Old Gick Farm

Old Gick Farm. Survivors of Draught and Fire. About 15,000 years ago, you would have been standing at the bottom of a huge lake, Glacial Lake Albany, that stretched from Glens Falls to Poughkeepsie. When the lake drained, the accumulated sand was sculpted by the wind into the dunes around you. Sandy soils drain quickly and have few nutrients. In dry years, wildfires can sweep through these areas. Some animal and plant species are designed to survive wildfires. Together they form the dominant ecological communities in these areas - Pine Barrens and Pine-Oak Savannahs. To live in sand, these species are also specialized to deal with drought and poor growing conditions., Pitch Pine (Pinus rigida). This tree has thick bark and can resprout new branches when old branches have been burned off. The pitch pine holds cones in reserve high in the tree's crown, sealed shut for years. When a fire comes through, burning away competing vegetation, the heat melts the sealing resin and allows the seeds to fall onto a fertile bed of new ash that is now open to the sunlight., Little Blue Stem Grass (Schizachyrium scoparium): This grass may grow only 3 feet tall, but its roots may reach 10 feet deep Although the above-ground portion is burned in a fire, it quickly resprouts. Butterflies shelter in the grass blades and birds make their nests under the tufts., Blue Lupine (Lupinus perennis.) Like grasses, lupine resprouts from a deep tap root after a fire. Fire rejuvenates the lupine's habitar by killing trees that may overshadow the lupine. Karner blue butterfly caterpillars and eggs may be killed by the fire, but as long as there are patches that are unburned, butterflies from nearby locations can recolonize the site.