Free Tours of a "Ghost Habitat" at the Martin Van Buren Historic Site

July 18, tours at 10:15am, 11:15am, 1:15pm, and 2:15pm | Kinderhook, NY

The Hawthorne Valley Farmscape Ecology Program is leading a series of free guided tours on July 18 at the Martin Van Buren National Historic Site in Kinderhook, focused on an experimental "Kinderhook Pine Barrens" plot planted inside the newly established orchard on the grounds.

Pine barrens are sandy, acidic habitats that once dotted the Hudson Valley landscape, supporting specialized communities of plants, insects, and other organisms adapted to nutrient-poor, well-drained soils. The Farmscape Ecology Program has identified the Kinderhook Pine Barrens as a "ghost habitat"—a distinct ecological community that once existed in this landscape but has since disappeared from it, leaving little trace except in historical records and the occasional remnant.

The tours will give visitors a look at the restoration plot, where sand-frequenting plant species including lupine have been planted, and at nearby wild-growing trees that may represent pine barren remnants. The larger question the tours address is what the land around Kinderhook looked like when Martin Van Buren was growing up there in the late 18th and early 19th centuries — before the landscape was transformed by agriculture and development.

Tours are led by Farmscape Ecology Program researchers Kyle Bradford and Anna Duhon. Bradford specializes in ants and other insects and will draw on his experience studying insect communities in other sand barren sites across the region. The tours also provide a window into the ongoing ecological monitoring collaboration between the Farmscape Ecology Program and the National Park Service at the Van Buren site.

Four tours depart from in front of the Visitor Center throughout the day. Visitors can join any of them; no sign-up required.

Martin Van Buren National Historic Site Visitor Center, 1013 Old Post Rd., Kinderhook, NY. More info at nps.gov/mava or 518-758-9689.