Southwick Beach State Park

south of the lakeside community of Jefferson Park.

The park offers an extensive campground with tent and trailer sites, picnic facilities, playing fields and a playground. In summer, the swimming area has lifeguards and the park store is open. In winter, snowmobiles are permitted in the park. The park has a nature trail. There are hiking trails from the park that extend into the Lakeview Wildlife Management Area, which also has several access points for launching boats. The hiking trails and boat routes are described at several websites, [cite web|title=Sand, wind, and water: A recreational guide to eastern Lake Ontario's dunes and wetlands |url=http://www.nysgextension.org/glhabitat/dunefun/Sand%20wind%20water.pdf |last=Earnest |first=Gillian |coauthors=Kuehn, Diane and Thompson, Molly |date=2002 |publisher=New York Sea Grant Extension |archiveurl=http://www.webcitation.org/5aVxPp2TF |archivedate=2008-09-01] [ [http://www.nysgextension.org/glhabitat/dunefun/lakeview.htm "Lakeview Marsh Wildlife Management Area"] , webpage of the [http://www.nysgextension.org/ New York Sea Grant Extension] . Retrieved April 21, 2008.] [Duncan, Paul (2007). [http://web.archive.org/web/20070807004025/http://pduncan.com/lakeview.html "Kayaking Lakeview Wildlife Management Area"] , webpage image from the Wayback Machine.] and in guidebooks by William P. Ehling and by Susan Peterson Gateley.Ehling, William P. (1995). "Fifty Hikes in Central New York: Hikes and Backpacking Trips from the Western Adirondacks to the Finger Lakes" (Countryman Press). ISBN 978-0881503296.] cite book|title=The Edge Walker's Guide to Lake Ontario Beachcombing |last=Gateley |first=Susan Peterson |year=2003 |publisher=Whisky Hill Press |location=Wolcott, New York]

The park and management area lie within a rare, freshwater coastal barrier environment that consists of beaches, sand dunes, embayments and marshes. The Lakeview Wildlife Management Area immediately to the south is also the "Lakeview Marsh and Barrier Beach National Natural Landmark", which was cited in 1973 as, "One of the best and most extensive marshlands that lie in protected bays and behind barrier beaches along eastern Lake Ontario." [cite web|url=http://www.nature.nps.gov/nnl/Registry/USA_Map/States/NewYork/NNL/LM/index.cfm |title=Lakeview Marsh and Barrier Beach |publisher=National Park Service |accessdate=2007-07-31 Entry in registry of National Natural Landmarks.]

Beachgrass & the dunes

-cottonwood plant community" deeper in the dunes. [cite web|last=Bonanno |first=Sandra E. |coauthors=White, David G. |title=Eastern Lake Ontario Sand Dunes: An Overview of their Flora |publisher=New York Sea Grant Extension |date=September, 1993 |url=http://www.nysgextension.org/glhabitat/dune/flora.htm]

Beachgrass growth is disrupted by human and animal traffic. In heavily used regions of the eastern Lake Ontario dunes, foot traffic has eliminated this plant community entirely. Without the beachgrass, the sand dunes are blown away by wind. Starting in the early 1990s, there has been extensive restoration of the beachgrass along eastern Lake Ontario. Wooden "walkovers" have been constructed to manage traffic across the dunes between the beach and interior trails and waterways. The restoration has been accompanied by education and outreach programs intended to reduce traffic across the dunes. The improvement in beachgrass growth has been documented by a "photomonitoring project" from 1995-2005. [cite web|title=Eastern Lake Ontario Photomonitoring Project |publisher=New York Sea Grant Extension |url=http://www.nysgextension.org/photomonitoring/monitoringhome.htm |date=October 2005 |accessdate=2008-09-05]

Until the 20th Century, the beachgrass in this region would have been the type now known as "Champlain beachgrass", which is found only along eastern Lake Ontario and along Lake Champlain. It is very similar to the common American beachgrass native to the Atlantic coasts of North America, but blooms in July instead of September. [cite web|last=Bonanno |first=Sandra E. |title=Beachgrass: American (Cape variety) or Champlain: What's the Difference, and Who Cares? |publisher=New York Sea Grant Extension
url=http://www.nysgextension.org/glhabitat/dune/beachgrassdifferences.pdf |accessdate=2008-09-21] "Cape variety" American beachgrass was introduced into the area, and is now mixed with Champlain.

