Plotter Kill Preserve

River in the United States of America

Plotter Kill Nature Reserve
Trail entrance sign
Length	3 miles circular (4 miles total)
Location	Rotterdam (town), New York, USA
Use	Recreation and Natural History
Difficulty	Easy
Season	All year round
Sights	Variety of birds and other wildlife
Hazards	High unstable cliff edges

The Almy D. Coggleshall Plotter Kill Preserve is a 632-acre (256 ha) nature reserve and hiking area located on Route 159 in the town of Rotterdam, Schenectady County, 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.^[1] 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 3.5 miles (5.6 km) from Rynex Corner dropping 900 feet (270 m) to the river. There are three waterfalls in the preserve, the Upper, the Lower and the Rynex Creek Falls. The Upper has a 60-foot (18 m) drop while the Lower and Rynex Creek falls each have drops of 40 feet (12 m).^[2]

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 troops. The preserve is a mixture of native hardwoods and conifers including several species of pine, oak, birch and maple. Over 600 species of plants have been found in the area including: trilliums, violets, lilies, ferns and club mosses. There is also an abundance of both animal and bird life, with garter snakes, chipmunks and amphibians such as frogs and salamanders often seen.^[2] 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."^[3]

Sign in the Parking Lot of the Copland Road entrance.
View of the Upper Falls
View of Upper Falls in winter
View of the Upper Falls from the Blue Trail
View of Second Fall during the Summer.
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 2 miles (3.2 km). The parking area for the preserve is located on the right approximately 2 miles (3.2 km) after turning onto Route 159.

References

^ "An Early advocate for Adirondacks dead at age 91". Schenectady Gazette. 2009-01-06.
^ ^a ^b "Schenectady County web site". Retrieved 2009-07-14.
^ Occom, Samson (May 2006). Joanna Brooks (ed.). The Collected Writings of Samson Occom, Mohegan: Literature and Leadership in Eighteenth-Century Native America. Oxford University Press. p. 350. ISBN 0-19-517083-0.

External links

Schenectady County web site

Protected areas of New York

Federal

National Historic Sites and Historical Parks	Eleanor Roosevelt Harriet Tubman Home of Franklin D. Roosevelt Martin Van Buren Sagamore Hill Saint Paul's Church Saratoga Theodore Roosevelt Birthplace Theodore Roosevelt Inaugural Women's Rights Kate Mullany House affiliated Thomas Cole affiliated
National Memorials	Federal Hall General Grant Hamilton Grange Statue of Liberty
National monuments	African Burial Ground Castle Clinton Fort Stanwix Governors Island Stonewall
National Trails	Appalachian Trail North Country Trail
National Seashores and Recreation Areas	Fire Island Gateway Upper Delaware
National Wildlife Refuges	Iroquois Long Island Complex Amagansett Conscience Point Elizabeth A. Morton Lido Beach Oyster Bay Sayville Seatuck Target Rock Wertheim Montezuma Shawangunk Grasslands Wallkill River
National Forests	Finger Lakes
Wilderness Areas	Otis Pike Fire Island High Dune

State parks
Allen H. Treman Allegany Amherst Amsterdam Beach Battle Island Bayard Cutting Arboretum Bayswater Point Bear Mountain Beaver Island Beechwood Belmont Lake Bethpage Betty & Wilbur Davis Big Six Mile Creek Blauvelt Bonavista Bowman Lake Braddock Bay Brentwood Bristol Beach Brookhaven Buckhorn Island Buffalo Harbor Burnham Point Buttermilk Falls Caleb Smith Camp Hero Canandaigua Lake Canoe-Picnic Point Captree Catharine Valley Trail Caumsett Cayuga Lake Cedar Island Cedar Point Chenango Valley Cherry Plain Chimney Bluffs Chittenango Falls Clarence Fahnestock Clark Reservation Clay Pit Ponds Cold Spring Harbor Coles Creek Conesus Lake Connetquot River Crab Island Croil Island Cumberland Bay Darien Lakes De Veaux Woods Deans Cove Delta Lake Devil's Hole Dewolf Point Donald J. Trump Earl W. Brydges Artpark Eel Weir Empire – Fulton Ferry Evangola Fair Haven Beach Fillmore Glen Fort Niagara Four Mile Creek Franklin D. Roosevelt Franklin D. Roosevelt Four Freedoms Franny Reese Frenchman Island Galop Island Gantry Plaza Genesee Valley Greenway Gilbert Lake Gilgo Glimmerglass Golden Hill Goosepond Mountain Grafton Lakes Grass Point Green Lakes Hallock Hamlin Beach Harriet Hollister Spencer Harriman Hart's Brook Haverstraw Beach Heckscher Helen L. McNitt Hempstead Lake High Tor Highland Lakes Higley Flow Hither Hills Honeoye Hook Mountain Hudson Highlands Hudson River Hudson River Islands Hunts Pond Iona Island Irondequoit Bay Jacques Cartier James Baird John Boyd Thacher Jones Beach Joseph Davis Keewaydin Keuka Lake Knox Farm Kring Point Lake Erie Lake Lauderdale Lake Superior Lake Taghkanic Lakeside Beach Letchworth Lock 32 Lodi Point Long Point – Finger Lakes Long Point – Thousand Islands Long Point on Lake Chautauqua Macomb Reservation Margaret Lewis Norrie Mark Twain Marsha P. Johnson Mary Island Max V. Shaul Mexico Point Midway Mine Kill Minnewaska Mohawk River Montauk Downs Montauk Point Moreau Lake Napeague Newtown Battlefield Niagara Falls Nissequogue River Nyack Beach Oak Orchard Ogden Mills & Ruth Livingston Mills Old Croton Aqueduct Old Erie Canal Oquaga Creek Orient Beach Peebles Island Pinnacle Pixley Falls Point Au Roche Reservoir Riverbank Robert G. Wehle Robert H. Treman Robert Moses – Long Island Robert Moses – Thousand Islands Robert V. Riddell Roberto Clemente Rock Island Lighthouse Rockefeller Rockland Lake Sampson Sandy Island Beach Saratoga Lake Saratoga Spa Schodack Island Schunemunk Mountain Selkirk Shores Seneca Lake Shadmoor Shirley Chisholm Silver Lake Sonnenberg Gardens Southwick Beach St. Lawrence State Park at the Fair Sterling Forest Steuben Memorial Stony Brook Storm King Strawberry Island Sunken Meadow Taconic Tallman Mountain Taughannock Falls Thompson's Lake Trail View Two Rivers Valley Stream Verona Beach Walkway over the Hudson Waterson Point Watkins Glen Wellesley Island Westcott Beach Whetstone Gulf Whirlpool Wildwood Wilson-Tuscarora Wonder Lake Woodlawn Beach

