Catskills Lost Clove (catskills_lost_clove.pdf) The Nature Conservancy in New York Press Releases Search All Press Releases Alan White Catskill Mountain Program Director Phone: (845) 586-1002 Email: awhite@tnc.org

Nature Conservancy Acquires 590 Acres in Lost Clove Valley in the Catskill Mountains

Renowned Catskill “High Peak” Now Protected

Mount Kisco, NY — December 20, 2007 — The Eastern New York Chapter of The Nature Conservancy is pleased to announce that it has completed the acquisition of 590 acres of property in the town of Shandakan in Lost Clove Valley. 

This initial protection project involves the fee acquisition of three parcels of steep forested slopes and Balsam high peak, one of the thirty-five high peaks in the Catskills over 3,500 feet.

The project is a co-op with both the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation and the New York City Department of Environmental Protection, to one of whom the property will eventually be transferred.

Lost Clove/Balsam Mountain consists of steeply sloping, remote forest land that has been carefully maintained by nearly 100 years of thoughtful stewardship by several generations of the same family. This dedicated forest management has resulted in exceptional stands of red oak, sugar maple and old growth hemlock.

Says Executive Director Katie Dolan, “Land appraisals in the Catskills have typically undervalued timber because the land is so valuable for residential development. The chapter sought an appraisal on the property that included a valuation of the standing timber as well as the acreage. Without funds from The Nature Conservancy, the owners of this property would likely be forced to sell to a timber company who would very possibly undertake a liquidation harvest rather than a long-term timber investment. In addition, we are pleased to be able to permanently protect one of the fabled thirty-five high peaks in the Catskill Mountains”

The property has seen minimal logging over the last hundred years. As such, the forest composition and condition found on the property is of a quality seldom found in the Catskill Mountains. 

Added Catskills Program Director Alan White, “A large timber harvest on this property would profoundly change the composition of this forest, leaving it vulnerable to stresses such as climate change, atmospheric pollutants, insects, disease and invasive species. By acquiring this property, the chapter will likely help reduce impact from some of these threats.  We are thrilled that we can help preserve this magnificent forest block – few locations in the Catskills have been left undisturbed for such a long period.”

The Nature Conservancy is a leading conservation organization working around the world to protect ecologically important lands and waters for nature and people. To date, the Conservancy and its more than one million members have been responsible for the protection of more than 15 million acres in the United States and have helped preserve more than 102 million acres in Latin America, the Caribbean, Asia and the Pacific. Visit The Nature Conservancy on the Web at www.nature.org.

The Catskill Mountain Program is one of eight landscape-scale programs in the Eastern New York Chapter. Officially opened in 2003, the program has set a goal of protecting, through acquisition, easements and land use planning, the 415,000 acres of remaining interior forest blocks to prevent habitat fragmentation; reducing the impacts of invasive species and promoting and enhancing research and policy development on atmospheric deposition of pollutants.