This excerpt from The New York State Scenic Byway Program describes the uniqueness of the Hudson River ice meadows: "In the Winter of 2004’s cold weather, the ice came near to being 15 feet thick. In warmer seasons, one can find eight rare plant species: whip nutrush, sand cherry, brown bog sedge, Clinton’s club rush, New England violet, spurred gentian, sticky false asphodel, and dwarf raspberry. These plants reside on about 115 acres that make up the Riverside Ice Meadows, one of the few natural grasslands in the state. The open fields, because they are such a narrow strip, actually run for 16 miles along the upper Hudson shoreline. They remain open because, according to the Nature Conservancy, the scouring of the shoreline each spring by melting ice keeps the meadows pretty much free of woody plants which would easily take over if it were not for the action of the ice and water."