News Outreach Publications Trails Viewpoint Volunteer JavaScript is not available in your browser. Shopping is disabled. The great bulk of the plants you see on trails are common, but many are specialized to certain environments, e.g. one rarely sees skunk cabbage outside of wetlands.
Most parks restrict the planting of non-native plants.
Common ones along the trails are Japanese Barberry and Garlic Mustard. Few of the plants available at your local garden store, seed catalog, or nursery are native species. They are mostly plants that have been bred either for flower color, foliage or food. As part of our trail work, we occasionally need to plant either trees or grasses to revegetate areas which have been disturbed by fire, flood or man made causes like trail erosion. Sometimes we plant trees to screen development from view, e.g. Dutchess County AT corridor.