Graphite Range Community Forest offers 5 miles of trails; connects to wildlife corridor
By Mike Lynch
For the first time, Saratoga County has its own federally-designated community forest.
The 202-acre Graphite Range Community Forest opened to the public earlier this month, providing outdoor enthusiasts with more than 5 miles of recreation trails.
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Located off of Route 9 in the towns of Greenfield and Wilton, the land is just a few miles north of downtown Saratoga Springs and 10 miles from the Adirondack Park.
The land is home to historic graphite mines and was most recently owned by the Winter family, which sold it to Saratoga County this fall for about $460,000, according to the nonprofit Open Space Institute (OSI).
OSI’s Land Project Manager Tatum Justice said the land had been appraised at $635,000 but the Winter family sold it as a “bargain sale.”
Saratoga PLAN, a nonprofit land trust which now stewards the property, and OSI played key roles in making the transaction happen, including securing a $391,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture through the community forest program.
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Rob Davies, executive director of Saratoga PLAN, said that “resource protection” was his organization’s primary reason for helping secure this land. He said it’s part of the southeastern Adirondack foothills and part of a key wildlife corridor between the Adirondacks and Green Mountains in Vermont. It’s part of a larger area known as the Palmertown Range.
“The Palmertown Range, the Adirondack foothills where this project falls, has been found by The Nature Conservancy in their climate resiliency study to be one of the highest resilient landscapes in the state in terms of wildlife migration and corridors, which are going to be more and more important as we see the climate change,” Davies said.
He also touted its recreational opportunities, which include mountain biking, hiking, snowshoeing, cross-country skiing and birding.
“It’s part of the Adirondack foothills, but it’s right in the backyards of Saratoga residents,” he said.
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The land is part of a planned recreation corridor between Saratoga Springs and Moreau State Park.
One of the criteria set forth in the federal grant was to create an advisory board that included local residents, who could guide management decisions about recreation, safety and other issues.
Saratoga County resident Molly Kalil, who has a family-run outdoor recreation business for kids, is a member of that committee.
“I think it gave a really well-rounded approach to thinking about the different types of users that Graphite Range would accommodate and how to best serve all those different demographics,” she said.
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OSI has worked on about two-dozen community forest projects in the Northeast and helped guide the process.
“It’s just essential to recognize that these community forests represent what we consider at OSI, the best of conservation,” Justice said.
Photo at top: The Graphite Range Community Forest is home to more than 5 miles of trails. Photo by James Odato
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I used to ride my dirt bike there back in the late 80’s ,drove my truck in the mines when it froze over..they r filled with water..turns solid in the winter, when it gets real cold..there use to be a huge lean too up there ..built with logs at least 20 inches in diameter I wonder if it’s still there it’s only been about 30 years since I’ve been up there
Thats awesome . Thanks for sharing…must have been a fun place.
People ignoring the trail is closed sign, and creating a hazard on Rt 9 parking illegally on the highway. It’s zoned 55 mph in front of this new trail.
So if the the trail is closed it’s for a reason why do people ignore this so it will be closed down completely to protect the area from those who think they are entitled to do whatever pleases them.
Hi John, Thank you for your support in keeping the trails sustainable during wet conditions! We strongly discourage parking on U.S. Route 9 and side roads for safety reasons. We’re actively working with Saratoga County on this issue.
According to the map, the only trail from a parking area is deemed “bike only”. How does someone other than a biker access the property?
The GRCF was inspired by other community forests and locally supported trail projects being developed in the Adirondacks and throughout the Northern Forest region.
We hired Wilderness Property Management to painstakingly survey the property and design a trail network for sustainability, safety and drainage. We also involved a whole village of experts to plan for fencing, parking, signage, mapping, water crossings. A real community effort building on successes (and some hard lessons) from other public-private trail projects.
Huge thanks to Saratoga PLAN, OSI, Byer Planning, WPM, Saratoga County, USFS and hundreds of volunteers and donors who made this dream a reality.
(If parking lot is full or trails closed due [eg rare mid-December monsoon], please respect and come back another time.)
Oops, just spotted the adjacent Mine Road for access!