Conservation easements for Follensby, Raquette River tracts completed, pushing state closer to conservation goals
By Gwendolyn Craig
The state Department of Environmental Conservation purchased nearly 600 acres in the town of Jay for $575,000 to add to the forest preserve, it announced on Wednesday.
The acquisition pushes the state closer to its conservation goals of protecting 30% of its lands and waters by 2030 and potentially expanding Wilmington Wild Forest trail networks.
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Called the “Four Peaks Tract,” the name references four mountains surrounding the parcel including Rattlesnake Knob, which is on the southwestern edge of the property, and privately owned Ebenezer, Wainwright and Bassett mountains on the outskirts. The parcel adjoins the Beaver Brook Tract in the Wilmington Wild Forest.
The DEC purchased the 595 acres on June 18 from the Adirondack Land Trust using money from the Environmental Protection Fund.
Since 2018, the land trust had been holding the property, one of several in the New York State Open Space Plan as places the state should acquire.
Adirondack Land Trust Executive Director Mike Carr called the tract “ecologically and dimensionally intriguing — from low meadows to high knobs. From a community benefits perspective, it’s all here: new opportunities for outdoor recreation that in turn contribute to health and wellness and spur economic activity.”
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Barbara Rice, executive director of the Adirondack Park Agency, said the tract connects the forest preserve with the heart of Jay. She credited the late Wilmington Supervisor Randy Preston for assisting with the vision.
“This beautiful addition will link Wilmington to Jay and will be a short distance to the East Branch Trails in the Town of Keene,” Rice said in a news release. “These front-country multiple-use community trails systems provide tremendous quality of life opportunities to residents and help bolster local businesses.”
Before any recreational development can occur, the land will need to be classified by the APA, which oversees long-range planning and public and private development in the 6-million-acre park.
Once the land receives a zoning classification, it must then go through the state’s unit management planning process before the DEC can undergo any projects. A unit management plan describes a parcel and specific natural resource and recreation plans the state hopes to accomplish there.
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“DEC is excited for the recreation potential of this parcel and the opportunity to connect communities within the Adirondack Park,” said Joe Zalewski, the DEC’s Region 5 director, in a news release. “Acquiring lands identified in the New York State Open Space Plan can be both an environmental protection and economic win for our communities and supports New York State’s ‘30×30’ initiative.”
The DEC and state Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation released a draft report this week showing the state has conserved about 22% of its lands and waters. It needs to conserve about 3 million more acres to meet its 2030 goal.
The state would need to make about 5,000 more of such sized purchases in the next 4 ½ years or use other methods to protect and conserve lands to meet the 30% benchmark.
Follensby Pond, Raquette River
The DEC also announced on Wednesday the completion of two conservation easements with The Nature Conservancy — the Follensby Pond Research Preserve Conservation Easement and the Raquette River Recreational Access Conservation Easement. The easements total more than 14,600 acres protected.
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Follensby Pond, the site of The Philosophers’ Camp in 1858 where Ralph Waldo Emerson and others communed with nature, will remain closed to the public. However, the state and The Nature Conservancy appear to still be working out some limited public access. Also, a novel research consortium will convene to study the impacts of climate change on fisheries at the pond.
The Explorer requested the easements and more information from the DEC and TNC but did not immediately hear back on Wednesday. The easements were later provided and can be viewed below.
In a news release, the DEC said TNC “will provide opportunities for the public to learn about and visit Follensby Pond consistent with the use of the property as a freshwater research preserve. Accordingly, the Pond easement allows for managed access to this area for educational opportunities. The Nature Conservancy will consult with DEC, the community, and other public stakeholders to determine how best the public can experience and learn about this landscape, including collaborating with the renowned Wild Center.”
The Raquette River easement near the High Peaks Wilderness Complex will provide public access for camping, picnicking, hiking, hunting, fishing and other activities, the DEC said. An interim recreation management plan and more information on the easement are available here: https://dec.ny.gov/places/raquette-river-conservation-easement-tract.
The DEC announced in February that it had reached an agreement over the easements and was slated to purchase them for $9.3 million.
Top photo: View from Rattlesnake Knob in the Four Peaks Tract in Jay looking toward the Sentinel Range. Photo courtesy of Adirondack Land Trust/Kathy Woughter
Editor’s note: The easements were uploaded on July 8.
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Gwen, thanks for all of your reporting; glad to know that the Four Peaks tract has been acquired by the State and will (eventually) become a recreational resource in this extraordinary part of the Adirondacks. I’m sure some readers will have visited Four Peaks as guests of its late owner; this 2018 Adirondack Life article captures the experience: https://www.adirondacklife.com/2018/11/08/four-peaks/
For clarification, the article should reference “the late Wilmington town supervisor Randy Preston.”