Finger Lakes history · regional story
Developing historyTaking stock of the forest around two lakes
Before Rochester adopted a new forest plan in 1993, an inventory documented the woods around Hemlock and Canadice.
Research status
This history is still developing.
Parts of this account remain unresolved. Here is what the sources support, what is uncertain, and what we are looking for next.
About this review. Written and source-checked with AI assistance under an owner-authorized editorial process. This is not a personal review by Riley or an independent historian. Sources and unresolved questions are listed below; corrections are welcome.
- What the records establish
- The agency’s retrospective account gives a sequence of advice, inventory and an adopted plan. The 1993 date refers to adoption, not the start of all forestry work around the lakes.
- What remains uncertain
- The original inventory and adopted plan have not been retrieved. We cannot yet compare their stand measurements or identify which recommendations changed practice. This account does not describe present forest conditions.
- What we are researching next
- Locate the 1991–1992 inventory, the Bruce E. Robinson plan, committee records and Rochester’s 1993 adoption record. Preserve stand identifiers and measurement dates so a later timeline can distinguish recommendations from completed work.
The woods around Hemlock and Canadice had to be counted as well as managed. DEC’s 2015 history describes a forest-resource inventory compiled in 1991–1992, followed by a management plan prepared by Bruce E. Robinson, Inc. Rochester adopted it in 1993. Hemlock-Canadice Unit Management Plan, Final.
The work had a longer lead-in. According to the same account, a committee of scientists, watershed residents, town and state representatives and others formed in the mid 1980s to advise city staff. Revising the forestry plan was one of its principal recommendations. Hemlock-Canadice Unit Management Plan, Final.
The inventory supplied a basis for that revision. It is a distinct stage in the lakes’ forest history: documenting the trees and stands already there before deciding how to manage them. Hemlock-Canadice Unit Management Plan, Final.
Sources
- Hemlock-Canadice Unit Management Plan, Final — New York State Department of Environmental Conservation; January 2015. Locator: Printed p.14 / PDF p.16, paragraphs beginning In the mid-1980’s and Since 1993: committee,1991–1992 inventory, Bruce E. Robinson plan and 1993 adoption. Accessed October 22, 2026.