State Acquires 2,500 Acres of Wilderness Near Preserve
By LISA W. FODERARO
Published: March 15, 2006
New York State has acquired a 2,500-acre tract of wilderness along the Shawangunk Ridge in Ulster County and plans to use the land to expand the adjoining Minnewaska State Park Preserve, state officials announced yesterday.
Daniel Morel for The New York Times
Philip Nicholas, project manager of the Trust for Public Land. His organization helped negotiate the purchase of the Awosting Reserve, long a goal of conservationists. The deal was announced by the state Tuesday.
The Awosting Reserve was at the center of a development battle.
Two conservation groups, The Trust for Public Land and the Open Space Institute, negotiated the deal in recent months and bought the land on Friday for $17 million. The property was immediately transferred to the state.
"It's something that is really one of the great landmarks of New York," said Gov. George E. Pataki in a telephone interview after the closing. "The thought that it would have been filled with very large and environmentally unfriendly second homes is something that weighed heavily on a lot of minds. Now it will be preserved for future generations."
The Shawangunks — affectionately called "the Gunks" — consist of cliffs, forests, waterfalls and lakes. Situated south of the Catskill Mountains, the ridge runs for 48 miles on the west side of the Hudson River, from Ulster County into New Jersey. The area attracted nature enthusiasts in the Victorian era and is still enormously popular among rock climbers, hikers and artists.
Large swaths of the ridge's northern portion had been protected years ago through conservation efforts, including the formation of Minnewaska Park (12,000 acres), the Mohonk Preserve (6,600 acres) and Sam's Point Preserve (5,300 acres).
But the 2,518 acres known as the Awosting Reserve, just south of Minnewaska and about 80 miles northwest of New York City, had eluded conservation groups.
It became the center of a development battle that pitted environmentalists and local residents against a business partnership that had proposed a development with a 296-acre golf course and 349 luxury homes.
The man who assembled the land, John Atwater Bradley, a local resident and self-described conservationist, maintained that the property would be better protected by creating a low-density, ecologically sensitive housing development than by turning it over to the state.
Mr. Bradley went into partnership with a developer and together they sketched out a "green community," with Adirondack-style houses fashioned of stone and timber, set back from the ridge line. A nature center and nonprofit land trust were also contemplated.
But many residents and conservationists did not share the vision, arguing that the houses and golf course would tarnish an unspoiled wilderness by disrupting vistas and compromising the nearby preserves.
"Save the Ridge" signs popped up along roadsides and in store windows throughout the region. Some were spotted as far away as Williamsburg, Brooklyn, where some artists with weekend homes live during the week.
Soon after the development partnership presented the plan to the Town of Gardiner, the partnership became bogged down in disagreement, leading to legal action among the principals. A judge ordered the land sold in order to settle the dispute, and a court-appointed lawyer last fall considered several bids, including some from developers.
"This is the last important piece in a huge conservation assemblage," said Rose Harvey, a senior vice president of The Trust for Public Land who oversees the Mid-Atlantic region.
Joe Martens, president of the Open Space Institute, said in a statement that the Awosting Reserve was "the holy grail of the Shawangunks."
Still, some local officials praised Mr. Bradley for keeping the property intact. "For four decades, he has been the steward of that property and has maintained its pristine nature rather than break it up into smaller developments," said Carl Zatz, the supervisor of the Town of Gardiner.
Since taking office in 1995, Mr. Pataki has overseen the protection of almost one million acres of open space across the state. Ms. Harvey credited the state for being "fast and efficient and flexible" in coming up with the money to reimburse the groups for the acquisition. State officials tapped the Environmental Protection Fund for the purchase.
Mr. Pataki said he had hiked extensively in the Shawangunks and was "very aware" of the Awosting Reserve. "Now we can just enjoy it," he added.
By LISA W. FODERARO
Published: March 15, 2006
New York State has acquired a 2,500-acre tract of wilderness along the Shawangunk Ridge in Ulster County and plans to use the land to expand the adjoining Minnewaska State Park Preserve, state officials announced yesterday.
Daniel Morel for The New York Times
Philip Nicholas, project manager of the Trust for Public Land. His organization helped negotiate the purchase of the Awosting Reserve, long a goal of conservationists. The deal was announced by the state Tuesday.
The Awosting Reserve was at the center of a development battle.
Two conservation groups, The Trust for Public Land and the Open Space Institute, negotiated the deal in recent months and bought the land on Friday for $17 million. The property was immediately transferred to the state.
"It's something that is really one of the great landmarks of New York," said Gov. George E. Pataki in a telephone interview after the closing. "The thought that it would have been filled with very large and environmentally unfriendly second homes is something that weighed heavily on a lot of minds. Now it will be preserved for future generations."
The Shawangunks — affectionately called "the Gunks" — consist of cliffs, forests, waterfalls and lakes. Situated south of the Catskill Mountains, the ridge runs for 48 miles on the west side of the Hudson River, from Ulster County into New Jersey. The area attracted nature enthusiasts in the Victorian era and is still enormously popular among rock climbers, hikers and artists.
Large swaths of the ridge's northern portion had been protected years ago through conservation efforts, including the formation of Minnewaska Park (12,000 acres), the Mohonk Preserve (6,600 acres) and Sam's Point Preserve (5,300 acres).
But the 2,518 acres known as the Awosting Reserve, just south of Minnewaska and about 80 miles northwest of New York City, had eluded conservation groups.
It became the center of a development battle that pitted environmentalists and local residents against a business partnership that had proposed a development with a 296-acre golf course and 349 luxury homes.
The man who assembled the land, John Atwater Bradley, a local resident and self-described conservationist, maintained that the property would be better protected by creating a low-density, ecologically sensitive housing development than by turning it over to the state.
Mr. Bradley went into partnership with a developer and together they sketched out a "green community," with Adirondack-style houses fashioned of stone and timber, set back from the ridge line. A nature center and nonprofit land trust were also contemplated.
But many residents and conservationists did not share the vision, arguing that the houses and golf course would tarnish an unspoiled wilderness by disrupting vistas and compromising the nearby preserves.
"Save the Ridge" signs popped up along roadsides and in store windows throughout the region. Some were spotted as far away as Williamsburg, Brooklyn, where some artists with weekend homes live during the week.
Soon after the development partnership presented the plan to the Town of Gardiner, the partnership became bogged down in disagreement, leading to legal action among the principals. A judge ordered the land sold in order to settle the dispute, and a court-appointed lawyer last fall considered several bids, including some from developers.
"This is the last important piece in a huge conservation assemblage," said Rose Harvey, a senior vice president of The Trust for Public Land who oversees the Mid-Atlantic region.
Joe Martens, president of the Open Space Institute, said in a statement that the Awosting Reserve was "the holy grail of the Shawangunks."
Still, some local officials praised Mr. Bradley for keeping the property intact. "For four decades, he has been the steward of that property and has maintained its pristine nature rather than break it up into smaller developments," said Carl Zatz, the supervisor of the Town of Gardiner.
Since taking office in 1995, Mr. Pataki has overseen the protection of almost one million acres of open space across the state. Ms. Harvey credited the state for being "fast and efficient and flexible" in coming up with the money to reimburse the groups for the acquisition. State officials tapped the Environmental Protection Fund for the purchase.
Mr. Pataki said he had hiked extensively in the Shawangunks and was "very aware" of the Awosting Reserve. "Now we can just enjoy it," he added.
