Despite moratorium proposal, Conservancy stays the path
By MIKE LYNCH, Enterprise Outdoors WriterDespite difficult economic times, the Adirondack Chapter of The Nature Conservancy is still hopeful it can sell its former Finch, Pruyn timberlands to the state, though not as quickly as it originally planned.
"(We) really are confident that the state of New York won't completely abandon it's century-old acquisition program in the end," Executive Director Mike Carr told the Enterprise in an editorial board meeting last Thursday. "It may slow it down in these hard times, but it won't completely abandon it."
The Nature Conservancy currently owns 67,000 acres of land it intends to sell to the state for Forest Preserve. But before that - this fiscal year, in fact - it hopes to finalize a deal that would secure a working forest conservation easement on 92,000 acres it sold last March to the Danish pension fund ATP.
The Nature Conservancy bought the entire 161,000 acres for $110 million in June 2007, and in February 2008, the DEC and Nature Conservancy announced they had a conceptual plan for 134,000 of the acres: some for the Forest Preserve, some private with conservation easements. Now, they appear to be approaching the final stages of the first part of that plan, the only part that may be feasible in the near future because of a proposed moratorium on state land purchases.
"The next transaction is to sell to the state of New York the conservation easement that will open those public benefits, not just snowmobiling but hiking, fishing, all sorts of public values," Carr said. "And we're working very hard to bring that in this fiscal year."
The Nature Conservancy also bought the 14,600-acre Follensby Pond property near Tupper Lake in September 2008, though any deal with that property is on the back burner until the former Finch, Pruyn lands are sold, according to Carr.
The state has identified the former Finch, Pruyn land as one of three easements it would continue to pursue. The other lands that were identified earlier by Gov. David Paterson's office are in the Catskills and Finger Lakes regions.
"We will continue to move along through the process," said DEC spokesman Yancey Roy. "I don't believe there's anything more to say in terms of where everything stands, other than we'd continue to work with them."
If the purchase of conservation easements does go through, it could mean "more than 70 miles of snowmobile trails, including two new community connector trails," according to a letter sent by DEC Director of Lands and Forests Robert K. Davies on Feb. 12 to the towns of Indian Lake and Newcomb.
One of the main trails would connect Indian Lake and Newcomb, and proponents of the plan say it would provide a big economic benefit for the affected municipalities. It could be in place by December 2010, according to Davies' letter.
"That would have a huge economic impact on Newcomb, to connect those two towns," Newcomb Supervisor George Canon said. "It would connect the town of Newcomb with the total Adirondack snowmobile system."
The town of Newcomb is also in the process of working on a deal to buy roughly 1,000 acres from the Nature Conservancy. The two entities are waiting for the land to be appraised before moving forward, Canon said. The land could be used for senior housing and also snowmobile trails, among other things.
But The Nature Conservancy is likely to have a much tougher time selling land to the state for Forest Preserve. It is still holding these 67,000 acres in the central Adirondacks that contain the Essex Chain of Lakes, Boreas Ponds, OK Slip Falls and the Hudson River gorge.
"I would rather the state hold off on that," said Canon, whose hunting club leases land near the Essex Chain of Lakes and would be displaced with a sale of that property. "I'm a supporter of the moratorium. I think the state, at this time, should spend their money more wisely. It's time for the state to stop, take a look at what they want to buy, determine why they want to buy it and come up with a game plan that makes sense."
Carr is confident that eventually the state will purchase what he and others have called recreationally and biologically valuable lands, though he says any sale may take some time and may be in phases. Right now, his group has no alternative plan other than to sell to the state, he said.
"These are the iconic pieces that we are holding," Carr said. "The Essex Chain of Lakes - what some have talked about as a potential new St. Regis Canoe Area. The Hudson River, you know, 12 miles on the Hudson River. A brand-new stretch of class II water that all of us could canoe in open boats, not rafts but canoes. Boreas Ponds near the High Peaks Wilderness. These are kind of the Holy Grail."
The Nature Conservancy is prepared to hold onto the land, while it waits on the state, but that isn't expected to be easy, Carr said. The Conservancy incurred a lot of debt from the $110 million Finch, Pruyn purchase.
In order to offset the costs, The Nature Conservancy launched a $35 million fundraising campaign, leases land to hunting and fishing clubs, and is harvesting timber. So it can hold off for a while - it's just a matter of how long.
"We can, but not indefinitely," Carr said. "The carrying cost is significant. We're paying property taxes on all these lands to all these towns."
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Contact Mike Lynch at 891-2600 ext. 28 or mlynch@adirondackdailyenterprise.com.
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vendor
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03-10-10 7:13 AM
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re:"These are the iconic pieces that we are holding," Carr said. Oh please we have heard this about every state land purchase for 30 years. What these purchase do is kill jobs and communities period.
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MommiePatriot
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03-09-10 7:14 PM
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Happy to see the Nature Conservancy paying property taxes. That certainly helps the tax base. The majority of taxpayers in NYS say No more state land should be purchased. Conservancy maybe contributing to the tax base for a very long time by the looks of our fiscal deficeit. By June NYS will be $8 Billion in debt, not thinking I want to bail out the Nature Conservancy with my tax dollars.
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Peterh
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03-09-10 5:18 PM
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It would be nice if a shared use / multiple use plan could be established between the state, a private forest products company buyer, and the family recreational club leases. I'm sure the clubs would be happy to share the resource.
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ADKaway
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03-09-10 4:20 PM
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Lets hope downstate voters don't get wind of the 3,000,000,000 dollars the state pays annually in lieu of taxes, how much state land is enough?
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veritas
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03-09-10 12:52 PM
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"It is too bad that this beautiful tract of land will more than likely now be offered up for sale to the likes of Foxman and Lawson ... " Where did you get the idea that that is even being considered ?
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TLParent
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03-09-10 12:17 PM
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Perhaps you could open up the Follensby Pond property for the use of the people of the Adirondacks. It is too bad that this beautiful tract of land will more than likely now be offered up for sale to the likes of Foxman and Lawson to be broken up like the rest of the historical forest land in Tupper Lake.
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