Biodiversity of the Zena Woods

‘Zena Woods Biodiversity’ features over 270 species that I observed in 2024 during walks through the Woodstock Land Conservancy’s Israel Wittman Sanctuary, and along a portion of Zena Development LLC’s property boundary on Zena Highwoods Road. The Towns of Woodstock and Ulster continue to consider the fate of Zena Development LLC’s 625 acre forested property. I hope that this illustration helps to communicate all that we stand to loose if this forest is sacrificed - in whole, or in part - for luxury housing. I am so thankful for the dedicated work of the WLC staff and board, and community volunteers who make up the Stop Zena Development coalition. In the coming weeks and months, Stop Zena Development will need our Woodstock, Ulster and Kingston community members to show up at important meetings, to observe the proceedings and (when invited to do so during public comment periods) to speak out against the destruction of our sacred wild places. You can also support Stop Zena Development’s efforts by making a donation at stopzenadevelopment.org. Funds cover the legal fees required to navigate the complex process of fighting the proposed development.

For more information about how data was gathered for this piece, and how species are identified in the following details of this larger image, scroll to the bottom of this page.

Posted April 11, 2025

 

Explore Habitats & Species

 
 

The Forest Floor

Lean close, and watch your step! The forest floor is a fascinating world of tiny wonders.

  • 1 Fiddleheads
    2 Orchard Orbweaver
    3 & 4 Decaying Mushroom being consumed by beetles
    5 Woolly Bear Caterpillar (will metamorphose into an Isabella Tiger Moth)
    6 Violet species
    7 Bluet species
    8 Juvenile conifer tree
    9 Juvenile deciduous tree
    10 Juvenile American Toad
    11 Harvestman species
    12 Eastern Hemlock Cone
    13 Changeable Mantleslug
    14 Red Eft (Juvenile Eastern Newt)
    15 Common Pill Woodlouse
    16 Eastern Whitelip Snail
    17 Winter Firefly
    18 Partridgeberry
    19 Moss species
    20 Eastern Black-legged Tick
    21 Assorted lichens & fungi

  • 1 Orchid species
    2 Ghost Pipe
    3 Garter Snake (male and female)
    4 Thrush species
    5 American Robin with a snack!
    6 Ring-necked snake
    7 Partridgeberry
    8 Golden Spindles
    9 Squirrel
    10 Moss species
    11 Man-made stone wall

Bluestone Quarry Rocks & Forest Wildflowers

Throughout the Israel Wittman Sanctuary, piles of discarded bluestone and excavated bluestone quarries hold quiet memories of the region’s past. Today, these bluestone piles are grown over with lichens, and ferns and flowers sprout from accumulated pockets of soil. Pass by a bluestone-covered hillside on the Loop C trail, and you will often be scolded with the cheep-cheeping of an Eastern Chipmunk hiding in the rocks. In the spring of 2024 I was walking along an Israel Wittman trail when a crashing in the underbrush froze me in my tracks. A North American Porcupine bumbled out of the ferns in front of me, taking a slow and ambling turn in my direction. As soon as it spotted me, it reversed course, and I watched in awe as it hurried away, disappearing into a pile of rocks.

Each year along Zena Highwoods and the trails of Israel Wittman Sanctuary, the warming spring weather summons a quiet eruption of flowers from the leafy ground: white, yellow and purple. Almost as soon as they have appeared, they are gone again.

 

  • 1 Red Columbine
    2 North American Porcupine
    3 Rock Polypody
    4 Ebony Spleenwort
    5 Eastern Chipmunk
    6 Virginia Saxifrage
    7 Maidenhair Spleenwort
    8 American Giant Millipede

    9 Yellow Trout Lily
    10 Soloman’s Seal
    11 Cinquefoil species
    12 Round Lobed Hepatica
    13 Northern Starflower
    14 Yellow Star Grass
    15 Rue Anemone

