Blog Post

A Walk in the Woods at Landis Arboretum

Kathryn Bush ‘18 • August 7, 2021

During a trip to central New York State this past May, I discovered Landis Arboretum – a beautiful 548 acre preserve in the little village of Esperance (population 345!) overlooking the Schoharie Valley, not far from Albany.

The Arboretum was established in 1951 by Fred Lape, and is named in honor of his friend George Landis. The mission of Landis Arboretum is to

 foster an appreciation of trees and other plants and their importance in the environment, which it accomplishes through its many educational programs and other activities, such as an annual plant sale and a 5K race. It is also a favorite spot for birders and wildlife watchers, and is on the New York State Bluebird Trail (the eastern bluebird is the state bird of New York).

Over fourteen miles of trails wind their way throughout the Arboretum, offering plenty of opportunities to walk in the woods. I explored the Woodland Trail, which wanders through and around the forests, eventually leading to the famous Great Oak. Walking along the Woodland Trail it is easy to see the vertical structure of the forest – the canopy, the understory, and the forest floor. The dominant trees, forming the forest canopy, include white and red oaks, yellow birch, sugar maple, eastern hemlock, American beech, black birch, white ash, white pine, and black cherry. The understory trees include saplings of the dominant trees as well as witch hazel, maple-leaved viburnum, striped maple, hop hornbeam, and American hornbeam.  The forest floor is made up of wildflowers, ferns, fungi, mosses, and lichens.



The Woodland Trail

I especially enjoyed the Ed Miller Native Plant Trail, which includes a collection of almost every woody plant native to New York State. The plants are grouped by family and by habitat, which makes it easier to see the differences among the various species. Each grouping includes information about the species along with identification tips, and a link to an audio clip describing the species.

Landis Arboretum is renowned for its oak collection, which includes 12 of the 14 species considered native to New York State. If you are familiar with Doug Tallamy’s work, you know that he considers the oak to be one of the most important species in our environment, as it is host to over 500 caterpillar species. Landis Arboretum was named the official collector of oaks of the northeast by the American Public Gardens Association. In 2007 the Arboretum was one of the founding members of the North American Plant Collections Consortium Multi-institutional Quercus Collection, a program of the American Public Gardens Association. The Arboretum has some two dozen large oaks that are more than 250 years old.

It is one of only three arboreta in the northeast where old-growth forests are found, and actually contains two separate old-growth forests, covering some 30 acres. Old-growth forests, also known as primary forests, provide wildlife habitat and species diversity, and are important resources for nutrient cycling and carbon storage. The definition of an old growth forest can be somewhat fuzzy, as there is no general consensus on a definition. The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) defines it as “a naturally regenerated forest of native species, where there are no clearly visible indications of human activities and the ecological processes are not significantly disturbed.”  Traditional activities of indigenous and local communities can also be included as part of old-growth forests. The old-growth forests at Landis are part of the historic homelands of Mohican, Mohawk, and Iroquois peoples.

Canopies of old-growth forests tend to have horizontal gaps created by dead trees. These gaps are important to the development of the forest as they allow sunlight to reach the understory trees. The dominant trees in the old-growth forests here are red and white oaks, American beech, sugar maple, hemlock, yellow birch, and black birch. The oldest trees in these forests are eastern hemlocks, at about 200 – 300 years old, and oaks, at about 250 – 300 years old.

The iconic tree of Landis Arboretum is The Great Oak, a white oak, Quercus alba, which is estimated to be about 500 years old, and reached a height of 85 feet.  It was this tree that inspired Fred Lape’s father Herbert in 1903 to purchase the land that eventually became Landis Arboretum. The tree flourished until about 1940 when a severe ice storm stripped away half of its crown. It was still vigorously growing, but by the late 1970s it was losing more branches and beginning to show weakness in the upper sections of the trunk.  

Tropical storm Irene caused more damage in the summer of 2011, snapping off a huge limb and leaving the tree in critical condition.  Arborists were able to stabilize The Great Oak, and its condition improved.  But severe weather in 2016 dealt a final blow.  The tree failed to leaf that year, and so was declared dead. 

After the death of The Great Oak a local family donated a memorial tree in honor of their son, and so a Quercas alba sapling is now planted alongside the remnant of The Great Oak in his honor.


                                                     The remnant of The Great Oak watches over the memorial sapling of Quercus alba

    • References

    Ancient Trail and Woodland Trail—George Landis Arboretum https://www.oldgrowthforest.net/ny-ancient-forest-trail-and-woodland-trail-george-landis-arboretum

    Conserving Oaks in North American Plant Collections: A collaborative Approach by Emily Griswold, UC Davis Arboretum, Davis, CA 2009, in International Oak Journal No. 20, pp 35 – 42. https://docplayer.net/209872176-Conserving-oaks-in-north-american-plant-collections-a-collaborative-approach.html

    The Death and Rebirth of our Great Oak by Fred Breglia, Director of Landis Arboretum, October 8, 2016, Landis Newsletter https://thelandisnewsletter.weebly.com/whole-article/from-the-directors-desk-the-death-and-rebirth-of-our-great-oak

    Esperance Arboretum Faces Historic Loss, by Edward Munger, Jr. February 6, 2012, in The Daily Gazette, Schenectady, NY https://dailygazette.com/2012/02/06/0206arboretum/

    Follow Up: Storm-battered Great Oak still stands tall, by Paul Grondahl. Times Union, Albany, NY, February 1, 2014 https://www.timesunion.com/local/article/Follow-Up-Storm-battered-Great-Oak-still-stands-5196811.php

    George Landis Arboretum https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Landis_Arboretum

    George Landis Arboretum, in MuseumsUSA, 2011 https://www.museumsusa.org/museums/info/3661

    George Landis Arboretum: Who We Are, by Fred Breglia, Director of Landis Arboretum, in Mohawk Hudson Land Conservancy Newsletter, 2015 https://mohawkhudson.org/george-landis-arboretum/

    The Great Oak of the Landis Arboretum, by Fred Lape, former director of Landis Arboretum, International Oaks, No. 11, pp 11 – 13, 2000, reprinted from Landis Arboretum Newsletter, Spring 1982. https://www.internationaloaksociety.org/sites/default/files//files/IO/IOS%20Journal%20%2311/International%20Oaks%2011%20-%20p.11-13%20-%20The%20Great%20Oak%20of%20the%20Landis%20Arboretum.pdf

    Landis Arboretum in Capital Region Living https://www.albany.com/capitalregionliving/2006/07/landis-arboretum/

    The Landis Arboretum Website http://www.landisarboretum.org/

    New Findings About Old-Growth Forests https://www.fs.fed.us/pnw/pubs/science-update-4.pdf

    Old-growth Forest https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old-growth_forest


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