There is an assumption that you need to get away from the city and into rural areas or wilderness to really get the feeling of being outdoors, and that these are the places to see wildlife.

But there is a section of the city of Plattsburgh that contradicts this assumption, and it is within reach of the 18,000 or so people who call Plattsburgh their home.

Last Tuesday, Ron Nolland, Interpretive Sub-Committee Chair for the Saranac River Trail System, and I walked along what he hopes will become the Saranac River Trail, a multiuse, paved path that skirts wooded sections of the Saranac, a trail that if you were to look right rather than left as you walk east, you would think you were in the Adirondacks.

The current planning has the trail running from just above the footbridge on George Angell Drive east to a paved footpath behind Plattsburgh State dorms and other buildings to the abandoned bridge over the Saranac, more than a mile from its start.

"We hope someday to expand the path to the Terry Gordon Bike Path, and that will open up that whole system to walkers, cyclists, and strollers, and you can go as far as Keeseville if you use the broad Route 9 border south," Nolland says.

Another plan of Nolland and his committee is to someday make the Saranac River Trail a loop, going east to the current planned end point, then moving west back to the footbridge.

During our walk, I told Ron that, though I've spent decades in close proximity to the trail, I had never been to the footbridge and had never spent time even checking out that immediate area. I knew, however, that the salmon fishing could be very good in this stretch of the Saranac River. The idea of micro, semi-wild parcels, small pockets of woodland, close to populated areas has long fascinated me for their capacity to hold a great variety of flora and fauna.

Thirty years ago, as a student of Dr. Phil Walker, Plattsburgh State biology professor, I remember field trips to Rugar Woods, not far from where Ron and I stood, where Walker would spend hours in one small plot of land, maybe only 10 square feet, pointing out all the life forms there.

As we walked, Ron pointed to places where he had photographed deer, a giant snapping turtle and beaver cuttings. He has also found cardinal flowers, fiddleheads and large red oaks, all within 100 feet of the paved pathway.

"We hope to have interpretive stations along the way, telling people what to look for during certain seasons of the year," Ron told me. "The trailhead at the juncture of the Angell Drive will have a marker and trash cans to keep down the garbage."

Nolland also mentioned a little known, hidden gem in all this: "The city actually owns 4 acres of Forever Wild land close to the river and not far from our intended trail."

Right now, grant money has been secured for the trail project, and, Nolland says, "The job should go out to bid and get started this spring. We are also looking for civic groups to adopt sections of the trail."

The city of Plattsburgh in cooperation with Plattsburgh State will administer the trail, and the main contact, according to Nolland, is city engineer Kevin Farrington (561-7730).

When we came to the end of our walk, I asked Ron if he had seen any wild roses growing close to the river. He wasn't sure. I told him it would be appropriate if there were because, symbolically at least, this is an area in the city where people can stop, relax, and take in the smells of wild flowers while getting a glimpse of the natural world in the spring and summer.

Field Notes
Last Sunday's Wildlife Photo Gallery bird was identified as a short-billed dowitcher. I heard about it from the birders who identified it as a yellowlegs.

E-mail Dennis Aprill at daprill2000@yahoo.com and check out our Web site for more photos and past articles.