    16 Oak Apple Gall

Vernal Pools

The majority of Zena Development LLC’s property lies within the Town of Woodstock’s recently designated Zena Woods Critical Environmental Area. An excellent description of Vernal Pools can be found in the Zena Woods CEA Proposal: “These are small, isolated wetlands that hold standing water in winter and spring but dry up at some time during the summer. Vernal pools support numerous aquatic invertebrate species with special adaptations to the seasonal drying, and are also the critical breeding habitat for a group of amphibians that use the pools for breeding for a brief period in the spring, but spend the rest of the year in surrounding forests, sometimes moving long distances from the pools. The forests provide shade and organic detritus (leaves, twigs, branches) that are fundamental to the pools’ food webs and the structural features required by many pool organisms. The pool/forest habitat complex is essential to the persistence of local populations of wood frog, Jefferson salamander, spotted salamander, and marbled salamander and, in turn, the salamanders and frogs are significant contributors to the forest food web. Jefferson and marbled salamanders are listed as NYS Species of Greatest Conservation Need.”

  • 1 Marbled Salamander wrapped around eggs
    2 Male Wood Frog calling above a cluster of recently laid eggs
    3 Aquatic juvenile Jefferson Salamander
    4 Cluster of Jefferson Salamander eggs
    5 Spotted Salamander
    6 Predaceous Diving Beetle species
    7 Cluster of Spotted Salamander eggs
    8 Swamp Beacon fungus
    9 Jefferson Salamander
    10 Sphagnum moss species
    11 Aquatic juvenile salamander
    12 Odonata species laying eggs
    13 Spring Peeper calling
    14 Male Mallard Duck
    15 Pickerel Frog
    16 Slime mold species on semi-submerged stump

Life Underground

As you explore, look for openings in the earth, and take a glimpse into the secret world of the soil.

  • 1 Eastern Chipmunk carrying a mouthful of leaves into its burrow
    2 Virginia Opossum (opossums can nest in abandoned groundhog burrows)
    3 A Common Eastern Bumblebee emerges from the ground after her winter hibernation
    4 An Eastern Gray Squirrel buries a White Oak Acorn
    5 Common Earthworm
    6 Northern Short-tailed Shrew
    7 American Pelecinid Wasp laying its eggs on a beetle grub
    8 Groundhog
    9 Mycelium

Dead Trees & Mating Displays

Standing and fallen dead and dying trees play important roles in the forest ecosystem. Cavities excavated by Pileated Woodpeckers provide homes for birds and mammals. Bark, hanging loosely from standing dead trees, provides nesting opportunities for tiny, darting Brown Creepers. A dizzying array of fungi species bloom from standing and fallen trees, providing food for species like the Pleasing Fungus Beetle. Pileated Woodpeckers prod at the soft wood of fallen dead trees, searching for delicious ants.

Wander among these trees, and you may be lucky enough to observe the curious mating displays of three magnetic forest birds: Wild Turkeys, Ruffed Grouse and American Woodcock.

 

  • 1 Eastern Bluebirds nesting in abandoned Pileated Woodpecker nesting cavity
    2 A Wood Duck chick jumps from its nest as a female Wood Duck looks on
    3 A pair of Brown Creepers: one investigates a potential nesting location behind loose bark, the other carries food in its mouth
    4 A standing dead or dying tree is called a “Snag”
    5 A Pileated Woodpecker investigates a fallen tree for ants
    6 Wolf’s Milk fungus
    7 Pleasing Fungus Beetles on a Hemlock Varnish Fungus
    8 Pinesap

    9 Male Wild Turkey
    10 Male Ruffed Grouse
    11 Male American Woodcock

The Gift of Milkweed

Take a closer look at this bustling green high-rise! The leaves and flowers of Common Milkweed plants host a vibrant array of invertebrates: caterpillars, beetles, ants, moths and butterflies. Juvenile Gray Treefrogs, still protected by their immature green coloring, nestle down on the leaves, relaxing into the safety of their camouflage. The Common Milkweed’s star companion is the Monarch Butterfly. Monarch Butterflies rely on milkweeds. The adults lay their eggs on the underside of milkweed leaves. The caterpillars eat the leaves. When the time is right, the caterpillars hang upside down from the leaves in a “J” shape, and form a brilliant, jewel-studded chrysalis. The preservation of Common Milkweed plants helps to protect dwindling Monarch populations. Common Milkweed grows along the edge of Zena Highwoods Road and deep in Israel Wittman Sanctuary, with patches visible especially from the Loop C trail.

