Three Falls Woods
Three Falls Woods is the best example of the Onondaga Escarpment and its inherent karst topography in the Town of Manlius.
Three Falls Woods is a sensitive 175-acre woodland with three distinctive but adjacent waterfalls, old growth trees, extreme geology and unique ecology, remarkable biodiversity, much-loved trails, and historic lime kilns. The land is currently privately-owned and threatened by development, but still accessible to the public, as Manlius Greenspace Coalition works to see that it becomes a fully-protected karst nature preserve.
Three Falls Woods lies in both the Village and the Town of Manlius. The Village portion of approximately 40 acres, was designated as a NY State Critical Environmental Area in 2005, and the Town portion of approximately 135 acres was also designated as a "CEA" in 2009. The Town portion of Three Falls Woods is protected by a 1981 Covenant, part of which was upheld in State Supreme Court, now being appealed by the developer. Two other lots in the Covenant although that is being disputed by the developer. A long-term goal of MGC is to facilitate the purchase and preservation of this land for its continued ecological and recreational value.
A great article was written and published in Life in the Finger Lakes magazine. You can read it at: Three Falls Woods
History
Thirty years ago citizens came together to protect this land as a buffer from the Jamesville Quarry. Citizens Organized to Protect the Environment (COPE) was formed & succeeded in gaining a compromise, in the form of a covenant between Allied and the Town of Manlius, to leave this land in its natural state forever as a buffer between mining activities and the nearby neighborhoods. The developer disputes the Covenant, requiring citizens to once again stand up and ensure the Town represents the needs of its residents.
The land has been threatened by development twice in the past two decades. In both cases, residents fought the planned development, and the plans were tabled… for the moment.
The Current Threat to the Land
Sketch subdivision plans were filed in 2005 and 2006 to develop the 175 acres of land as if it were a pasture, ignoring the unique terrain. 100 - 180 houses (depending on the plan) are slated to replace the trees, paths, cliffs, and waterfalls. The development plans have not yet been approved by the Town or Village.
Music Video
Three Falls Woods inspired Dr. David Gilbert, a former MGC Board member, to write a song with his band "The Residues", about the land and the neighbors' relationship to it. Listen to it via YouTube here!
"this is my piece of mind... she's like a child, she must grow forever wild"
Expert Opinions
Preliminary findings for the Bryophyte Flora of Three Falls Woods,Manlius, NY
by Professor Robin Kimmer
SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry
The goal of this research project is to assess the bryophyte communities of the area as a guide to evaluating the ecological importance of the property for moss biodiversity. Mosses are a little studied, but ecologically significant component of biodiversity and have been widely used as indicators of environmental quality.
The Three Falls Woods has a highly diverse landscape representing six major substrate types: trees, which host a variety of epiphytic bryophytes; scattered limestone boulders; limestone outcrops with various levels of moisture; waterfalls with their accompanying moisture zone; riparian habitats including stream bed and banks; and the forest floor, which includes rock, soil and logs. This diversity of habitats generally relates to a high number of bryophyte species.
Although we have produced a species list, we have surely missed subtle nuances of epiphyte habitats in Manlius as well as a few more cryptic species. There is certainly a great deal left to discover about the epiphytes of Manlius.
Three Falls Woods contains a diverse assemblage of habitat types, unlike anywhere else in this region of New York State. This initial study found a total of 64 species of mosses and liverworts. Further study is bound to greatly increase the total number of species, possibly including rare or endangered species.
Karst Topography
Clints, grikes and history lessons
If you enter Three Falls from Sweet road, you’ll notice the limestone rocks and the multitude of emerald colored mosses that cover them. It looks like stone pavement from some ancient civilization. Called ‘karst’ landscape, it is made up of carbonate rocks, such as limestone and dolostone, that have certain unique surface and subsurface features.
It appears manmade, but it is actually the natural result of advancing glaciers bulldozing away any overburden to expose the horizontal beds of limestone. The limestone is ever-so-slowly eroded by the rain, a process that is speeded up slightly when the rain is mildly acidic. Over thousands of years the rain begins to dissolve the surface and make any cracks, joints or fissures deeper and wider. These features in the limestone have some strange names to describe them such as “clints” (the slabs of rock) or “grikes” (the spaces between them).
Hydrology
Three Falls Woods has unique hydrology. The seasonal stream is a "losing" type. During the summer the water disappears underground, sometimes within yards of the flowing falls! But it can get saturated and flood something fierce in the spring! The upland Karst areas have such fractured limestone that they infiltrate all rainfall, recharging the aquifer.