A sign for the approximately 19,500 acre William C. Whitney Wilderness Area is seen at the intersection of state Route 30 and Sabattis Circle Road in the town of Long Lake on Saturday. Conservation groups are urging New York to attempt to purchase and subsequently protect another 36,000 acres of what is currently private land — known as Whitney Park — around the William C. Whitney Wilderness Area. (Enterprise Photo — Chris Gaige)

LONG LAKE — Eight conservation groups jointly sent a letter to Gov. Kathy Hochul urging the state to “act swiftly” to purchase and preserve Whitney Park.

The letter was signed by leaders of the Adirondack Council, Protect the Adirondacks!, Sierra Club Atlantic Chapter, Citizens Campaign for the Environment, Adirondack Wild: Friends of the Forest Preserve, the Adirondack Mountain Club, New York League of Conservation Voters, and Adirondack Wilderness Advocates.

The move comes as the future of the enormous 36,000-acre tract of land, largely in northern Hamilton County, is uncertain. John Hendrickson, the then-owner, passed away unexpectedly on Aug. 19 in Saratoga Springs due to cardiac arrest, according to an obituary published in the Anchorage Daily News. He was 59.

“Following the untimely death of John Hendrickson this past summer, this historic tract in the heart of the Adirondack Park will be sold by a trust seeking to sell these lands in the months ahead,” the groups wrote to the governor in a letter dated Oct. 29.

“We ask that you and your Department of Environmental Conservation take a leading role in negotiating the conservation of Whitney Park through purchase as Forest Preserve, as conservation easement, or a combination of the two.”

John Sheehan, the director of communications for Adirondack Council said the conservation groups had reason to believe that Hendrickson’s beneficiaries were considering selling the land, which is owned by Whitney Industries, a limited liability corporation. Hendrickson was listed as the president and CEO prior to his death. There is currently no listed CEO, according to the New York Department of State’s Division of Corporations database.

Sheehan said they had contacted the estate before writing the letter to the governor, and were under the impression that in the wake of Hendrickson’s death, the estate’s beneficiaries were likely to sell at least a portion of the land.

“That is what we have heard, and we wanted to make sure the governor is aware of that,” he said.

“I think there’s a trust set up for the land itself, and that trust is going to have to make a decision in the near future about the fate of that property and, of course, they have some folks who are beneficiaries that they’ll have to satisfy,” Sheehan said.

Sheehan described conservation measures for the tract as “complex” if the state were to acquire it, or partner with a private organization through a land easement.

“We had always expected that there would be an accommodation of state and private conservation tools used in this case,” he said. “Some of the property which has homes and other buildings on it may not go into the forest preserve, while other larger and more open spaces that are essentially undeveloped and pristine would be perfect additions to the preserve.”

There are several camps on the property. Camp Deerlands, on the eastern shore of Little Forked Lake, is considered the most significant structure in Whitney Park. The property has 17 bedrooms and 11 bathrooms between the main camp and adjoining guest and staff quarters. It was originally built in 1915.

Sheehan said he understands many would want to see not just forests, but the existing structures preserved.

“There’d be a great deal of resistance to essentially removing those (buildings), but that doesn’t mean they can’t be part of the conservation picture here, especially if there’s a private owner that wants to live on part of the property and conserve the remainder.”

The state has several land classifications for its forest preserves. Some, such as “wilderness,” zones do not allow for the maintenance of manmade structures, while others, such as “primitive” or “historic” zones do.

The Adirondack Park Agency determines state land classifications in the park. For more information on state land classifications, visit tinyurl.com/yc7f2zv8.

In their letter, the conservation groups wrote that the state had long considered Whitney Park to be a high priority for conservation, adding that it contains 22 lakes and ponds, and over 100 miles of undeveloped shoreline.

“Whitney Park has been eyed by generations of Adirondack conservationists and state officials as a cornerstone of a protected Adirondack Park, a missing link for historic public canoe routes that ran north- south and east-west through the property, and as a vital missing piece for the public Forest Preserve,” the groups wrote.

They added in their press release announcing the letter that it has been listed as a high priority for state acquisition/protection since the state’s Open Space Protection Plan was adopted in 1992, citing its “high-quality wildlife habitat and great potential for public recreation and tourism.”

In addition to environmental protection, Sheehan also cited potential tax windfalls for the town of Long Lake as a benefit of selling the land to the state. The lands are currently in a tax abatement program — a financial incentive for adhering to a set of sustainable foresting practices. It kept the tax assessment for the land at its 1920s rates, when the program first began, according to Sheehan.

“For a century, it has had its assessment frozen in time,” he said. “So, it’s never gone up since the 1920s. As a result, Whitney Industries pays about one fourth of the taxes that people with comparable lands in the town pay, including the state of New York, which pays full taxes on all forest preserve. If the state were to take over a portion of the property, the tax revenue would quadruple overnight.”

Sheehan said the additional funds could either be used to increase the town’s budget, or reduce the other taxpayer’s burden.

“That would either become a windfall to the community, or it would be a way to provide significant tax relief to people who already live there and already pay property taxes there,” he said.

Land and family history

Hendrickson was the husband of the late Marylou Whitney, a prominent socialite and philanthropist. Before her marriage to Hendrickson, she was married to Cornelius Vanderbilt “Sonny” Whitney. Sonny Whitney inherited massive tracts of land between Long Lake and Tupper Lake from his grandfather, William C. Whitney, who consolidated and purchased 80,000 acres of land in that area in 1897. He paid $1.50 per acre at the time.

Portions of the original holdings were sold to the International Paper Company over the years, leaving about 48,000 acres at the time of Sonny Whitney’s death in 1992. This was passed on in its entirety to Marylou Whitney.

In 1997, just after marrying Hendrickson, the couple sold approximately 15,000 acres of the tract to New York for $17.1 million. The state classified the area as a wilderness zone, its most stringent level of conservation protection for land, and named it in honor of William C. Whitney.

Hendrickson’s property on Little Tupper Lake, Camp-On-A-Point, went on the market in 2023 and is still listed as being for sale.

Prior to his death, Hendrickson had attempted to sell the land. Unable to find a suitable buyer — Hendrickson insisted he did not want to see the land developed — for the full 36,202-acre tract that he was offering for $180 million, Hendrickson floated the idea of subdividing the land into 11 parcels and selling them at smaller price tags.

The move was met with resistance from conservation groups, and Hendrickson never officially filed for subdivision permits with the Adirondack Park Agency, which oversees the process.

The conservation groups cite the fact that Whitney Park is still intact, and not subdivided, as a fleeting opportunity for the state to protect one of the last significant chunks of undeveloped land in the Adirondacks that is still potentially available for purchase.

“This is a major moment that in many ways will define what kind of Adirondack Park we have in the future,” said Peter Bauer, the executive director of Protect the Adirondacks! “Missing this historic opportunity and failing to protect these lands is not an option.”

The conservation group’s letter to the governor can be read in its entirety at tinyurl.com/mvju6pbx.