 

  • 1 Common Milkweed
    2 Monarch Butterfly
    3 Great Spangled Fritillary
    4 Milkweed Tussock Moth Caterpillar
    5 Monarch Caterpillar
    6 Lady Beetle species
    7 Monarch Chrysalis
    8 Ant species
    9 Juvenile Gray Treefrog

The Magic of the Seasons

Each season in the Hudson Valley has a unique magic. In the spring, as the air fills with bird song, the trees begin to put out tiny, bright leaves, their mature shapes in perfect miniature. In the summer, birds delight in the tree-top buffet of caterpillars. Autumn turns the leaves into yellows, oranges and reds, as black bears prepare for hibernation and White-tailed Deer sniff the air for one-another. In the quiet of winter, Red Foxes listen for prey beneath the snow. Fishers, crepuscular and nocturnal in the warmth of summer, become more active during winter days.

  • 1 Eastern Hemlock
    2 Eastern White Pine
    3 Red Fox
    4 Fisher
    5 White-breasted Nuthatch
    6 Dark-eyed Junco
    7 Northern Cardinal
    8 Tufted Titmouse
    9 Black-capped Chickadee
    10 Downy Woodpecker

  • 1 Red-bellied Woodpecker
    2 American Black Bear
    3 Golden-crowned Kinglet
    4 Ruby-crowned Kinglet
    5 Blue Jay
    6 Autumn leaves
    7 Hairy Woodpecker
    8 Chicken-of-the-Woods
    9 Male Deer sniffing for female
    10 Northern Flicker
    11 Striped Maple

  • SUMMER
    1 Scarlet Tanager male and female
    2 Brown Thrasher
    3 Red-shouldered Hawk
    4 Oak leaf being eaten by a caterpillar

    SPRING
    1, 2 and 3: spring leaflets

The Forest at Night

The forest is a busy place at night! Owls call, frogs, katydids and cicadas sing, moths take wing, bats swoop through the air after biting pests, and shy mammals hunt and forage in the safety provided by the star-studded and firefly-illuminated darkness.

 

  • 1 Giant Leopard Moth
    2 Painted Lichen Moth
    3 Mosquito species
    4 Indiana Bat
    5 Northern Long-eared Bat
    6 Fireflies
    7 Coyote
    8 Striped Skunk
    9 Common Raccoon
    10 Common Nighthawk
    11 Barred Owl
    12 Shagbark Hickory
    13 Great Horned Owl
    14 Northern Dog-day Cicada
    15 Northern Walkingstick
    16 Gray Treefrog
    17 Common True Katydid

Nocturnal Spring Migration

Each year, millions of birds make nocturnal spring and fall migrations over Ulster County. Some stay in Woodstock’s and Ulster’s forests for months. Some only pause briefly while passing through. Follow along with bird migrations using Cornell’s BirdCast dashboard. You can help migrating birds by keeping your outside lights off during the peak spring migration period in April and May, and the peak fall migration period in August through November. Google “Lights Out New York” to find peak migration dates for the coming year.

 

  • 1 Black-throated Blue Warbler
    2 Blackburnian Warbler
    3 Chestnut-sided Warbler
    4 Yellow-throated Vireo
    5 Eastern Kingbird
    6 Rose-breasted Grosbeak
    7 Black-throated Green Warbler
    8 Eastern Wood-pewee
    9 Black and White Warbler
    10 American Redstart
    11 Black-billed Cuckoo
    12 Louisiana Waterthrush

Even More Forest Friends

 

