PRESS RELEASE
CATS buys key habitat and trail parcels from Lewis Family Farm
Date:
Contact:
March 9, 2013
Chris Maron (518) 962-2287, Champlain Area Trails
Champlain Area Trails (CATS) purchased two parcels of land from the Lewis Family
Farm that conserve important wildlife habitat and provide for public hiking trails. The
larger 87-acre tract, located between Lakeshore and Angier Hill Roads in Westport, is the
key woodland parcel linking Split Rock Mountain Wild Forest and Coon Mountain
Nature Preserve. This secures essential habitat connectivity in the Split Rock Wildway
wildlife corridor that connects Lake Champlain to the Adirondacks.
The transaction also involved a 12-acre property in Essex with extensive frontage on the
Boquet River. It contains riverside forest, riparian wildlife habitat, and an old farm field
reverting to woods. Conserving these lands will protect the habitat and remove the threat
of runoff from logging and farming too close to the river.
Chris Maron, CATS Executive Director said, “The Lewis Farm’s Westport property has
been a long-time conservation target because it is where animals that prefer woodlands
move between the largest protected forest on Lake Champlain and interior timberlands.
It also secures the opportunity to have a trail for people to hike or ski between two of the
central Champlain Valley’s most popular natural areas.”
Sandy Lewis said his family understood well the benefit of establishing a natural corridor
for wildlife between the lake and the mountains. “I was pleased to make the sale,” he
said. “CATS is putting together some beautiful trails. This is a key property we sold
them.”
Protecting habitat connectivity is supported by the work of conservation biologists who
have proven through the “Island Effect” that natural areas lose plant and animal species
when they are not connected by natural habitat. The Lewis property is in a narrow
forested corridor connecting Split Rock Wild Forest to Coon Mountain and the forests
beyond. So if the Lewis property had been developed into houses or cleared of its trees,
it would have seriously hindered wildlife movement and led to loss of species at these
preserves.
“We thank the Lewis Family Farm for contacting us when they considered selling these
tracts,” said Maron. “We also thank Open Space Institute, Northeast Wilderness Trust,
The Nature Conservancy, Adirondack Land Trust, Eddy Foundation, and the State of
New York for protecting other key properties in the Split Rock Wildway and for
articulating the importance of conserving habitat connectivity.”
CATS board chair, Katharine Preston added “We are especially pleased with this
acquisition because it secures public access to these two properties. We look forward to
when people can hike or ski from Coon Mountain to Split Rock Wild Forest and then
continue on trails up to Essex, Willsboro, and Keeseville. I’m also excited by the idea of
having a self-guided interpretive nature trail on the Boquet River tract so we can all learn
more about rivers, clean water, and streamside ecology.”
Champlain Area Trails is a non-profit conservation organization which saves land and
creates trails that link communities, connect people with nature, and promote economic
vitality. For more information, call 518-962-2287 or visit www.champlainareatrails.com.