23- What type of rock can primarily be found at Stoney Pond?
24- Is there significant aquatic vegetation at Stoney Pond?
25- How deep is Stoney Pond?
26- What fish species exist in Stoney Pond?
27- Where does the geese population seen at Stoney Pond originate from?
28- Stoney Pond is kind’ve a gem of the nearby area…why don’t similar parks/locations exist nearby?
29- Are there any invasive species at Stoney Pond?
30- There are often summer droughts in this area, how do these droughts affect Stoney Pond?
31- Do the vast amount of trees at Stoney Pond help soak up all the runoff the valley receives?
32- Why is the air noticeably purer at Stoney Pond compared to three minutes away (by car)?
33- Is the hunting of animals allowed at Stoney Pond?
34- How clean is the water at Stoney Pond?
[5] How does Stoney Pond drain?..fill?
: Stoney Pond is set on a hilltop that divides two major drainage basins in the area. The Lake Ontario drainage basin and the Susquehanna River drainage basin. Stoney Pond is connected to the Lake Ontario drainage basin via tributary streams that feed the nearby Chittenango Creek and and is connected to the Susquehanna Basin through more tributary streams. The Susquehanna River basin drains water into the Chesapeake Bay.
(I was not able to find an online source but pictured below is an infographic I found at Stoney Pond)
Final Paragraph:
Though I’ve visited Stoney Pond in the past, this is the first time I’ve visited with truly wide open ears and eyes. And this allowed me to notice facets of the State Forest that I haven’t noticed prior; and this allowed me to ask questions that expand my understanding and curiosity in this location that for much of my childhood, was a nearby retreat to relax with my family, when we couldn’t make longer trips. Today, I encountered the curiosity and “wonder” in Stoney Pond that I haven’t felt since I was a young boy. When I was younger, my interest was conquered by trips to grander and more elegant locations. But today, I viewed the Forest through a new lens and ran into a younger version of myself that I wasn’t expecting to see again, much less on the first day of doing this blog. Something that I didn’t remember about Stoney Pond from my childhood was its vast enormity (the entire State Forest is 1440+ acres), and most of these expansive trails I cannot recall much memory of. Following up in coming weeks, I’d love to finish my exploration of the Stoney Pond State Forest that I may have never finished as a child, while coming to understand this rare Central New York gem in a way I have not yet.