Rare plants and animals live in the Sand Plains, including the red shouldered hawk, spotted turtle, and the blue lupine. However, our favorite butterfly, the Karner Blue, does not live in the Sand Plains. We walked up incredibly high parabolic sand dunes. One side of the dune would gently slope down-ward, while the other side dropped straight down for many feet. The Sand Plains are beautiful, but different from the Pine Bush.
Trees seem to be taller, and there are more white pine.
Oaks grow large, unlike our shorter scrub oak in the Pine Bush. But, the sandy dunes seemed just like home. The sand was very fine, and free of debris. It seems that Rome is interested in preserving the Sand Plains. Rome itself is quite an interesting city.