The Catskill Forest: A History [Hardcover]

Michael Kudish (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 1, 2000

Published in August 2000, this book is the result of more than 30 years of research on the Catskill forest. It includes 25 maps showing the distribution of species and forest-products industries in addition to a full-color, large, fold-out map that shows the extent of the first growth forest, second and third growth forest, agricultural lands, burned areas, reforested areas, and landslides. Five sections look at plant migrations to the region following the last glaciation, the impact of people on the forest, the forest regrown, mountain ranges, forest industries. A must for anyone who loves the Catskills.

Editorial Reviews

Review

...both fascinating and indispensable, a marvelous lens which helps us to see clearly what we are looking at... -- Michael Perkins, Woodstock Times, May 17, 2001

Everyone who enjoys the forests of the Catskills...will find a treasure trove of information in this book... -- Chris Olney, Catskill Center News, Spring 2001

The Catskill Forest...is a book that those who know and love the Catskills have been waiting for. -- Richard Parisio,Kaatskill Life, Fall 2000

About the Author

When Michael Kudish first began climbing the Catskills peaks in the mid-1960s, he wondered why different summits at the same elevation had vastly different forests, some with spruce-fir, some with fir-northern hardwoods, others with northern hardwoods alone, and still others with oak. To answer this question, he began a life-long study of the history of these forests, beginning with Vegetational History of the Catskill High Peaks, his dissertation at the New York State College of Environmental Science and Forestry at Syracuse in 1971. In the intervening 29 years, his study has expanded to include an examination of Catskills soils, climate, ecological personalities of tree species, human disturbance history, and the history recorded in the rings of living and just fallen trees. Such examinations could punch the clock back only 300 to 400 years, the maximum age of the oldest living trees and of the writings of European settlers. In 1994, He realized that tree fossils preserved in high-elevation peat bogs also could be used to reconstruct forest history and that the age of the peat could be determined by radiocarbon dating. Forest history has now been pushed back to 10,000 years. Hopefully, future peat studies will push the clock back even farther--to the end of the Ice Age about 13,000 years.

Michael Kudish is a professor in the Division of Forestry at Paul Smith's College in the Adirondacks. He has written, in addition to numerous articles on both Catskills and Adirondack forests, several books including two on the flora of Paul Smiths, Adirondack Upland Flora, Where did the Tracks go, and Railroads of the Adirondacks: A History, the last published by Purple Mountain Press.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 217 pages
• Publisher: Purple Mountain Pr Ltd (August 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1930098022
• ISBN-13: 978-1930098022
• Product Dimensions: 11.3 x 8.6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #962,095 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Indispensable, December 2, 2001

By 

Elizabeth S. Case "Proust Gal" (Walden, NY United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Catskill Forest: A History (Hardcover)

I don't think there's anyone who has hiked over more of the Catskill Mountains than Michael Kudish. Having written his doctoral dissertation on the history of the Catskills forests, he is THE expert on the subject. Every one else learns from him.

But for too long, you had to do that learning through the mimeographed sections of his dissertation handed out by the Catskill Center, or at public appearances at Catskill 3500 Club gatherings or NYSDEC public-education meetings.

No more. The knowledge that he has spent the decades since his dissertation gaining and improving upon, he has now shared with the public in this highly readable and accessible volume. It's too cumbersome to put in your backpack, but that's the only problem I have with it.

Everything you might have wondered about while hiking, whether on- or off-trail, Kudish can answer for you. Why is Graham Mountain's summit covered in that scrubby cherry and birch without a trace of the thick balsam fir that covers adjacent lower summits? Where's the Brant fort, near Roundtop? He knows and he'll tell you (but I won't because you should buy the book).

Kudish painstakingly delineated all the first-growth forests of the region (there are many), looked through old reccords to establish when and where fires occurred, and in general found and logged many things merely thought to exist deep in the woods (the stocks of mature American chestnuts, apparently blight-free, on Tremper and Carl mountains is a real stunner).

I have hiked these mountains thoroughly over the past several years. I have done all the peaks of the Catskill 3500 Club and then some. I learned a lot.

But this book told me many things I didn't know, solved many mysteries (and actually deepened my enjoyment of the woods). Without denying what I learned on my own, it opened up whole new worlds, as if I'd only just begun.

A little basic scientific understanding, of the sort one could pick up in, say, a high school biology class, is helpful but not required. Kudish has a popular audience firmly in mind, and in fact can even bring a smile to your face (particularly when he sticks up for much-maligned Eagle Mountain as his favorite peak). And the research is of course exhaustive.

What Alf Evers did for the region as a whole, Kudish did for the woods. If you love the Catskills enough to have read Evers' work cover to cover, I'd strongly recommend this as a supplement (though a pretty hefty one at that).

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Meticulous and Engaging, September 11, 2010

By 

thornquist22 - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Catskill Forest: A History (Hardcover)

This book would be a useful guide to experts and novices alike. The author's exceptional knowledge of his subject is delivered in a comfortable prose that teaches without "lecturing" and leaves you with a much greater appreciation of the marvelous Catskills region of our country.