A forest of Knowledge

A small park provides educational opportunities for all

Story by Jenna Burleigh

Photos by Nicholas Chowske

The trees stand tall and strong — their roots are deep and their branches sturdy. With the soft breeze of Lake Champlain constantly rustling their leaves, they may not look much like a classroom. But these trees and the park in which they grow have educated many for the past 100 years.

Point au Roche State Park in Plattsburgh, N.Y. officially became a state park in 1985. It had previously endured a flurry of sales and purchases and private ownership over the course of the past century. According to Chris Case, the area park manager, Point au Roche consists of 825 acres, 70 percent of which will never be developed.

The park was used for many things before it ever became a state park dedicated to recreation.

“A lot of this land was farming land, a long time ago, put together by the New York State Environmental Bond Act,” Case says, adding that the diverse landscape draws many visitors each year. “It’s got just about any kind of ecosystem that anybody would like to see.”

The park is mostly wooded, with extensive lakefront property. It is home to one of two stands of old-growth forests in Clinton County, a rarity, according to Dr. Kenneth Adams, a distinguished teaching professor of earth and environmental science at Plattsburgh State.

Adams says that the park provides a classroom of sorts, particularly one stand of forest that is considered to be of old-growth status. “Point au Roche does offer some very valuable natural resources for educational endeavors,” he says. “It’s a great area for field trips.” Adams takes groups of students to the park at least twice each year.

"Through my findings, we concluded enough of the characteristics of the structure of the stand on the peninsula that would classify it to be old-growth."

Plattsburgh State alumnus Matthew Soranno, a former student of Adams’, conducted a study of his own at Long Point, one stand of forest at the park. The study is called “Assessment of a forest stand for old-growth status,” and is published on Plattsburgh State’s website.

“The purpose was to conclude on a previous study that that stand was classified as old-growth,” Soranno says. “Through my findings, we concluded enough of the characteristics of the structure of the stand on the peninsula that would classify it to be old-growth.”

There is no specific definition of “old-growth,” but there are several key characteristics each forest must possess before being titled as such. Areas thought to be old-growth are researched and tested to see if they meet qualifications. The criteria include composition of the understory and overstory, maximum tree ages, stand structure, and standing dead trees and fallen trees. If trees fall into appropriate ranges in these areas, the stand is considered to be old-growth.

“There’s a whole different structure to (old-growth forests),” Soranno says. “The composition of old-growth is unique because the ecology of the species there requires dominance. They won’t grow under low light condition and such.”

These forests are important, Soranno says, because stands of forests at different ages offer unique habitats, which are suitable for a variety of wildlife. 

But forest-dwelling creatures aren’t the only ones who benefit from the park’s unparalleled diversity, which has become a classroom of sorts. The special qualities of the stand blend well with the history of this land, which has served as an educational center for the past century.

"Concerned citizens feared the U.S. would enter the war (World War I) unprepared … So on their own at several locations throughout the country, they started these training facilities."

Once home to the military training camp “Junior Plattsburg,” — at the time there was no “h” in the town’s name — Point au Roche supported the tactical and technical studies of young men who came from across the nation.

Junior Plattsburg was an extension of the “Plattsburghers,” which was the same sort of military training program, intended for college and business men.

“Concerned citizens feared the U.S. would enter the war (World War I) unprepared … So on their own at several locations throughout the country, they started these training facilities,” says Mary Simmers, president of Friends of Point au Roche, a volunteer group that serves as caretakers of the park.

“Thousands would come during the summer for training,” she adds. “Because of the great interest, younger men wanted to participate, so Junior Plattsburg was started.”

Founded in 1917, the Junior Plattsburg’s aim was to prepare America’s boys for battle, providing training in every area of the military — air service, artillery, infantry, cavalry, and Navy. Similar to today’s ROTC program, the camp was designed to educate young men in aeronautical, technical, naval and academic military training. In 1918, more than 800 cadets attended the camp, but the number was later capped at 600.

The main barracks for Junior Plattsburg were located on Long Point, which later served as the camps for Red Wing and Red Cloud, summer recreational camps for children.

Junior Plattsburg cadets would pay to live at Point au Roche for the summer, and were charged depending on which courses they signed up to take. For eight weeks of camping experience, a camper was billed $300, which included one academic course and one technical course.

Academic courses offered at Junior Plattsburg included algebra, plane and solid geometry, history, physics, English, and other languages. For technical courses, ground control aviation, motor mechanics, wireless telegraph and telephone, landscape architecture, and general engineering were offered.

A camper’s daily schedule began with Reveille and taps, some kind of physical activity, which was usually a long morning swim, and the afternoon was devoted to studies. Campers were 14 to 21 years of age, and those who had physical limitations were not accepted at the camp, according to a book about the Junior Plattsburg movement.

The terrain now encompassed by Point au Roche State Park has educated many in the past 100 years. The history resides within the strong branches of its old-growth forests and, like those trees, will continue to grow for years to come.

Have you ever been to Point au Roche?

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