Land trust adds key parcels near Lake George

Acreage may add to recreation network, cut off development

By Mike Lynch

A town of Bolton property purchased this spring by the Lake George Land Conservancy for conservation purposes is considered an important piece to the town’s long-term recreation plan, and the two parties are talking about its future. 

The land trust purchased 30 acres off Edgecomb Road in April for $170,000 from a private party because it contains wildlife habitat, wetlands, steep slopes and 350 feet of Huddle Brook. The small stream flows into Lake George. 

“Protecting this forested land in itself is good for water quality and good for natural habitat,” said Lake George Land Conservancy (LGLC) Executive Director Mike Horn. “To be able to make the recreation connections, that becomes a bonus.” 

The parcel is currently closed to the public but it has recreational value because it connects Edgecomb Road to the land trust’s 213-acre Twin Pines property, which abuts some of the Adirondack Forest Preserve containing Cat and Thomas mountains.

LGLC’s property is less than two miles from Lake George and downtown Bolton Landing. 

LGLC is in talks about the future of the property, including the possibility of a sale to the town with a conservation easement on it. 

“There’s been no official action by the town,” Horn said. “We’ve talked to folks over there about the concept, and they’re interested in exploring it further.”

The property is across the street from Bolton’s Community Center and a short distance to The Pinnacle Preserve, a popular hiking destination that is owned by the town with a LGLC conservation easement.

The conservancy also manages the Pinnacle property and trails. 

Because of its location, this land is identified as an important recreation connection within the Bolton Hub Recreational Plan, a collaborative strategy for land conservation and recreation produced for the town of Bolton in partnership with the LGLC.

“It’s a key piece for some public use sometime in the future,” said Bolton Supervisor Ron Conover. “Exactly what that is and where, that’s yet to be resolved. But I think that is a key connection.” 

He said that may be just connecting the public to trails on the Twins Pines property or going further to Cat and Thomas mountains. Extending the trails to those mountains would require the state Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) to include the plan in the Lake George Wild Forest unit management plan, which is yet to be completed. 

The purchase is one of two recent ones for the LGLC. It also bought 73 acres in the town of Lake George earlier this summer. 

That property is located off Truesdale Hill Road, the southwest region of the Lake George watershed. The lake’s south basin is facing development pressure, according to LGLC, and this helps protect a key piece in the watershed. 

The acquisition is also meant to protect steep slopes, the forests and vegetated stream buffers to safeguard lake water quality, according to LGLC. This land also contains wildlife habitat and preserves an undeveloped ridgeline that is visible throughout the south basin of Lake George.

The land trust paid Lake George Fly roughly $800,000 for the property, Horn said. It was funded by the Makowski Trust, and $641,424 from the Water Quality Improvement Project (WQIP) grant program administered by the DEC.

The former owner purchased the property with the intent of creating a zipline but that plan never came to fruition, Horn said.