The Rensselaer Plateau covers about 105,000 acres in the towns of Berlin , Brunswick , Grafton, Hoosick, Nassau , Petersburgh, Pittstown, Poestenkill, Sand Lake and Stephentown.  An escarpment steeply rising from the surrounding lower elevations marks the Plateau’s boundary.  The Plateau’s relatively high elevations (1,000 – 1,800 feet) and cool climate, acidic soils, and its poor drainage contribute to plants, forests, and wetlands more similar to the Adirondacks than to the surrounding local area.

The boreal forest contains the headwaters of seven watersheds.  Four drain into the Hudson River below the Troy Dam.  Three of the northeast sections drain into the Hoosick River then into the Hudson River in Stillwater .  Other waters feed the Tomhannock Reservoir (the public water supply for much of the county).

The Plateau is estimated to be the fifth largest forested region in New York State . Its forests still exist in relatively large continuous blocks with few dividing roads.  The Plateau’s forests are valuable in cleaning air; provide clean water and ground water recharge.  They also provide healthy habitat for many native plants and wildlife.  The large unbroken forest is essential to the populations of fisher, bobcat, bear, moose, porcupine, hermit thrush, and black-throated blue warbler.  Many birds are experiencing declining population numbers in the Northeast due in part to loss of large blocks of forest.  Several plants found on the Plateau are found nowhere else in Rensselaer County .

The ecological distinctiveness of the Rensselaer Plateau has led it to be included in the New York State’s Open Space Plan, and recognized as an important Bird Area by the Audubon Society of New York, and the focus of conservation efforts of the Rensselaer Land Trust and The Nature Conservancy.