The 837-acre Huckleberry Mountain Forest tract in Warrensburg, Warren County, which New York State acquired from the Open Space Institute in 2017, will, in all likelihood, become part of the Lake George Wild Forest and be subject to the strictures of an updated Lake George Wild Forest Unit Management Plan.
On August 16, the Adirondack Park Agency (APA) published its most recent proposals for state land classification and reclassification, as prescribed by the State Land Master Plan, which the New York State legislature approved in 1972.
Among the criteria used by the APA when assigning Forest Preserve lands to a particular land use zone – whether wilderness, wild forest or intensive use – is its proximity to similar state-owned lands which the agency classified in the past.
The Huckleberry Mountain Forest is surrounded by 4,000 acres of Lake George Wild Forest lands. The Huckleberry Mountain Forest is one of 19 new holdings awaiting classification, which
will require the approval of the Adirondack Park Agency and the Governor before being adopted by the Department of Environmental Conservation.
Two other recent state acquisitions in Warren County – 17 acres on Thirteenth Lake and 1,276 acres in Johnsburg – also await classification.
Huckleberry Mountain Forest, which overlooks the Hudson River, was one of the last few large undeveloped tracts within the Lake George Wild Forest still in private hands.
According to the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, the tract includes large wetland complexes, a pond and upland hardwoods. The various types of cover support a variety of reptiles, amphibians, birds, and mammals, including several game species, the DEC stated.
If absorbed by the Lake George Wild Forest, the land would be accessible to the public for hiking, hunting and camping.
In 1911 Huckleberry Mountain was proposed as a site for a massive dam.
Photo: View of the Hudson River from the Huckleberry Mountain Forest in Warrensburg.
A version of this article first appeared on the Lake George Mirror, America’s oldest resort paper, covering Lake George and its surrounding environs. You can subscribe to the Mirror HERE.
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