New York: Nature Con ’saves’ 100,000 Adirondack acres

Public rights to the forests of evergreens and hardwoods was
guaranteed when the state bought 20,000 acres from the Nature
Conservancy in early November, following on Christmas Eve with
conservation easements on 84,000 adjacent acres from the Lyme Timber
Co. The deals permanently secured longtime hiking trails up Lyon
Mountain and Owls Head 15 miles away, while opening up almost half the
combined tract and providing some limited access to the rest.

“That
area is sort of a gateway to the park for visitors coming from cities
like Montreal, Plattsburgh and Burlington,” said Connie Prickett,
spokeswoman for the Adirondack Chapter of the Nature Conservancy,
which negotiated the complex deal four years ago. Public access to the
northeastern corner of the 6-million acre Adirondack Park, about 140
miles north of Albany, had been limited. The project conserved habitat
for wide-ranging animals like moose, black bear and fisher, as well as
220 miles of permanent and seasonal streams, some with native brook
trout, and 20 lakes and ponds with 16 miles of undeveloped shoreline,
according to the nonprofit conservancy.

It also permitted Lyme, of
Hanover, N.H., to keep logging its share according to certified
conservation standards. Of the 104,000 total acres, almost half are
now open to the public for recreation like hiking, cross-country
skiing, hunting, fishing and, at designated sites camping. The rest
remain leased to hunting clubs, generally off-limits to others except
for designated logging roads and trails. The state paid $10.8 million
for the easements on 84,000 acres, and almost $10 million to own the
20,000 acres, most of that added to New York’s Forest Preserve. They
include 3,830-foot Lyon Mountain and a mile of shoreline on nearby
Chazy Lake.

From the mountain’s old fire tower, you can see Lake
Champlain and Vermont’s Green Mountains to the east, the Adirondack
High Peaks to the south, and on a good day the city of Montreal to the
north. This summer, an Adirondack Mountain Club crew cut a new
3.5-mile trail to the summit with more switchbacks, taking hikers off
the old direct trail that was eroded to bedrock in spots. “The trail
is primarily used by hikers in the summer, with some mountain biking
as well,” said Wes Lampman, the club’s director of field programs. He
said in winter it’s used frequently by backcountry skiers. The
easement provides access to land that was off-limits to the public for
decades, including Sugarloaf Mountain, the Norton and Plumadore
ranges, and Barnes, Grass, Figure Eight, and Fish Hole ponds,
according to the conservancy.
http://www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/newyork/ny-bc-ny–adirondackland0102jan02,0,5346513.story

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