Tag Archives: Great Lakes

Park History

Geology Exposed at Chimney Bluffs State Park

3 Comments
20150517_120933
Chimney Bluffs looking east from the shoreline. Photo by Brett Smith.

Some people are drawn to water and some are drawn to dramatic landscapes, Chimney Bluffs State Park on the shore of Lake Ontario has both. Located in Wolcott, New York the park’s namesake bluffs stretch for ½ a mile revealing its ever-changing ancient past.

20150517_123506
Chimney Bluffs looking east. Photo by Brett Smith.

During the last ice age from 2 million years ago until about 10,000 years ago there were a series of glacial advances and retreats that formed the Great Lakes that changed the landscape of the north-central part of the United States in many ways.  One of the clues that glaciers leave behind are called drumlins. We see drumlins as elliptical hills. These hills are blunt on the upglacier end and taper into and elongated tail on the downglacier end, similar in shape to a teardrop. Drumlins form parallel the direction the movement of the ice.  These hills usually form in clusters; the exposed upglacier end of the drumlin at Chimney Bluffs State Park is one of roughly 10,000 drumlins located south and east of Lake Ontario.

ChimneyBluffsParkMap
Click on map to enlarge.

The term drumlin refers to the hill’s shape, not its composition. Some drumlins are solid rock and some are composed of glacial till. Till is a mixture of different sized rock fragments and sediment deposited as glacial ice melts. The drumlin at Chimney Bluffs State Park formed when one glacier melted and deposited the till, later a south moving glacier reshaped the material into its present shape.

The north end of the drumlins has been eroded by thousands of year of wave action, wind, rain and snow. As the north end erodes the exposed material is carved into magnificent and ever changing formations. The bluffs are constantly changing source of beauty and danger.

Post by Josh Teeter, OPRHP.

Fun & Games

Ice Volcanoes

Leave a comment
Ice volcanoes erupt at Evangola State Park, by Dave McQuay
Ice volcanoes erupt at Evangola State Park, by Dave McQuay
Trekking towards Lake Erie at Evangola State Park, by Dave McQuay
Trekking towards Lake Erie at Evangola State Park, by Dave McQuay

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The turn to chillier temperatures reminds us all that there’s so much to look forward to in the wintertime at New York State Parks. One of our favorite winter phenomena are the ice volcanoes that form along the eastern end of Lake Erie shoreline. During cold weather, waves splash against the shore where the spray and slush form cone-shaped ice sculptures. In the middle of the cone is an open vent. As long as Lake Erie has open water, the waves roll under the ice volcanoes and are channeled through the vents. Water explodes into the sky as much as 30 feet high, increasing the height of the ice cone. When Lake Erie freezes over the ice volcano vents freeze shut and they become “inactive ice volcanoes.” At Evangola State Park, naturalists lead school and public groups to see the amazing ice volcanoes and ice sculptures that are a rare phenomenon found only on a few of the Great Lakes.

featured image is of park patrons in an ice cave, another unusual ice formation along the Lake Erie shoreline at Evangola State Park, photos and post by Dave McQuay.

NYSParks in the News

NYS Parks Wins Great Lakes Grant

Leave a comment

GLRI

On February 25th, 2014, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced the winners of 11 Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GLRI) grants totaling more than $5 million for projects to combat invasive species in the Great Lakes basin.

The GLRI is a task force of 11 federal agencies targeting pollution, habitat restoration, invasive species, and establishing partnerships between agencies. Since 2010, the EPA has awarded more than 70 projects totaling over $40 million to combat terrestrial and aquatic invasives and to prevent the introduction of new invasive species.

The New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation is honored to receive a $410,000 grant to establish a new boat stewardship and invasive species prevention program which will also create 17 new jobs while educating tens of thousands of boaters.

The boat steward program will be an education based initiative to prevent the spread of aquatic invasives in the Great Lakes watershed. Over the 18 month grant period, NYS Parks will send boat stewards to 15 previously unmonitored boat launches and marinas along the Lake Erie shoreline, the Niagara River, Lake Ontario, and the St. Lawrence River. The boat stewards will perform boat inspections while educating the public on the impacts of aquatic invasives and the methods for their management and control. Stewards will also participate in team projects as a CORPS to implement rapid response measures to reduce already established populations of aquatic invasives.

At NYS Parks, we have the unique opportunity to manage and protect a large geographic area of the Great Lakes watershed and fill in the gaps not currently covered by other states or groups. This project will complement and support boat stewardship programs already established in New York State, including Paul Smith’s College, the Finger Lakes Institute, and New York Sea Grant. By building upon these successful programs, we will be spreading a standardized message all across the state that patrons should “Clean, Drain, Dry” their boats.

Check out the other award winners at the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative.

For more information on boating, visit the NYS Parks Marine Services site.