BY EMILY RUSSELL (ADIRONDACK REPORTER) , IN KEENE, NY
The Adirondack Land Trust got a big financial boost this week. The group was awarded a $3 million grant from the Northern Border Regional Commission to build 3.5 miles of accessible trails in the Tri-Lakes area.
Those trails will be built so that people in wheelchairs or with strollers or other accessibility issues can enjoy some of the most iconic Adirondack views.
The news of the $3 million grant came on Thursday. Mike Carr, the executive director of the Adirondack Land Trust, said it was an “exciting day.”
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“This will allow people with strollers or wheel-walkers or wheelchairs to safely be outside and really enjoy two special places” said Carr.
The money will be split between two Land Trust properties— the 238-acre Glenview Preserve, just north of Saranac Lake, and a 187-acre lot along the Loj Road in Lake Placid.
“Both of them have big views- Glenview, [a view of] the backside of Whiteface, and the Loj Road is really [a view of] the High Peaks and Indian Pass and they’re both kind of dramatic,” said Carr.
“We’ve discovered that there is really very little truly accessible trails in the park, [but] there are hundreds of miles of other trails, but very few opportunities for people that have challenges with mobility and really feel that this is one way of connecting communities to a special place.”
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The plan, says Carr, is to use the $2 million to build about 2.25 miles of trails at Glenview and $1 million for 1.25 miles of trails at the Loj Road.
While building 3.5 miles of trails may not seem like a lot, Carr says making sure they’re accessible to everyone is complicated and expensive.
“So the site is critical. It has to be really level. The grades are prescribed at 2% and most of the Adirondacks are a lot steeper than 2%. So specific grades and drainage is quite important, so that they’re dry and not soft.”
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The Adirondack Land Trust still needs to raise hundreds of thousands of dollars to match part of the grant from the Northern Border Regional Commission.
The commission is also providing grants to 26 other agencies from northern New York up to Maine, including about $550,000 for a health center in Lowville and $500,000 for the Essex Food Hub in Westport.
The $3 million that the Adirondack Land Trust is receiving was the largest grant given by the commission.
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Mike Carr leading once again!