+2018 July 28 Ceremony and party at the Race Track Nature Preserve to honor the Meadow Stewards

More than 70 residents gathered at the Race Track Nature Preserve to dedicate its new North Entrance and to honor the Meadow Stewards, whose generosity, adding to that of the Founding Stewards, has made possible this ongoing ecological restoration project. The event started with a tour of the Preserve to observe the green growths in the just-seeded native meadow areas. The visitors saw the profusion of returning native flowers and grasses (e.g., Bee Balm, Black-eyed Susan, Joe Pye Weed, Little Blue Stem, Milkweed) after the removal of the invasive plants, the newly-planted trees and shrubs, and the native stone rip raps installed along the Tuxedo Road and Clubhouse Road embankments to improve erosion control and storm water runoff. There has been a resurgence in biodiversity in the Preserve, with turkeys and other species of birds, butterflies, beetles, bees, and foxes having been recently sighted. The focus of our work for the rest of 2018 will be on maintenance, with more seeding and planting scheduled for subsequent years.

+The Village has gone native!

In consultation with the Tree Advisory Board, the Village has planted native meadow flowers and grasses at the refurbished Wee Wah Dam. Meadow plants are beautiful. They have deep roots that are excellent for controlling soil erosion and storm water runoff. They are low maintenance: they don’t ever require watering – apart from rain. In the first year after seeding, they have to be mowed once a month from July to October to about 5 inches above ground. Thereafter, they require only one mowing each year in February or March, snow permitting, for maintenance.

The Village has also planted a grove of native trees on Tuxedo Road and at the DPW depot in areas previously choked with unsightly invasive plants and seeded the soil with native meadow grasses. Click here for the list of native trees.. Going forward, the DPW will use native meadow seeds to stabilize any disturbed areas resulting from work on our infrastructure. A huge thank you to our DPW for a job very well done!

+2018, April 18 Earth Week and Arbor Day celebrations.

Early on Wednesday morning, TAB members took 50 students from Tuxedo Park School on a trail hike to teach them how to identify native and invasive plants. Trees were planted at the School and at the Race Track Nature Preserve to celebrate Earth Week and Arbor Day.

+ 2017 April 29, a community party in Tuxedo launched Mae Shore’s woodblock print. Read more.

On April 29, 2017, Mae Shore’s limited-edition print was launched to an enthusiastic gathering at the Cheymore Gallery, Tuxedo Square, Town of Tuxedo. The multi-media exhibition included photos of Mae at work, carved woodblocks showing the stages of color printing, a slide show of historical and contemporary images of the Race Track, antique relics found on site, and a map created by Larry Weaner Landscape Associates showing the different natural habitat zones of the basin.

+ 2017 May 10, New York City party launched Mae Shore’s benefit pint.

On May 10, 2017 in New York City, Mae Shore’s print was launched with the same multi-media presentation at the Blumka Gallery, by the generous courtesy of Lois and Tony Blumka.

+ 2017 April 29, Arbor Day celebrations. Read more.

On April 29, the community celebrated 2017 Arbor Day. More than 80 residents and guests attended the Ceremony at the Race Track Nature Preserve. We unveiled the bronze plaques commemorating the extraordinary generosity of the Race Track Nature Preserve Founding Stewards – 29 residents/families who donated a significant sum to enable us to hire the renowned natural-area design firm, Larry Weaner Landscape Associates and to begin the first stages of restoration work at the Preserve. We presented the 2017 Arbor Day Award to John C. Yrizarry, who spent more than ten years observing flora and fauna at the Race Track. The data he gathered, his enthusiasm and his advocacy were instrumental in the Village Board of Trustees’ unanimous votes in August 2016 to allow the transformation of this 21-acre basin into a community nature preserve. A tulip tree will be planted in John’s honor at the northern end of the Race Track near the planned new entrance, along with 2 flowering dogwoods and six shade-loving gray dogwood bushes in other locations of the basin.

+ 2016 October 24, TPTAB with Garden Club members and DPW staff planted native trees and shrubs on East Lake Road embankment to help counter the sever milfoil infestation at the southern end of Tuxedo Lake.

