It's working!

There has been a noticeable improvement in the condition of the alpine meadows. The word is quickly spreading that alpine vegetation is fragile and endangered. With less traffic on damaged areas, colonizing plants can now be seen starting the process of restoration. Two of the more prolific and showy pioneers of disturbed sites are mountain sandwort (Minuartia groenlandica) and three-toothed cinquefoil (Potentilla tridentata). These plants, both with white flowers, have an uncanny ability to grow in the most impoverished and unlikely spots. Mountain sandwort is often found growing near the trail. These species produce an abundance of seed, which makes them quick to spread and colonize open habitats.

A Living Museum
Twelve thousand years ago, the Adirondacks were just emerging from the confines of the last great continental glacier. As the Wisconsin Glacier melted, the landscape it revealed was mostly debris of glacial till, and slowly this was colonized by tundra vegetation of dwarf shrubs and sedges. These plants had survived the Ice Age at the southern edge of the glaciers. For two thousand years they dominated the landscape, and the Adirondacks resembled the arctic of today. As the climate warmed, coniferous trees of spruce and fir returned, and out-competed the tundra plants for space and resources. They were sent on a journey north, and to the high summits. They can still be seen on a few peaks today in the Adirondacks, but only eighty-five acres remain. The greatest concentration of rare and endangered species in New York exists within these alpine communities.

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