State offers new plan for Lake Desolation State Forest, other Adirondack areas

PHOTOGRAPHER: Stephen Williams

The state Department of Environmental Conservation has proposed new campsites and fishing access in the Lake Desolation State Forest in Greenfield as part of a new Adirondack recreational development plan.

The Upper Hudson Woodlands Conservation Easement Lands recreational management plan would apply to six parcels totaling 92,000 acres, from Essex to Saratoga counties.

The state’s goal is to improve public access to fishing, boating and other public uses.

The 2,128-acre Lake Desolation tract in the town of Greenfield is located just outside the Adirondack Park, along Fox Hill Road, a wild and forested area adjoining the park.

DEC is proposing establishing a car-top boat launch on the edge of Archer Vly to provide for fishing and boating on the pond and its outlet stream. Several campsites and two parking areas would also be established. The plan estimates they would cost roughly $25,000 to build.

The plan states that a 2011 fisheries survey found self-sustaining populations of chain pickerel, largemouth bass, pumpkinseed and brown bullhead in Archer Vly, but also found the stream is too warm for trout.

The other lands covered by the plan, which proposes similar development on them, include the 3,011-acre Blue Ridge Road Tract in North Hudson; two tracts totaling 25,000 acres in Indian Lake; a 15,284-acre tract in Long Lake; and the 886-acre Somerville Road tract in the towns of Lake George and Warrensburg.

Most of the lands covered by the plan were purchased by the Nature Conservancy in 2007 as part of its acquisition of 161,000 acres of forestland from Finch Pruyn and Co. The Nature Conservancy sold the 92,035-acre “Upper Hudson Woodlands” property to ATP Timberland Invest in 2009, and also sold specific conservation and recreation easement rights on the lands to the state in 2010.

The Draft Recreational Management Plan can be viewed or downloaded from the DEC website at http://www.dec.ny.gov/lands/97209.html. Hard copies are available for public review at DEC’s Region 5 offices in Ray Brook, Warrensburg and Northville. Copies are available in electronic format for distribution on compact disc and may be requested by calling DEC at 518-897-1291.

DEC will accept comments on the Draft RMP until Friday, July 18. They may be sent to Allison Buckley, NYS DEC Lands & Forests, P.O. Box 1316, Northville, NY 12134-1316 or e-mailed to [email protected]