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Clark Reservation State Park is a state park in Onondaga County, New York. The park is in the Town of DeWitt, south of Syracuse. It was the site of a large waterfall at the end of the last Ice Age; the plunge basin at the base of the old falls is now a small lake. James Macfarlane described the area in 1879, "On approaching the lake from the turnpike on the south side, the tourist is startled at finding himself, without any notice, on the brink of a yawning gulf, precisely like that of the Niagara River below the Falls, and nearly as deep."〔 Clark Reservation is also noted for its many ferns; it harbors the largest population in the U.S. of American hart's tongue, which is so rare that it was declared endangered in the U.S. in 1989.〔 The park is in size, and typically logs 50,000 visitors per year. It encompasses the cliff, plunge basin and gorge of the ancient waterfall, and a number of secondary ravines and basins. The lake that occupies the plunge basin of the former waterfall (Glacier or, formerly, Green lake) is in size and deep; it is a rare meromictic lake in which the deep waters don't mix annually with the surface waters.〔 The chemocline, below which the lake's waters are unmixed, is about 12.5 m below the surface. Only the bottom 4 m of depth are in the "monimolimnion", and the unmixed water amounts to only about 5% of the lake's volume. The depth of the chemocline can be compared to that for the lakes at nearby Green Lakes State Park, where the chemocline is 18 m below the surface.〕 The surrounding limestone cliffs are high. Hiking trails skirt a half-ring of cliffs surrounding the lake, as well as traversing the rugged limestone over which the old river flowed. A Nature Center is operated by the Council of Park Friends, which is a nonprofit organization. The Center has exhibits about the park's geology and natural history, and is open from Memorial Day to Labor Day. In addition to staffing the Center, naturalists retained by the Council lead guided hikes in the park.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Council of Park Friends )〕 In addition, the park offers fishing, a nature trail, picnic tables and pavilions, a playground, and recreation programs. ==History== Before the arrival of the Europeans, the land around the park belonged probably to Onondaga people. In the late 18th century, these areas were divided into Military tracts for soldiers of the Revolutionary War. Joshua Clark noted the lake and its precipitous cliffs in his 1840 book about Onondaga County. In 1879, James Macfarlane purchased the area around the fossil waterfall and the lake, and opened a small resort hotel in the park.〔 Macfarlane, a well established geologist, had included an appreciation of this area, and an advertisement for the summer resort, as an appendix to this geological guidebook that he had written and published in 1879.〕 Macfarlane (1819–1885) was a noted attorney, coal geologist, geological guidebook writer, and enthusiast of the area near Green (latterly Glacier) Lake. The resort's offerings included picnicking, boating, fishing, croquet and archery, but it closed after a few years. The central part of the current park, amounting to and including Glacier Lake and the fossil waterfall, was bought by Mary Clark Thompson in 1915. Thompson had learned that the fossil waterfall was being considered for a limestone quarry; just to the east were the enormous limestone quarries of the Solvay Process Company. Thompson gave this tract to the New York State Museum, with the stipulation that the land be preserved as a memorial to her father Myron H. Clark, who had been governor of New York State from 1855-56.〔 In 1915, John M. Clarke was the New York State geologist and director of the State Museum; he had worked for some years to secure the purchase and gift to the State of the area around Glacier Lake, and he was apparently instrumental in arranging for Thompson's purchase and gift.〕 Clark Reservation became a state park in 1926. The New York State executive budget plan for 2010-2011 called for Clark Reservation State Park to be closed as a budget-cutting measure. The park closings were reversed for the 2010 season by legislation passed on May 28, 2010. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Clark Reservation State Park」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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