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Lassiter Properties Inc. and
Upstate Timberland Holdings LP recently announced a plan to sell
roughly 54,000 acres of their lands located in Clinton, Franklin,
Lewis and St. Lawrence Counties in the Adirondack Park. This
provides an extraordinary opportunity for the State of New York,
or an interested conservation buyer, to acquire lands that have
long been considered biologically unique to the Adirondacks.
Of particular biological significance are the properties located
northwest of the Town of Tupper Lake and east of Route 56, in
an area identified as "Low Elevation Boreal Forest."
This habitat type is unique to New York State in that it represents
a biome typically found much farther north: the northern, or
boreal, coniferous forest biome or taiga. This biome exists in
only two places in the Adirondacks, at high elevations on mountain
summits, and at low elevations in the northwestern region of
the Park. The Adirondack Council strongly urges the state or
a conservation buyer to consider options for protecting this
land now available for sale within this ecological gem.
The Adirondack Council First to Propose Protection of the
Boreal Forest
The Adirondack Council first proposed protection for this area
in our 2020
VISION publication, Volume 1: Saving all the Pieces (p.
23). At the time the publication was released in 1988, less than
twenty percent of the boreal biome was included in Adirondack
Forest Preserve, and the biological significance of what did
exist in Forest Preserve was further diminished because it was
made up of numerous scattered parcels rather than a contiguous
ownership. Thus, the Adirondack Council proposed a Low Elevation
Boreal Heritage Reserve in which acquisitions would consolidate
some of these parcels and "would result in a reserve large
enough for all boreal species, including the moose, to survive.
Furthermore, it would provide the public an opportunity to visit
and enjoy the rarest biome in New York State."
Protection of the low elevation boreal habitat was highlighted
again in the Adirondack Council's 2020 VISION - Volume 2: Completing
the Adirondack Wilderness System (p. 16). This report delineated potential boundaries
for a Proposed Boreal Wilderness that would "encompass
73,300 acres including all of the Jordan River, major reaches
of the Raquette (14 miles) and the St. Regis (13 miles) rivers,
and the central core of the proposed Low Elevation Boreal Reserve." |
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A Common Loon with chick.
Loons, a state species of special concern, are found in the Boreal
Forest |
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New York State Also Recoginizes
Importance of Boreal Forest
The significance of this area
has been recognized by the state as well. In 1990, the Commission
on the Adirondacks in the Twenty-First Century, under the leadership
of Governor Mario Cuomo, referenced the Boreal Forest in its
report titled The Adirondack Park in the Twenty First Century.
When highlighting their recommendations on Forest Preserve Acquisition,
the Commission stated that the first criteria considered be Biological
Diversity, particularly "Land representing all biomes in
the Park …including low and high elevation boreal…which
are not currently in public ownership in amounts adequate to
assure their preservation…" (p. 54).
More recently, the boreal forest was referenced in the 2006 New
York State Open Space Conservation Plan, which states that the
Low Elevation Boreal Forest area was identified through public
comment as important to the future of the Park. The plan states
that "because of its unusual character the Low Elevation
Boreal Forest in the Adirondack Park should be protected through
a combination of additional state and private conservation ownership,
conservation easements and incentives for private landowners
to manage their land to support and protect boreal species."
A report produced by the New York
Natural Heritage Program titled Raquette Boreal Forest:
Rare Species & Significant Ecological Communities (2002)
contains a wealth of information on the biological composition
and unique plant and animal species of the area. The Raquette
Boreal Forest supports populations of five rare animal species
including the Spruce Grouse (a state endangered species), the
Common loon (a state species of special concern), the Extra-striped
snaketail dragonfly (a state species of special concern, (*the
Raquette River is just one of four rivers in the state currently
known to support this dragonfly)), the Brook snaketail and the
Forcipate emerald. It also has a number of boreal specialist
bird species including the gray jay, the black-backed woodpecker,
the boreal chickadee, the yellow bellied flycatcher and the olive-sided
flycatcher. The Raquette Boreal Forest includes two rare plant
species:dung moss and
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Spruce Grouse - A New
York State Endangered Species |
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Farwell's
watermilfoil (located in the shallows of Kildare Pond). In addition,
it contains the largest Black Spruce Tamarack Bog in the state,
and the second largest spruce-fir swamp in the state. The presence
of the Spruce Grouse in this area is of great significance as
it is a New York State endangered species.The NYS Spruce Grouse
Recovery team stated the first priority for "management
and research actions needed to protect, maintain and enhance
populations'"as "protection of currently occupied sites." |
For roughly the past two decades, the Low Elevation Boreal Forest
has been recognized by scientists and planners as a highly significant
wild area to be protected. The opportunity now exists to consolidate
even more of this Boreal habitat. The Adirondack Council strongly
advocates that the State of New York consider options to acquire
the Lassiter Timberland properties that lay within the Boreal
Biome.
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