OVERVIEW & HISTORY

Land protection programs in the seven-county Catskill region (all Delaware, Greene, Otsego, Schoharie, Sullivan, and Ulster Counties, and six towns in Albany County) are carried out simultaneously by New York State, New York City, non-profit land conservation organizations, and occasionally local municipalities. Fee acquisitions by New York State and New York City have historically been the most common type of land conservation in the Catskills, with the designation of the State Forest Preserve dating back to 1885, and the purchase of large tracts of land to create New York City's reservoirs, buffer lands, and tunnel system throughout the last century. The Catskill Center is one of several non-profit land conservation organizations working in the greater Catskill region to protect the important open space values of the landscape, and we work closely with all of our partner organizations and government agencies.

New York State

The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC), and to a much lesser extent the New York State Office of Parks Recreation and Historic Preservation (OPRHP), continue to purchase property in the Catskills, adding lands to the Catskill Forest Preserve as well as Reforestation Areas, Wildlife Management Areas, Multiple Use Areas, Special Use Areas, Unique Areas, State Parks, and Historic Sites. By far, the various categories of State land make up the greatest acreage of protected land in the seven-county Catskill region - amounting to approximately 435,000 acres [click here for map].

All State lands are open to the public for outdoor recreation, however different classifications have different types of management and regulations. State land located within the 705,500-acre Catskill Park is classified as Forest Preserve and is constitutionally protected as "forever wild", although even here there are "Intensive Use Areas" comprised of State-run campgrounds and a downhill ski facility. Other types of State land outside the Catskill Park can be managed for specific purposes such as timber harvesting or wildlife habitat improvement. All State land acquisitions are guided by the New York State Open Space Plan, and Catskill Center staff serve on the Region 3 and Region 4 Open Space Advisory Committees, making priority project and policy recommendations for the Catskill/Delaware region.

New York City

The second largest protector of undeveloped land in the region is the City of New York, acting through its agency the New York City Department of Environmental Protection (NYCDEP). The single motive for land protection by NYCDEP is water quality protection for the nation's largest unfiltered drinking water supply, which provides over one and a half billion gallons of clean drinking water each day to over nine million downstate residents.

There are six water supply reservoirs owned and operated by the City of New York in the Catskill/Delaware region, each with surrounding buffer land that has been owned and controlled by the City for decades. The surface area of these reservoirs totals approximately 22,585 acres, and the buffer lands total approximately 34,141 acres. Since the signing of the New York City Watershed Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) in 1997, NYCDEP has embarked on an ambitious land acquisition program designed to protect water quality at the source by buying additional land and conservation easements throughout the watershed. Since the land acquisition program was initiated, NYCDEP has purchased an additional 42,510 acres of land in fee, as well as conservation easements covering 6,045 acres (as of December 31, 2005, west-of-Hudson watershed only). Simultaneously, the Watershed Agricultural Council (WAC) is a non-profit organization that administers an agricultural conservation easement program (funded primarily by NYCDEP) for the purpose of protecting working farms in the watershed. So far WAC has used easements to protect approximately 8,940 acres of farmland in the watershed (as of December 31, 2005, west-of-Hudson watershed only) [click here for map].

Non-Profit Land Conservation Organizations

The third major category of land protection in the Catskill region is the work of over a dozen non-profit land conservancies (also called land trusts), operating within certain geographic areas of the larger seven-county region (a town, county, or sub-region). These organizations range from large international organizations (i.e. The Nature Conservancy), to regional organizations (such as the Open Space Institute, Scenic Hudson, and The Catskill Center), and smaller, more local land trusts. Most of these organizations are concerned with protecting a variety of important landscape features, such as sensitive ecosystems, wildlife habitat, wetlands and riparian areas, water supply areas, scenic locations such as meadows and ridgelines, agricultural land, working forests, and historic sites.

There are three primary methods that these organizations use to protect land: 1) helping to transfer donated or purchased land to the State for public ownership; 2) owning land themselves for use as nature preserves; and 3) using conservation easements to limit development and certain land uses on privately owned land (see below for more information on conservation easements). To date, non-profit organizations working in the greater Catskill region have helped to protect more than 12,000 acres of land through transfers to the State, approximately 19,000 acres of land as land trust preserves and approximately 25,000 acres of land under conservation easement [click here for map].