  • 1 Harlequin Darner
    2 Broad-winged Hawk
    3 Amber Jelly Fungus
    4 Juvenile Eastern Ratsnake
    5 Red Squirrel
    6 Question Mark Butterfly
    7 Northern Pearly Eye Butterfly
    8 Common Wood Nymph
    9 Fern species
    10 White-tailed Deer with fawn
    11 Man-made stone wall
    12 White-throated Sparrow

Forest Streams

Streams cut melodic ribbons through the forests of Woodstock and Ulster. The stream that runs along Zena Highwoods crosses under the road near the intersection with Eastwoods Drive, swoops into the forest, and then draws close to the road edge for about 1,000 feet before crossing under the road again just before the bridge and ultimately flowing into the Sawkill River. Litter often finds its way into this stream, and it is difficult to imagine that the stream is not impacted by road salt during the winter months. Streams also crisscross the Israel Wittman Sanctuary.

 

  • 1 Bottlebrush Grass
    2 Marsh Marigold
    3 Violet species
    4 Mayfly species
    5 Long-jawed Orbweaver species
    6 Cardinal Flower
    7 Common Jewelweed
    8 Ebony Jewelwings mating
    9 Serrate Dark Fishfly
    10 American Nursery Web Spider
    11 & 12 Freshwater fish species
    13 Caddisfly larvae
    14 Snail species
    15 Crayfish species
    16 Eastern Newt
    17 & 18 Freshwater fish species
    19 Water Strider species
    20 Green Frog
    21 Sumo Mite species
    22 Aquatic insect species

Sawkill River & Kingston Reservoir Number One

The border of Zena Development LLC’s property lies within (roughly) 1,000 feet of the City of Kingston’s Reservoir Number One. This reservoir supports a complex web of aquatic life. Birds raise their young, hunt and paddle in the reservoir’s waters. The Sawkill River flows under Zena Highwoods Road, through this reservoir, and then continues on towards the east until it eventually joins the already compromised Esopus. Not far from the eastern edge of the reservoir, about one mile of the Sawkill River is traced by Zena Development LLC’s property border. From the narrow bridge on Zena Highwoods Road, one can observe the bustle of activity in, above and around the Sawkill’s waters. Beavers and muskrats swim, hopeful Ospreys dive after fish, and Barn Swallows gather mud in their beaks for their sticky nests. Increased traffic along Zena Highwoods and Sawkill Road, and potential run-off from development within Zena Development LLC’s property would negatively impact these water-bodies. I have observed roadkill juvenile Common Snapping Turtles, American Toads and numerous other semi-aquatic species along these roads. Some species rely on both these waterbodies and the surrounding forests for successful life cycles. The Common and Hooded Mergansers and Wood Ducks whose chicks are commonly seen along the Sawkill and in the reservoir, for example, need tree cavities in the surrounding forest to nest.

  • 1 Tree Swallow

    2 Rough-winged Swallow
    
3 Barn Swallow 

    4 Gray Catbird 

    5 Yellow Warbler 

    6 Common Yellowthroat 

    7 Osprey carrying trout 

    8 Hooded Merganser pair
    
9 Muskrat

    10 Common Grackle

    11 American Beaver

    12 Female Common Merganser with chicks

    13 Song Sparrow
    
14 Green False Hellebore 

    15 Spotted Sandpiper

    16 North American River Otter

    17 Great Egret 

    18 Green-winged Teals 

    19 Bald Eagle and nest with chick
    
20 Left: Turkey Vulture, Right: Red-tailed Hawk
    
21 Blue-gray Gnatcatcher tending a nest in a Tulip Tree 

    22 Ruby-throated Hummingbird female 

    23 Belted Kingfisher male with fish prey 

    24 Ichneumonid Wasp species
    
25 Double-crested Cormorant
    
26 Canada Goose 

    27 Great Blue Heron
    28 Red-winged Blackbird perched in a Cattail 

    29 Juvenile Green Heron
    
30 Bladder Sedge 

    31 Solitary Sandpiper 

    32 American Mink
    
33 Common Snapping Turtle 

    34 Buffleheads

    35 Killdeer 

    36 Pond Spreadwing species on Sensitive Fern 

    37 Odonata species

    38 Common Watersnake 

    39 Bur Reed Sedge 

    40 Northern Blue Flag being visited by a Silver Spotted Skipper
    
41 American Toads mating
    
42 Frog tadpoles
    
43 American Bullfrog tadpole 

    44 American Bullfrog male calling 

    45 Whirligig Beetle species 

    46 Duckweed species 

    47 Painted Turtle
    48 A Common Whitetail Dragonfly rests in a cluster of plants including blooming yellow Nodding Beggarticks and white Broadleaf Arrowhead
    
