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Hudson Valley

Ecoregion in NY

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The Hudson Valley ecoregion includes the valley from the Glaciated Reading Prong/Hudson Highlands (58i) to the Eastern Adirondack Foothills (58ac) and Champlain Lowlands (83b) in the north. The underlying geology of the Hudson Valley includes mostly Ordovician shales and siltstones. The shales were more easily eroded than the surrounding gneiss, schist, and sandstone-capped shales of the surrounding highlands. During the Pleistocene Epoch, glacial flood waters shaped Hudson Valley topography, and Glacial Lake Albany filled the valley from Bear Mountain to Glens Falls. Sediments deposited into Glacial Lake Albany cover the valley floor today. The coarser-grained sands deposited in the area surrounding Albany form the dunes and sand plains known as the Pine Bush, where pitch pine and scrub oak predominate. Low elevations and the moderate climate of the Hudson Valley allow Appalachian oak-hickory forest to penetrate northward. Some of the Appalachian species are at the northern extent of their distribution, but as the climate warms they are expected to expand their range into areas now dominated by northern hardwoods.

— EPA

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