The Village has taken steps to harvest the plants and to install a barrier. Planting a “riparian vegetative buffer” at the southern bank is meant to work in tandem with these other remedial measures. In time, a mature vegetative barrier will help reduce storm water runoff from the adjacent steep hill (which has little undergrowth to absorb/process the runoff), across East Lake Road and the embankment slope, into our reservoir. Storm water carries nutrients (fertilizers), pollutants and sediments into the water. These chemicals/substances encourage the growth of aquatic invasive plants, particularly where the water is still and not well aerated.

Milfoil reproduces extremely rapidly and can infest an entire lake within two years of introduction to the system.

Milfoil drastically degrades the ecology of a body of water. It forms very dense mats of vegetation on the surface. These mats harm the quality of the water – in our case, it is our drinking water. They interfere with water intake for household supply and for fire hydrants. They impede the recreational activities permitted on Tuxedo Lake. The sheer mass of plants can cause flooding in shallower areas and the stagnant mats can create a good habitat for mosquitoes. Milfoil mats rob oxygen from the water by preventing the wind from mixing the oxygenated surface waters to deeper water, thus harming fish and other aquatic life. The dense mats can also increase the sedimentation rate by trapping sediments.

+ 2016 October 23, Dedication Ceremony for the Race Track Nature Preserve.

Mayor Mary Jo Guinchard, Deputy Mayor Claudio Guazzoni and Trustee John Moon were present at the Dedication Ceremony. They were joined by more than sixty residents and guests (and their pets).

Mayor Guinchard unveiled the bronze dedication plaque mounted onto a giant boulder. She thanked the attendees and praised the teamwork and support of many people who had made possible this worthy environmental initiative.

Chiu Yin Hempel, Chair of the Tree Advisory Board, gave special thanks to Jeff Voss and the DPW who shouldered much of the hard physical work of preparing the site for the Ceremony, and to Building Inspector John Ledwith and Deputy Clerk Debbie Matthews who provided administrative support.

She acknowledged in particular Dena Steele, who had the vision to recognize the value of the Race Track as a nature preserve long before anyone else paid it attention.

For more than ten years, Dena, using her own resources, exercised stewardship care of this natural basin. She financed an environmental report and inventory studies for trees and wild flowers. She paid for the design and creation of the circular walking trail and its continued mowing until the DPW took over the work this spring. Dena even bought 100 pounds of wild flower seeds for some $5,000 and sowed them herself at the site of the former tree refuse dump with the help of a few friends and her husband.

Dena also introduced naturalist, John Yrizarry to the Race Track. Mr. Yrizarry then spent a decade observing and documenting its flora and fauna. The scientific data thus gathered formed the basis of the illustrated book, Tuxedo Park: The Gift of Nature, published by Carol Monderer Publishing for the benefit of local non-profit organizations. The stunning photography by Greg Miller brought home the beauty of our Village’s landscape. This heightened awareness of our precious natural environment in turn encouraged the Board of Trustees to set up the Tree Advisory Board and to permit the transformation of the Race Track into a Preserve.

Dena is now a critical member of the Tree Advisory Board. Her Tree Board colleagues then presented her with a gift to thank her for her vision and stewardship.

Carol Monderer, 2016 Chair, Friends of the Race Track Nature Preserve thanked the Founding Stewards. Their generous donations have enabled the Village to engage Larry Weaner Landscape Associates to prepare the master restoration plan, and to move straight into the first phase of the implementation work in Spring 2017. She emphasized that this multi-year project will require much more funding, and donations at any level is welcome. Anyone interested in making a contribution should contact her racetrackfriends@gmail.com or any member of the Tree Advisory Board.

Christopher Gow, Member of the tree Advisory Board, thanked the Deviners. This 10-person strong group of volunteers has been working very Saturday (weather permitting) on Village-owned land to free trees from strangling vines. More volunteers, Christopher noted, are welcome and needed – because they have to staff up a spin-off group, the Deweeders, to tackle invasive weeds. He also thanked the Garden Club for organizing the walking tour after the official Ceremony.

Penn Marchaels, designer from Larry Weaner Landscape Associates, spoke about their credentials in restoring meadows and natural areas. They have completed a large number of projects for municipal and state organizations, as well as high net worth families. He expressed his firm’s enthusiasm in working on this unique site comprising multiple natural habitats: meadow, forest, swamp and wetland.

Following the unveiling Ceremony and speeches, conversations over cider, pretzel and organic apples – served by Caio and Luca Rodolfo – were enjoyed by all. Many participants took the walking tour.