Central & Western: O.D. von Engeln Preserve at Malloryville

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Why You Should Visit
Here, more than a mile of eskers—ancient river beds that once ran through glaciers—wind through a pocket of forest adjacent to Fall Creek. At the foot of the eskers, groundwater bubbles up in a constant stream of minerals that nurture rare plants and a wide variety of animals.

Location
Dryden, New York, in Tompkins County

Size
309 acres including a conservation easement on 76 acres of private land

What to Expect
The preserve is open daylight hours for birdwatching and hiking. A 1.75-mile trail system and an informal kiosk make the preserve accessible to visitors. Try the Bog Loop Trail, the Esker Trail, or walk along an eco-friendly boardwalk built with TREX lumber.

Please ensure minimal impact to this natural community by staying on marked trails at all times and leaving the plants and wildlife for others to see. For the protection of wildlife, no pets, motor vehicles, horses, bicycles, hunting, trapping, camping or fires are allowed. Fishing is allowed in Fall Creek, which forms the eastern boundary of the preserve for several thousand feet.

Directions
From the north or south:

From I-81, take exit 12 to Route 281 south (left turn).
Continue 3 miles. Turn right onto McLean Road and drive 5 miles to McLean.
When you reach the gas station, bear left on Fall Creek Road and continue for 1.3 miles.
Turn right on West Malloryville Road and continue 0.5 miles to the large white preserve sign and parking area on the right.

From the Ithaca area:

Take route 13 north toward Cortland.
Turn left on Route 366 and follow to Freeville.
Continue straight on Fall Creek Road for 2.5 miles, then turn left onto West Malloryville Road.
Follow for 0.5 miles to the large white preserve sign and the parking area on the right.

What to See: Plants
Many distinct communities of plants thrive on the preserve's bogs, swamps, marshes and fens. Look for the pitcher plant, which lives in a nutrient-poor environment and traps insects to obtain nitrogen, from the Florence G. Beck Bog Viewing Platform. Also look for marsh marigolds, arrow arum, New England asters, trillium, jack-in-the pulpits, blueberries, and round leaf sundews. Volunteers are trying to stem the growth of invasive species, including garlic mustard, swallow-wort, buckthorn and honeysuckle.

What to See: Animals
Perennial spring-fed streams harbor small freshwater clams, snails, crustaceans such as amphipods, and a diversity of insects. Birds at Malloryville are diverse and abundant including northern waterthrush, cooper's hawk, ovenbirds, owls, redstarts, scarlet tanagers, pileated woodpeckers, osprey and great blue herons. Look for animals such as wild turkeys, gray and red fox, and ruffed grouse. A bobcat was also seen recently here.

Why the Conservancy Selected This Site
The amazing diversity of wetland habitats within the preserve, from bogs to fens to wooded swamps, nurtures a variety of rare plants and natural communities found in few other places in New York.

What the Conservancy Has Done/Is Doing
The features that make Malloryville ecologically valuable also make it economically valuable. For more than a decade, a private landowner tried to obtain a permit to create a gravel mine here. Had The Nature Conservancy not purchased the land in 1997, the gravel mine could have disrupted the site's hydrology and spelled an end to the preserve's unique flora. With the addition of several other properties, including a 76-acre conservation easement on adjoining land, the threat of gravel mining at Malloryville is gone.

Partners
Much of Malloryville's original funding was bequeathed in the 1960s by Cornell geology professor O.D. von Engeln, who wished to see it managed and protected as a nature preserve. Neighbors and longtime Conservancy supporters Bob, Gwen, Nathan and Gordon Beck later made a critical donation of 35 acres at the heart of the preserve.

In 2001, AES Cayuga, the NY State Electric & Gas Company, the Howland Foundation and the Rothenberg Family Foundation helped support construction of a new trail system and information kiosk, and publication of a new preserve brochure.