Go Slowly or Risk Missing Forest

FINGER LAKES NATIONAL FOREST, N.Y. — All the rangers in this Lilliputian national forest got together for a meeting on a recent fall day.

All three of them.

They laughed about the stranger from California who drove through the forest and almost missed it.

"People from the West cannot imagine a national forest this small," said ranger Nancy Coy, 42.

The tiny Finger Lakes National Forest, with 13,232 acres of rolling hills, meadows and woods, is only 3 miles wide and 12 miles long.

That's a speck on the map compared to Angeles National Forest in Los Angeles County, which is 50 times bigger. In California, one-fifth of all the state's land is national forest. California has 17 national forests with 1,500 times more land in national forests than the state of New York.

The newest of America's 156 national forests, Finger Lakes is perched on a ridge between Seneca and Cayuga Lakes in west central New York. Created by Congress in 1985, it is the only national forest in New York.

"Despite our small size, we offer a full program of activities, the same range as the bigger national forests," said ranger Mark Welch, 39.

With 28 miles of trails, activities include hiking and horseback riding in the summer, and cross-country skiing, snowmobiling and snowshoeing in the winter. There are three regular campgrounds with a special back-country campground for horseback riders and campfire programs for everybody.

There is hunting for rabbit, grouse, pheasant and whitetail deer, and fishing in the small wildlife ponds.

Visitors to the forest can pick blueberries, raspberries and apples.

In the spring, bird-watchers come from all over the East to see the wide variety of birds. In fall, the forest is emblazoned in a dazzling rainbow of colors. In winter, it lies under a peaceful blanket of snow.

The forest is in the heart of New York's Finger Lake country. The 11 long, narrow, glacial, parallel lakes extending north to south are: Seneca, Cayuga, Skaneateles, Owasco, Keuka, Canandaigua, Conesus, Hemlock, Canadice, Honeoye and Otisco.

According to Indian legend, the lakes were formed when God placed his handprint on some of the most beautiful country in the world.

Finger Lakes National Forest is a patchwork quilt of some 135 former farms. During the Great Depression, when farmers here fell on hard times, the federal government bought the marginal farmland so its owners could relocate in more productive areas.