49 Red-eyed Vireo eating an insect
    
50 Baltimore Oriole eating a caterpillar
    
51 Carolina Wren eating a spider 

    52 Maple leaves (above) and Sycamore leaves and seed balls (below)

  • 1 Panicled Ticktrefoil
    2 Whorled Wood Aster
    3 Pennsylvania Sedge
    4 White Turtlehead
    5 Wood Anemone
    6 Sessile Bellowrt
    7 Silverrod
    8 Swamp Dewberry
    9 Canada Mayflower

Roads

If Zena Development LLC is successful in their efforts, there will be more traffic along Sawkill and Zena Highwoods Road. In order to develop, Zena Development LLC must first widen and lengthen Eastwoods Drive, the only point of access into the property. Eastwoods is currently an unpaved road measuring about a half mile in length. It is bordered to the south by wetlands, including vernal pools and small streams. Amphibians including Spotted Salamanders, Wood Frogs, Green Frogs and American Toads can be seen crossing these three roadways each spring as they migrate to and from their breeding grounds. On rainy, warm spring nights, their numbers can be quite staggering. In a single one hour period on a rainy April night in 2025, I spotted over four dozen Wood Frogs. Although I only saw three cars in this hour, I witnessed the death of a Wood Frog that I was not able to ferry across the road in time.

The impact of roadkill on wildlife is significant. Between 3/19/24 and 11/20/24 I conducted 163 walks along a stretch of Zena Highwoods Road measuring approximately 0.65 mile, from the intersection with Eastwoods Drive to the intersection with Sawkill Road. During these walks I photographed 310 animals killed by vehicles. As I observed Common Ravens and Turkey Vultures consuming roadkill, I did not take my camera out on very rainy days when amphibians were more likely to be on the move, and I conducted walks on only 163 of 264 days during observation period, I am quite certain that this is an under-count - potentially a significant under-count - of roadkill for the observation period. For a breakdown of species photographed see “2024 Roadkill Observations” below.

The edges of Zena Highwoods and Sawkill Road are also dotted with litter and invasive species. In 2024 I counted over 50 species of invasive plants along Zena Highwoods between Sawkill Road and Eastwoods Drive, including the especially troublesome Japanese Barberry. The extension of Eastwoods Drive would allow both invasives and litter to push into the heart of the forest.

The impacts of roads on wildlife are complex. I would highly recommend Ben Goldfarb’s extraordinary book Crossings: How Road Ecology is Shaping the Future of Our Planet to anyone interested in the subject.

 

  • 1 Common Dandelion invasive
    2 Queen Anne’s Lace invasive
    3 Chicory invasive
    4 American Goldfinch
    5 Colt’s-foot invasive
    6 Herb Robert native
    7 Wood Frog
    8 Western Honeybee visiting White Clover invasive
    9 Spotted Salamander
    10 Salamander species
    11 A Green Frog killed by a car is consumed by an American Carrion Beetle (black body and yellow head), a Furry Snake Millipede and an isopod
    12 Common Raven
    13 Discarded cigarette butt

  • Roadkill photographed on 163 walks conducted between 3/19/24 and 11/20/24 along a stretch of Zena Highwoods Road measuring approximately 0.65 mile, from the intersection with Eastwoods Drive to the intersection with Sawkill Road