Boogie, baseball, and beaches: the Southwick history

Southwick Beach State Park was named after the Southwick family, who owned the property for nearly a century (1870 to 1960); the park is referred to as "Southwick's Beach State Park" on some maps. Starting in the 1920s, several promoters built entertainment facilities on the property. The most notable was Albert Ellis, who leased the beach from the Southwick family for about 15 years, and developed it as the "Coney Island" of Northern New York.cite news|title=Syracusans Buy Beach|work=Syracuse Post Standard |date=October 28, 1960 |page=8] In time, the beach boasted a roller coaster, bathhouses, a dance pavilion, merry go-round, and midway. Ellis also organized the Jefferson County Amateur Baseball League. A baseball diamond was built at Southwick Beach, and for several years there was a Southwick Beach team. [cite news|title=Mohawks Defeat Southwick Nine |work=Syracuse Herald |date=August 9, 1926 |page=9] These businesses failed during the Great Depression.cite web|title=History of Southwick Beach State Park |publisher=New York State Office of Parks, Recreation, and Historic Preservation |archiveurl=http://www.webcitation.org/5Vy4e5Wi7 |archivedate=2008-02-29 |url=http://www.pulaskiny.com/history1.htm The "History" is printed in the booklet distributed to park visitors. No author, publication date, or primary sources are provided.]

In 1960, the Leesi Management Corporation of Syracuse purchased the land from the Southwick family and operated the beach for five years. The New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation purchased the property in 1965 for $150,000; Southwick Beach State Park opened in May, 1966. [cite news|title=Park Added |work=Syracuse Herald American |page=44 |date=October 24, 1965]

Lagoons and sand: geology of eastern Lake Ontario

, Canada, which is along the northeastern shore of the lake. These are the main areas with sandy beaches on Lake Ontario.

Bradford B. van Diver has described the eastern Lake Ontario dunes as "similar in many details to the south shore of Long Island, with drowned river mouths forming lagoons behind a smooth curving line of barrier bars." [cite book|last=van Diver |first=Bradford B. |title=Roadside Geology of New York |year=1985 |page=286 |publisher=Mountain Press Publishing Company |ISBN=08784218-7 |location=Missoula] The lagoons to which van Diver refers are the notable ponds of this region, including (from north to south) Black, Lakeview, North Sandy, and South Sandy. Both the rivers themselves, and their mouths, are no longer evident. Shortly after the cessation of the last ice age about 10,000 years ago, the water level of Lake Ontario was much lower than it is today; one needs to envision large rivers flowing into a lake some tens of meters lower than today's level. The river mouths were then "drowned" by the rise of the water level of Lake Ontario above this low point. [cite journal|title=Review: Origin and Evolution of the Great Lakes |last=Larson |first=Grahame |coauthors=Schaetzl, Randall |work=J. Great Lakes Res. |volume=27 |issue=4 |year=2001 |pages=518-546 |url=http://www.geo.msu.edu/schaetzl/PDFs/Larson-Great_lakes.pdf The work of Anderson and Lewis (1985) is the basis for these authors' views on the history of the postglacial water levels.] [cite web|title=Great Lakes Coastal Wetlands: Abiotic and Floristic Characterization |url=http://www.epa.gov/ecopage/wetlands/glc/glctext.html |last=Minc |first=Leah D. |coauthors=Albert, Dennis A. |date=2006-03-09 |publisher=U. S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)] Similarly, sand itself is no longer being formed in abundance; the sand present on today's beaches was probably formed long ago, and transported down from higher elevations during the post-glacial period of low water levels in the lake. [cite paper |last=Woodrow |first=Donald L. |coauthors=McClennan, Charles E.; Ahrnsbrak, William F. |title=Eastern Lake Ontario Sand Transport Study (ELOSTS): Final Report on Sediment Transport Patterns and Management Implications for Eastern Lake Ontario |url=http://www.epa.gov/ecopage/ELOSTS.pdf |publisher=U.S. Environmental Protection Agency |date=2002-10-28 These authors credit Sutton, Lewis, and Woodrow (1972) for the original hypothesis of transport of the sand from upland sites along the postglacial shoreline of Lake Iroquois to its present location.]

References

External links (including park contact information)

*cite web |url=http://nysparks.state.ny.us/parks/info.asp?parkID=154 |title=New York State Parks: Southwick Beach State Park |publisher=New York State Office of Parks, Recreation, and Historical Preservation Official webpage for Southwich Beach State Park that includes a link for camping reservations as well as contact information for the park.
*New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (2005). [http://www.webcitation.org/5XH5Hc4kF "Map of Southwick Beach State Park and Lakeview Wildlife Management Area"] , archived at WebCite from [http://www.dec.ny.gov/docs/regions_pdf/lakeview.pdf this original URL] 2008-04-22.
* [http://www.dec.ny.gov/animals/27256.html Eastern Lake Ontario Marshes Bird Conservation Area] .