Nature
Finger Lakes National Forest is New York’s only national forest, a small but distinctive landscape between Seneca and Cayuga lakes with trails through gorges, ravines, pastures, and second-growth woods. Long part of Haudenosaunee territory, it was used largely for hunting and nut gathering before post-Revolution land grants divided it into military lots for veterans. Farming then cleared much of the original forest, but depleted soils and changing markets led to decline. Federal purchase of worn-out farms during the late 1930s and early 1940s created the Hector Land Use Area, later managed by the U.S. Forest Service and permanently preserved for multiple uses, including recreation, grazing, wildlife habitat, and historic site protection.
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Hector, New York · United States