    1 Carolina Wren
    51 Red Efts (juvenile Eastern Newts)
    2 Marbled Salamanders
    1 Salamander (species unclear)
    41 American Toads
    5 Green Frogs
    1 Bullfrog
    7 Pickerel Frogs
    2 Wood Frogs
    87 Frogs (species unclear)
    50 Frogs or Toads (species unclear)
    2 Eastern Chipmunks
    5 Gray Squirrels
    9 Small mammals (species unclear)
    1 Mouse (species unclear)
    1 Eastern Ratsnake
    25 Garter Snake
    4 Ring-necked Snake
    5 Snakes (species unclear)
    2 Common Snapping Turtle

Problematic Invasives

Hemlock Woolly Adelgid

Japanese Barberry

Spongy Moth (formerly known as Gypsy Moth)

Habitat destruction is not the only threat to Woodstock and Ulster’s forests. Hemlock Woolly Adelgid can sadly be spotted on many area Hemlocks. The New York State DEC explains: “Hemlocks are ecologically important due to the unique environmental conditions they create under their dense canopies. These cooler, darker and sheltered environments are critical to the survival of a variety of species that rely on them for food, protection, and ideal growing conditions…black bears, salamanders, and migrating birds, as well as unique lichen and plant communities, are all closely associated with the hemlock ecosystem.” Invasive Japanese Barberry pushes out native plants in the forest under-story. Spongy Moth infestations in recent years have claimed the lives of many trees, and compromised the health of many more. You may notice Spongy Moth egg-cases while walking through the forest. The NYS DEC provides tips for dealing with Spongy Moths. It is vital that we do not fragment or destroy the forests we have left, so they have as much of a chance as possible to withstand and recover from invasive threats.

 

Human Footprint

Litter

Stone Walls

Woodstock Land Conservancy Trail Marker

Humans have left their mark on the forests of Woodstock and Ulster. Stone walls, remnants of the region’s early farming days, run throughout the woods. The Woodstock Land Conservancy maintains a fantastic trail system through the Israel Wittman Sanctuary that allows the public to enjoy the magic of the deep woods. As you drive or walk along Zena Highwoods, you will, unfortunately, see litter. This waste is tossed out of car windows, and tumbles out of garbage cans when garbage put out for collection is knocked over by the wind or by curious wildlife. Ulster County residents have the responsibility to our human and non-human neighbors, and to future generations, to be good stewards of our precious forests.

 

  • I photographed or recorded via the Merlin App all of the species depicted in this piece within the survey area of Israel Wittman Sanctuary and Zena Highwoods Road from Eastwoods Drive to Sawkill Road during 2024, with the following nine exceptions:

    1. The beetle grub was included based on reports of the American Pelecinid Wasp’s behavior.

    2. Scat of North American River Otters was reported within the survey area by a local scientist, and corroborated by an iNaturalist observation.

    3. A coyote was observed in Israel Wittman Sanctuary by artist Zaneta Sykes, and in close proximity to the Zena Development LLC property by a resident of Lauren Court.

    4. I observed an Opossum not far from Zena Highwoods Road as a child.

    5. The only racoon I observed in 2024 was a roadkill raccoon just outside of the survey area, along Sawkill Road, across from the City of Kingston’s Reservoir Number One. This made 2024 an unusual year, as raccoons are a very common sight along Zena Highwoods.

    6. I saw Wild Turkeys twice in Woodstock, outside of the survey area, in 2024. A male Wild Turkey was observed on Zena Highwoods near Eastwoods Drive in the summer of 2024 by my mother.

    7. - 9. The Jefferson Salamander, Indiana Bat and Northern Long-eared Bat were included based on information from the Zena Woods Critical Environmental Area Proposal. As all but 106 acres of the Zena Development LLC property is located within the Zena Woods CEA, the Zena Woods CEA Proposal information is relevant to this illustration.

    I am an amateur naturalist, with no formal scientific training. I chose to leave many of the species depicted above unlabeled, or with a very general label (i.e. the fish in the “Forest Streams” section are labeled “Freshwater Fish species,” although I have some guesses about what they might be). It is my hope that folks with more formal training, or experience in the area, might be able to help me to identify the species that I observed and recorded in this drawing!