On August 28, 1990, at about 6:15 PM, an F1 tornado swept through the Quaker Run drainage of Allegany State Park as one of four tornadoes in Western New York that day. It touched down first on Mt. Tuscarora just west of the Quaker tollbooth, crossed Quaker Lake, struck the Cain Hollow Campground, and traveled about 10 miles through the park’s southwest portion, touching the ground about nine times. Its twisting force splintered some trees as though they had exploded, and a 200-acre blowdown on the northwest slope of Mt. Onondaga left 50-70% of its trees leveled. Afterward, widow makers and debris 15 to 20 feet deep created danger for hikers and a fire hazard for 4 to 5 years. In spring 1991, a timber salvage operation began in a stand of trees 25 to 70 years old, made up of 87% Allegany hardwoods and 13% black cherry forest. Loggers removed trees that were down or 60-70% damaged, evaluated those with 50-60% damage individually, and left standing those with less than 50% damage, while foresters and wildlife managers retained some trees for wildlife habitat and seed production. Between spring 1991 and fall 1992, four horse-drawn teams of two horses each removed logs, allowing narrow skid roads and less noise, while safeguards including planked stream crossings, hay bales, and buffer zones protected English Brook. After the salvage project, a hiking trail followed a main logging road into the blowdown, and educational programs and a long-term ecological study tracked forest regeneration. The disturbance began ecological succession on Mt. Onondaga, and the salvage project returned the area to a late old field or early intermediate stage of low trees and shrubs such as raspberry, black cherry, white ash, hazelnut, and basswood, creating excellent habitat for black bear, white-tailed deer, red and gray fox, porcupine, turkey, ruffed grouse, and many songbirds. This stage was expected to last about 10-20 years, after which beeches, maples, and hemlocks would become more important in the overstory and within 100 years dominate the hill. Ten years after completion of the salvage project, young trees again dominated the blowdown area, while species associated with the intermediate stage, including Mourning, Chestnut-sided, and Blue-winged Warblers, had been attracted by shrubs, blackberry thickets, and food plants such as red elderberry, honeysuckle, red raspberry, blackberry, and black raspberry.