A environmental group is partnering with a college to try to protect 2,800 acres of forest in the Adirondacks.
The Adirondack Land Trust and Paul Smith’s College are working together to protect 2,800 acres surrounding the college’s Visitor Interpretive Center (VIC).
The Adirondack Land Trust is attempting to raise the $4.1 million needed to finalize the purchase of a conservation easement by December 31, 2025. By limiting development and other land uses, the conservation easement will ensure that the VIC forestlands remain forests forever.
The northern Adirondack property ranges in elevation from 1,596 feet above sea level at the outlet of an unnamed pond along Keese Mills Road to 2,488 feet at the summit of Jenkins Mountain.
It also borders more than 100,000 acres of protected lands and provides habitat for black-backed woodpecker, boreal chickadee, bobcat, moose, and other wildlife.
Visited by an estimated 35,000 visitors per year, the VIC forestlands offer outstanding outdoor recreation.
The natural features protected by the easement include:
- Mixed northern hardwood forests
- 15 water bodies, including Long and Black ponds, which provide habitat for a self-sustaining population of heritage-strain brook trout
- 9 miles of natural shoreline, including a half-mile on Osgood Pond
- Lowland boreal habitat where white-fringed orchids grow and deep peatlands store carbon
Paul Smith’s College continues to own the land. Under the conservation easement, the Adirondack Land Trust has a legal responsibility to uphold the ecological objectives of the easement to ensure that natural systems are protected.
Going forward, the VIC forestlands can continue to provide educational and community benefits, including:
- Serving as a living forestry and ecological classroom for students
- Hosting 25 miles of trail available to the public for hiking, birdwatching, snowshoeing and Nordic skiing, including the western anchor of the 30-mile Paul Smiths-to-Keene Jackrabbit Ski Trail
- Operating a visitor center, which also provides event space for activities such as the Great Adirondack Birding Celebration
- Providing native brook trout broodstock for New York State’s stocking program
- Managing a Forest Inventory and Analysis plot that contributes to a national data set on forest health
