The Adirondack Land Trust has purchased 60 acres surrounded by the Vanderwhacker Mountain Wild Forest, closing a gap in the New York State Forest Preserve.
An inholding is privately owned land inside the boundary of publicly conserved land such as a state-designated Adirondack “wilderness” or “wild forest” area. Inholdings result from private ownership of lands predating public protection of surrounding lands. The Vanderwhacker inholding included a motorized private right-of-way on the Lost Pond Mountain Trail to reach the property. That right-of-way will now be erased, but the trail remains open to the public for snowmobiling.
The 91,854-acre Vanderwhacker Mountain Wild Forest comprises several tracts in the towns of Minerva, Newcomb, North Hudson and Schroon in Essex County; the towns of Chester and Johnsburg in Warren County; and the Town of Indian Lake in Hamilton County. The newly protected tract is contained within a 60,000-acre parcel that includes the namesake mountain as well as many lakes, ponds, rivers and streams.
The Adirondack Land Trust expects to work with the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation to transfer the land to the Forest Preserve for Forever Wild protection under the state constitution.
Founded in 1984, the Adirondack Land Trust works to protect farms and forests, undeveloped shoreline, scenic vistas, and lands and waters contributing to community quality of life as well as the wildness and rural character of the Adirondacks. The land trust has protected 26,710 acres to date.
For more information, visit the Adirondack Land Trust website, email info@adirondacklandtrust.org, or call (518) 576-2400.
Photo of Adirondack Land Trust staff at the 60-acre inholding in the Vanderwhacker Mountain Wild Forest courtesy Kathy Woughter/Adirondack Land Trust.
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