BIOLOGICAL SURVEYS
AT THE
MARTIN VAN BUREN NATIONAL HISTORIC SITE
COLUMBIA COUNTY, NEW YORK

Technical Reprt NPS/NER/NRTR--2005/011

Catherine Dickert
Erik Kiviat
Gretchen Stevens

Hudsonia Ltd.
PO Box 5000
Annandale, NY 12504

January 2005

U.S. Department of the Interior
National Park Service
Northeast Region
Boston, Massachusetts

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Introduction

The Martin van Buren National Historic Site is in the Town of Kinderhook in northwestern Columbia County, New York (US Geological Survey 7.5 minute Stottville quadrangle). The US National Park Service (NPS) has considered several alternatives for additions to the existing historic site parcel to protect some of the site's cultural, natural, and scenic resources. These options, which consider the configurations of the original farm, which Van Buren named Lindenwald, its setting, and some areas that can be viewed from Lindenwald, were outlined in a "Draft Boundary Study, Draft Environmental Assessment" prepared by the NPS in August 2001. To help inform decisions about future management planning and potential land acquisition, NPS asked Hudsonia to collect biological information on the existing National Historic Site (NHS) and an adjacent parcel owned by the Open Space Institute (OSI).

According to NPS (2001), the National Historic Site totals 15.6 hectares (38.6 acres), of which 8.3 ha (20.3 ac) are held by the NPS in full fee and 7.4 ha (18.3 ac) are protected through conservation easement. President Van Buren's home, which we refer to as Lindenwald house, is located on the NHS property. The adjacent OSI property totals approximately 51 ha (126 ac) (NPS 2001), and is currently leased to Roxbury Farm, an organic vegetable farm. The study area for this project, referred to below as "MAVA," comprises approximately 59 ha (145 ac) and includes managed grounds with buildings, constructed ponds, a streambank and riparian segment on Kinderhook Creek, a small tributary of Kinderhook Creek, forests, and agricultural fields. Past biological surveys at MAVA have focused on the historic site alone, and have not been conducted on the neighboring OSI property concurrently (Cook 1985, Clemants 1997, Kiviat 1997). Our report provides information on plants, fishes, amphibians, reptiles, and birds found on both of these properties, a habitat map, and an assessment of habitat quality and biodiversity potential.

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