State parks

State historic sites
Bennington Battlefield Caumsett Clermont Clinton House Crown Point Darwin D. Martin House Fort Crailo Fort Montgomery Fort Ontario Ganondagan Grant Cottage Herkimer Home Hyde Hall John Brown Farm John Burroughs Memorial (Woodchuck Lodge) John Hay Homestead Johnson Hall Knox's Headquarters Lorenzo New Windsor Cantonment Olana Old Croton Aqueduct Old Erie Canal Old Fort Niagara Oriskany Battlefield Philipse Manor Hall Plantings Fields Arboretum Sackets Harbor Battlefield Schoharie Crossing Schuyler Mansion Senate House Sonnenberg Gardens & Mansion Staatsburgh Steuben Memorial Stony Point Battlefield Walt Whitman Birthplace Washington's Headquarters

State historic sites

Preserves and sanctuaries

Public preserves	Albany Pine Bush Forest Preserve Adirondack Park Saint Regis Canoe Area Santanoni Preserve wilderness areas Catskill Park Hudson River Estuary Long Island Pine Barrens Reinstein Woods Rome Sand Plains Tahawus Vischer Ferry Welwyn
The Nature Conservacy	Accabonac Harbor Andy Warhol Visual Arts Arthur W. Butler Memorial Atlantic Double Dunes Bear Swamp Calverton Ponds Chaumont Barrens Clintonville Pine Barrens Coon Mountain Deer Lick Denton El Dorado Beach Eugene and Agnes Meyer Everton Falls Freund Gadway Sandstone Pavement Barrens Hannacroix Ravine Henry Morgenthau Indian Brook Assemblage Ironsides Island Kenrose Limestone Rise Lisha Kill Long Island Center for Conservation Long Pond Lordsland Lower Poultney River and Saddles Marrion Yarrow Mashomack Mianus River Gorge Mildred E. Grierson Memorial Moccasin Kill Montauk Mountain Moss Lake Mount Holly Nellie Hill Neversink O.D. von Engeln Otter Creek Pawling Peconic Estuary Big Woods Pine Neck Roger Perry Memorial Ruth Wales Schunemunk Mountain Shadmoor Silver Lake Bog Spring Pond Bog Stewart Lewis A. Swyer Thompson Pond and Stissing Mountain Uplands Farm West Branch Whitbeck Memorial Grove
Other preserves	Angle Fly Baxter Bergen-Byron Swamp Black Rock Forest Brandreth Park Cornell Botanic Gardens Ferncliff Forest Great Camp Sagamore James Lime Hollow Louis Calder Center Louis C. Clark Sanctuary Mohonk Peabody Plotter Kill Sam's Point Svend O. Heiberg Memorial Forest Teatown Lake Reservation Theodore Roosevelt Sanctuary and Audubon Center Turkey Mountain Turner Brook Wallkill Valley Rail Trail Woodlawn Zurich Bog

Other (lists)
National Historic Landmarks National Natural Landmarks Botanical gardens and arboretums Nature centers New York City parks POPS WWI New York state forests wild historic sites parks wildlife management areas Trails rail trails