The Almy D. Coggleshall Plotter Kill Preserve is a nature reserve and hiking area located on
Route 159 in the town of
Rotterdam,
Schenectady County
Schenectady County () is a County (United States), county in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 158,061. The county seat is Schenectady, New York, Schenectady. The ...
,
New York State.
Etymology
Plotter Kill is most likely a corruption of "platte kill", which is also found in
Ulster County. "Platte" is Dutch for "flat", and
kill denotes stream or creek.
General description
The preserve is named after
Almy D. Coggleshall, who was central in creating the trail at Plotter Kill while a member of the Schenectady County Environmental Advisory Council. In 1990 the preserve was renamed in his honor. While the preserve is a forest containing a mixture of hardwood and conifers, its main feature is the Plotter Kill gorge. The gorge was cut by melt waters at the close of the
ice ages approximately 10,000 years ago. The Plotter Kill is a tributary of the
Mohawk River which runs for from
Rynex Corner dropping to the river. There are three waterfalls in the preserve, the Upper, the Lower and the Rynex Creek Falls. The Upper has a drop while the Lower and Rynex Creek falls each have drops of .
Natural history
Many of the flat rock layers, exposed by water flow and erosion over the last 20,000 years, were originally formed during the Mohawkian age of the Ordovician period, approximately 450 million years ago. These layers appear rectangular, featuring orthogonal joint sets.
The Plotter Kill Preserve is ideal for nature study and is used by local schools and
Boy Scout
A Scout (in some countries a Boy Scout, Girl Scout, or Pathfinder) is a child, usually 10–18 years of age, participating in the worldwide Scouting movement. Because of the large age and development span, many Scouting associations have split ...
troops. The preserve is a mixture of native
hardwoods and
conifers
Conifers are a group of cone-bearing seed plants, a subset of gymnosperms. Scientifically, they make up the division Pinophyta (), also known as Coniferophyta () or Coniferae. The division contains a single extant class, Pinopsida. All extan ...
including several species of
pine,
oak,
birch and
maple. Over 600 species of plants have been found in the area including:
trilliums
''Trillium'' (trillium, wakerobin, toadshade, tri flower, birthroot, birthwort, and sometimes "wood lily") is a genus of about fifty flowering plant species in the family Melanthiaceae. ''Trillium'' species are native to temperate regions of No ...
,
violets
Violet identifies various plant taxa, particularly species in the genus ''Viola'', within which the common violet is the best known member in Eurasia and the common blue violet and common purple violet are the best known members in North America ...
,
lilies,
ferns and
club mosses
Lycopodiopsida is a class of vascular plants known as lycopods, lycophytes or other terms including the component lyco-. Members of the class are also called clubmosses, firmosses, spikemosses and quillworts. They have dichotomously branching s ...
. There is also an abundance of both animal and bird life, with
garter snakes,
chipmunks and
amphibians
Amphibians are four-limbed and ectothermic vertebrates of the class Amphibia. All living amphibians belong to the group Lissamphibia. They inhabit a wide variety of habitats, with most species living within terrestrial, fossorial, arbore ...
such as frogs and
salamanders often seen.
[ There are also an undocumented number of different species of toad stools and other varieties of fungi.
]
In literature
The falls are mentioned in the journals of Samson Occam Mohegan (1723 - 1792). The entry for Wednesday 29 November 1786 reads "Some time after breakfast Mr Henry Fero and I went to see the falls and it is a grand sight, the power of God is to be seen here."[
]
image:PlotterKill511--10.jpg, Sign in the Parking Lot of the Copland Road entrance.
image:Plotter Kill Falls.jpg, View of the Upper Falls
image:Upper Fall Winter.jpg, View of Upper Falls in winter
image:PlotterKill511--106.jpg, View of the Upper Falls from the Blue Trail
image:PlotterKill511--270.jpg, View of Second Fall during the Summer.
image:PlotterKill511--166.jpg, View of the renovated trail in 2010.
The trailhead
The trailhead and general access is located on Mariaville Road (route 159). To reach it leave Interstate I890 at exit 2A (Campbell Road) and follow the signs for Rotterdam Square Mall. Opposite the mall entrance turn right on to Putnam Road and then turn right on reaching Route 159 after approximately . The parking area for the preserve is located on the right approximately after turning onto Route 159.
References
External links
Schenectady County web site
{{authority control
Nature reserves in New York (state)
Protected areas of Schenectady County, New York
Tributaries of the Hudson River
Landforms of Schenectady County, New York
Rivers of Schenectady County, New York