KINGSTON >> Kingston is a special place, according to biologists.
Rare and endangered species of plants and critters have been identified in a new local habitat summary that was presented Tuesday evening at a meeting of the Kingston Conservation Advisory Council.
The maps and habitat report are part of the council’s ongoing Natural Resource Inventory initiative — in partnership with the state Department of Environmental Conservation’s Hudson River Estuary Program and Hudsonia Ltd. — to better inform Kingston’s Planning Board, Common Council and other decision makers about land use.
“It’s a written summary of existing data,” said Laura Heady, a biodiversity outreach coordinator for the state Department of Environmental Conservation.
“Habitats are very useful for conservation planning,” said Gretchen Stevens, biodiversity resource director for Hudsonia. “If you know the kind of habitat you have, you can have a very good idea of the kinds of plants and animals that are likely to occur there. And, as biologists, if we are doing any kind of biological assessment, the first thing we do is identify the habitat. It helps us understand a great deal about what is likely to occur there.”
Several large former industrial sites in Kingston, as well as quarries and vaces, have become nesting ground for migratory birds and bats. And Kingston’s estuary waterfront contains submerged vegetation the promotes spawning fish.
“We are connected to the estuary, through the creeks that flow through your community to the wetlands that drain groundwater into the aquifers,” Heady said. “The decisions made on a local level all help impact or protect the system that we really care about at the Hudson River Estuary Program.”
Currently, a city advisory committee is revising Kingston’s 50-year-old comprehensive plan.
“All of the environmental programming and work that we’ve done is crucial to be incorporated into our comprehensive plan,” said Julie Noble, the city’s environmental educator.
For more information, go to www.dec.ny.gov/lands/5094.html.