New York Land Protected for Climate, Clean Water, and Wildlife
With its dramatic glacial-carved topography, pristine ponds and streams, and significant wildlife habitat, Eagle Mountain Wilderness Preserve stands out as a wild, climate-resilient gem. Nestled within the Eastern Adirondack foothills, the extensive 2,445-acre Preserve harbors several rare plants and animals, as well as numerous wetlands and streams that flow into the Boquet River, a major tributary of Lake Champlain.
In February, the Lake Champlain Land Trust accepted a donated forever-wild conservation easement on the Eagle Mountain Wilderness Preserve from the Northeast Wilderness Trust, which owns and manages the land.
The Chesterfield, New York preserve lies within a contiguous block of protected forestland that includes land owned by our partners at the Open Space Institute (OSI), the private 3,110-acre Baldface Mountain Preserve (an OSI project now protected by a Lake Champlain Land Trust conservation easement), and New York State’s 2,082-acre Poke-o-Moonshine Tract.
Black bear and other large mammals roaming north can also find refuge within our 259-acre Ausable River Headwaters easement land located just a few miles away. This is land conservation at the landscape scale.
Going Big: Landscape-Scale Conservation
Conservation happens at many scales. The Lake Champlain Land Trust protects small biologically-rich islands as well as large upland forest tracts. We also work with partners like Northeast Wilderness Trust (NEWT) on landscape-scale conservation efforts that can span town, county, and even state lines.
At 2,445 acres, the Eagle Mountain Wilderness Preserve project offered the rare opportunity to protect a large swath of undeveloped forest. Acquired in 2019 by NEWT, the Preserve is a keystone property linking Chesterfield’s Lake Champlain uplands to the Adirondack High Peaks. This 15,000-acre mix of public and private lands—a good portion of it conserved by the Lake Champlain Land Trust and our partners—provides safe wildlife corridors large mammals need to move across landscapes.
Taking Bold Action on Climate Change
The Eagle Mountain Wilderness Preserve conservation project follows in the footsteps of another big project—the creation of New York’s Forest Preserve and the Adirondack Park. In the 1890s, New Yorkers saw a problem—widespread clear cutting of Adirondack forests led to denuded landscapes, streams clogged with sediment, and fragmented forests—and took bold action by prohibiting logging on state-owned land within the Park.
Now, as we face an urgent climate crisis, the land trust community is tapping another novel idea—enrolling large forested parcels in the voluntary carbon market. The model is similar to the “cap-and-trade” markets from the 1990s that helped reduce acid rain-causing emissions from coal-burning power plants. Recent research suggests that emissions reductions created by these market-based incentives is contributing to improving pH conditions in many Adirondack lakes and ponds. Today, scientists and land managers are evaluating the best ways to tackle climate change.
Foresters have calculated that old forests store and sequester more carbon than young or managed forests. Our conservation easement ensures that, regardless of ownership, the protected land will forever store carbon in the form of old forests that will eventually become ancient forests.
Our conservation easement also makes the land eligible for the carbon market because the landowner is choosing a plan to never subdivide, develop, or harvest timber from the land in perpetuity. This permanent, forever-wild protection ensures the ecological integrity of the land while providing carbon revenue to help steward the property and support additional conservation projects.
With the help of dedicated supporters like you, the Lake Champlain Land Trust is protecting our region’s natural treasures and working with regional partners at the landscape scale to meet today’s water quality, biodiversity, and climate challenges.
When You Go
Visitors to Eagle Mountain Wilderness Preserve can follow a moderate trail on a woods road with mostly gentle grades to scenic Clear Pond (3 miles round trip). Important Note: A half-mile from the trailhead a beaver pond often floods the trail, requiring hikers to jump over the pond outlet or even wade through 2 or 3 feet of water. For the latest trail conditions, visit NEWT’s Eagle Mountain Wilderness Preserve webpage.
Also, please be sure to read NEWT’s Preserve Guidelines before visiting this special wildlife preserve.