Taken all together, including State lands, City lands, non-profit nature preserves, and conservation easements, the total amount of protected land in the greater Catskill region is approximately 596,000 acres [click here for map].

The Catskill Center’s Land Conservation History

To date The Catskill Center has directly or indirectly helped to protect over 18,000 acres of land in the seven-county area of the region. This has been accomplished through the use of conservation easements; preserve ownership, and transfers of land and easements to the State and other non-profit organizations [click here for map].

The Catskill Center’s first major commitment to land conservation occurred in 1975 when the Griswold family donated 208 acres of land, including a beautiful waterfall, at the head of the rugged and scenic Platte Clove (in the Town of Hunter, Greene County). The Platte Clove Preserve remains a pristine wilderness area owned and managed by The Catskill Center, open for the quiet enjoyment of our members and the public [map and information].

In 1976, The Catskill Center began working with the Balsam Lake Angler’s Club, who owned thousands of acres of land in the central Catskill Mountains, but were facing intense property tax pressure. The Catskill Center ultimately received a gift from the club of 3,615 acres of wild forestland in the Town of Hardenburgh, which was termed the "Beaverkill Conservation Area". Several years of negotiating and legal work by Catskill Center Board President Bill Ginsberg made the project a reality. When The Catskill Center sold the land to the DEC three years later, it was hailed at that time as being the largest single tract of land acquired by the State in the Catskills since the Forest Preserve was established in 1885 [map and information].

The highlight of The Catskill Center’s land conservation work in the 1980's was our role in helping to protect the bald eagle over-wintering areas of the Mongaup Valley in Sullivan County. Catskill Center President Bill Ginsberg was again instrumental in achieving a conservation deal. An electric utility company owned and operated several reservoirs and several large tracts of land where eagles were increasingly congregating each winter. The Catskill Center commissioned a study of eagle ecology and local habitat needs, worked out a property acquisition deal with the utility company, and the NYSDEC committed major funding that resulted in the protection of approximately 12,000-acres of land, including the creation of the Mongaup Wildlife Management Area and placement of DEC-held conservation easements on large areas of neighboring private property [map and information].

In the early to mid-1990's The Catskill Center took a lead role in acquiring the Catskill Interpretive Center site in Mt. Tremper [map and information], along with some neighboring properties, and prepared a land conservation action plan for the John Burroughs home-farm area in Roxbury [map and information]. Key parcels in the Kaaterskill Clove were acquired and transferred to the State [map and information], and protection and restoration of the historic Thomas Cole House [map and information] in the Village of Catskill was achieved with our assistance.

In 1986 The Catskill Center initiated a conservation easement program for landowners wishing to protect their privately owned lands with important conservation values ‘in perpetuity’. Since that time, The Catskill Center has acquired conservation easements on 17 properties totaling approximately 1,570 acres.

Additionally, The Catskill Center negotiated and accepted two conservation easements totaling 993 acres on behalf of the Durham Valley Land Trust in 2002, and subsequently transferred the easements to that organization when they received their official non-profit status [map and information]. The Catskill Center also acquired in fee a nature preserve property on behalf of the Esopus Creek Conservancy in 2004, and subsequently transferred title to that organization when it received its official non-profit status in 2005, at the same time retaining a conservation easement on the property to ensure that it will always be managed as a nature preserve [map and information].

The Catskill Center continues to accept conservation easements and donations of land, and land conservation staff often assists landowners who are interested in learning more about their land protection options. We can help with land planning, and also provide information about the land conservation programs of other organizations and agencies in the region. The Catskill Center also identifies and initiates larger conservation projects that are more proactive and broader in scope than one property and one landowner. These more comprehensive projects are generally focused in certain critical areas of the Catskill region, and may involve a cooperative protection strategy with several partners, multiple parcels of land, and varying conservation approaches. A comprehensive conservation project can also mean expanding the goals to address more than just land protection, including natural resources management issues such as sound agricultural or forestry practices, streambank restoration, habitat management, etc.

© Copyright - The Catskill Center for Conservation and Development, Inc.  ·  A private, not-for-profit, membership-supported organization founded in
1969 to help build healthy ecosystems and vibrant communities within the 6,000 square-mile Catskill Mountain region of New York State.

PO Box 504 · Route 28
Arkville, NY 12406
(845) 586-2611

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