Champlain Area Trails buys Twin Valleys Education Center

Acquisition prioritizes maintaining and expanding outdoor recreation

By Tim Rowland

Champlain Area Trails has entered the final stages of purchasing the 676-acre Twin Valleys Outdoor Education Center in the town of Lewis from SUNY-Plattsburgh’s College Auxiliary Services, according to CATS executive director Arin Burdo.

The camp has been used by the college for educational studies since 1945, although the frequency of those activities had declined over the years. The property includes a main lodge, 12 cabins, two classroom buildings, a farm pond and 15 miles of hiking trails. The $1.1 million purchase was provided through a grant from the Peter and Carmen Lucia Buck Foundation, Burdo said. CATS is raising another $450,000 to operate the property and is within $100,000 of that goal. The CATS board will now decide how to use the property.

“The scale basically goes from re-wilding it to using it as an event venue, and everything in between,” Burdo said. “All things will be on the table, and we’ll need to determine what’s feasible and sustainable as we move forward.”

CATS plans to prioritize recreation and economic vitality, she said.

The property has a diverse ecology that includes oak and hickory mountaintops, northern facing slopes dominated by hemlock along with cedar wetlands. Trails are currently open to the public, and can be accessed by parking at the gate to the education center on Twin Valleys Road, or at the West Valley and Wayne Duprey trailheads on Hurley Road. Three expansive overlooks can be reached by trails leading to Payne Mountain, Hornbeam Hill and Horseshoe Ledge. A lower overlook can be accessed from Whipple Mountain Trail.

“There are three extensive, interesting and very different viewsheds,” Burdo said. “Payne Mountain is truly stunning.”

The acquisition, which began under CATS founder Chris Maron, also helps flesh out the organization’s broader goals of longer trails and town-to-town hikes. Amber Adamson, CATS’ development and communications director, said the Twin Valleys trails will connect with other trails leading to the Whallonsburg Grange.

“You can get up to 16 miles in one day,” she said.

The trails organization also intends to hire a land conservation manager who will be responsible for helping to develop a plan for the property. “This is a very exciting year for CATS,” Burdo said.

History of Twin Valleys

According to a history by retired environmental science professor Ken Adams, Twin Valleys was born of a fishing trip in the early 1940s attended by college president Charles Ward and lumber company owner William Mason. 

Then a teachers college, Plattsburgh was dabbling in outdoor studies, but had no area for research. Mason mentioned that he typically acquired forestland that he resold cheaply after logging. Later, in 1944, Mason led school representatives to a site on the historic road between Elizabethtown and Lewis.

“They came to a place in the forested area where two streams met,” Adams wrote. “It was primitive, remote and beautiful.”

The selling price was $2 an acre.

To sidestep state interference, the college formed a separate Benevolent and Educational Association that paid for the land with money raised by the faculty and students.

Twin Valleys was widely used for education and recreation, hosting 1,600 campers as recently as 2010. But maintenance costs exceeded available funds. Burdo said it was important to the school that the property be conveyed to an organization that would preserve its ecological and recreational mission. Adams recalled the property fondly, saying he led classes there for nearly 40 years, engaging in participatory learning and making friends in an idyllic setting.

“Hands-on learning in natural environments is the best way for students to understand the real-life application of theoretical principles developed in lectures,” he said. “Students develop a special camaraderie while working in small groups in the out-of-doors. Oftentimes, friendships are created that last a lifetime.”

Along with scientific study, thousands of Plattsburgh students over the years also learned outdoor skills at Twin Valleys, played broomball on the frozen pond, camped in the three lean-tos and hiked the trails. A tradition was to shout in unison “Tiwa-ya-ee,” the name given to Twin Valleys by Mohawk native Ray Fadden, which means “two valleys.”

Students would also “tell stories around a campfire, while marveling at stars in the night sky,” Adams said. “All special times at a special place.”