Flora and Mycota of the Zofnass Family Preserve

by Robert F. Naczi, Scott A. Mori, Carol Carollo Matos & Camila Jingchen Jiang

Westchester Wilderness Walk/Zofnass Family Preserve
150 acres
Upper Shad Road, Pound Ridge
Park on the pull-off on Upper Shad, about 1⁄4 mile from Long Ridge Road
Trail Map
Click Here for Google Maps Directions

Westchester Wilderness Walk, which includes the Zofnass Family Preserve, encompasses rocky woods, hillside streams, lakes, and wetlands encompassing 150 acres, of which 124 acres are owned and managed by the Westchester Land Trust.

A 6.5-mile trail network traverses some of the most rugged terrain in a town noted for its crags and outcrops. Paul Zofnass, a Pound Ridge resident and a member of the Westchester Land Trust's Board of Directors, first conceived the idea of creating a trail preserve here, and worked for over 10 years to put the project together, donating land himself, persuading his neighbors to donate land, and creating the impressive trail system.

The combination of wetlands, upland forests, and edge habitats is particularly important for sustaining populations of reptiles and amphibians that use several habitat types throughout the year. The variety of habitats means that there is a large diversity of plants and wildlife that occur on the preserve.

Observant hikers are likely to encounter wood frogs and spring peepers in spring, yellow-throated vireos and rose-breasted grosbeaks in summer, and wild turkeys year-round.

This project is a collaborative project between The New York Botanical Garden and the Westchester Land Trust that was established in the spring of 2013. Our long-term  goal is to make specimen-based inventories of the fungi, mosses, ferns, lycopods, and flowering plants so that visitors to the preserve can learn as well as enjoy the plants and fungi found there. Click here to see a video showing how we are carrying out our inventory of the fungi of the preserve.

The Flora and Mycota of the Zofnass Family Preserve includes the area encompassed by the Westchester Wilderness Walk.