Kevin A. Boyce
02-04-2005, 12:01
Here is an article from today's (Feb 4, 2005) Poughkeepsie Journal about the continued residential sprawl that is creeping north and west of the NYC area. The area they are talking about affects pretty much the whole NJ & NY corridor for the AT. They even mention that no one is focused on the regions of Stormville, Shenandoah and Hosner Mountains, exactly where the trail follows. I will forward this article to the ATC as well..
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Fending off sprawl
Region's forests are endangered
By Dan Shapley
Poughkeepsie Journal
GREEN HAVEN -- For nearly 70 years, the Klein family has farmed in the shadow of Depot Hill, a forested ridge that runs through Beekman and East Fishkill.
The ridge is an arm of the Highlands, the mountains that include much of Putnam and Rockland counties, and smaller parts of Dutchess, Orange and Westchester counties. Congress and President Bush approved the Highlands Conservation Act last year, making the preservation of the Highlands in four states a priority. They agreed to spend as much as $100 million over 10 years to do the job.
The Appalachian Trail follows the Depot Hill ridgeline. The ridge naturally gathers water for the people who live below. Walter Klein, 72, has seen coyotes, ravens, bobcats and speckled brook trout.
Increasingly, it's also home to people who can afford homes that can cost more than $1 million.
A new development on Devon Farms Road on the ridge replaced forests and fields with parallel rows of homes, each with a commanding view west across Dutchess to the Catskill Mountains and the Highlands. New homes to the north, on Depot Hill Road in Beekman, are poking through the ridge's otherwise forested facade.
''We shouldn't have this mountain full of houses,'' Klein said one day recently while he drove a Journal reporter and photographer on a tour of the ridge. ''Around here, you can't build them fast enough.''
The Forest Service agrees. In a 2002 study of the Highlands, it identified 11 priority areas for conservation where the development pressure threatened important environmental, scenic and recreational assets. One of the priority areas is a large swath of Beekman, East Fishkill and Pawling.
Preserving the forests on dramatic mountains south of Beacon is another priority.
About 4.5 million New York and New Jersey residents rely on the Highlands for drinking water, including many in southern Dutchess. About 14 million people use it for recreation. Abundant wildlife, cultural and other resources are also present, the study found.
Open space shrinks
The New York/New Jersey Highlands lost about 5,000 acres a year to development in the late 1990s, according to the study. Development appears to have continued apace this decade. In Dutchess, the Highlands towns of Beekman, East Fishkill and Pawling have been among the fastest-growing communities in New York.
Between 1990 and 2003, the population of those three towns increased by 9,764 people -- an 11.5 percent increase, according to the Census Bureau.
Under the Highlands Conservation Act, the government can now pay up to half the cost of buying land or purchasing easements that restrict future building. Local and state governments or private land trusts must pay the balance.
Congress has not appropriated a dime for 2005. When it does start spending, even if it decides to spend the full $100 million possible, there is likely to be stiff competition for the money. The price of land is high throughout the Highlands, and the act covers 2 million acres.
''We are all going to want to tap into the $100 million that is going to be made available over the next 10 years,'' said Andy Chmar, executive director of the Hudson Highlands Land Trust, which focuses on preserving land primarily in Putnam County. ''Spread over the entire region, it may not be as much as we all hoped, but it's a great first step.''
In New Jersey, protecting the Highlands has been a hot topic for several years. Last year, New Jersey prohibited building in some parts of the Highlands, restricted it in others and removed barriers to building in other areas.
Under the act, the governors of New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and Pennsylvania will recommend areas to the Forest Service for protection.
The only eligible lands will be those the Forest Service identified as priorities based on three maps that categorize the region's water resources, recreational value, wildlife habitat and scenic qualities, said Edward Boyer, highlands coordinator for the Forest Service. The map that highlights the Depot Hill area is one of those maps.
''Not everything is fundable through the Highlands Act,'' Boyer said.
Gov. George Pataki has proposed boosting spending on land purchases throughout the state by 25 percent next year. Among the priorities in the state's Open Space Conservation Plan is protecting a continuous swath of forest through the Highlands.
An umbrella organization of environmental groups has set its own priorities for the Highlands. The Highlands Coalition pushed for the law and its members have a hand setting state open space priorities.
The coalition groups identified 50,700 acres in New York they want to see preserved -- at an estimated cost of $260 million.
No group is focused on protecting land in the southern Dutchess towns, which include such peaks as Stormville, Shenandoah and Hosner mountains.
Scenic Hudson wants to buy a 1,100-acre piece of land that straddles Putnam and Dutchess counties on Scofield Ridge near the Hudson River north of Breakneck Ridge. That land is within the Forest Service's priority area in the East Hudson Highlands.
The land is owned by Peter Morris, a Chicago developer. Morris could not be reached.
A prime candidate
The property lies between Hudson Highlands State Park and Beacon reservoir lands, said Seth McKee, director of policy and programs for the Scenic Hudson Land Trust.
''We have had discussions with this owner. We would love to preserve this property or significant portions thereof, and in our minds it would be a prime property for Conservation Act funding because of its size and because it's one of the last large contiguous forest parcels that is unprotected in that area,'' McKee said.
The Great Swamp, which runs through the valleys of the Highlands in the eastern portion of Dutchess and Putnam counties, also qualifies for the federal money. Several groups have been active in protecting land in the swamp in recent years.
Other sources of local money could come from Dutchess County, which has an open space protection fund.
Beekman is considering strategies for protecting open space. There is some momentum for it to establish its own fund to protect open space, based on a survey that showed many residents were willing to pay more taxes to preserve open space. Pawling has purchased parkland in recent years.
People such as Klein just want to see land protected that preserves his water supply and the sense of place he's known since he was a boy.
''This was just fields and woods,'' Klein said, looking out from the top of the ridge in East Fishkill, past a row of new houses. ''Now look at this.''
Dan Shapley can be reached at [email protected] ([email protected])
On the Web
- Forest Service: www.fs.fed.us/na/highlands (http://www.fs.fed.us/na/highlands) - Highlands Coalition: www.highlandscoalition.org (http://www.highlandscoalition.org/)
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Catch you later...
KevBoy
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Fending off sprawl
Region's forests are endangered
By Dan Shapley
Poughkeepsie Journal
GREEN HAVEN -- For nearly 70 years, the Klein family has farmed in the shadow of Depot Hill, a forested ridge that runs through Beekman and East Fishkill.
The ridge is an arm of the Highlands, the mountains that include much of Putnam and Rockland counties, and smaller parts of Dutchess, Orange and Westchester counties. Congress and President Bush approved the Highlands Conservation Act last year, making the preservation of the Highlands in four states a priority. They agreed to spend as much as $100 million over 10 years to do the job.
The Appalachian Trail follows the Depot Hill ridgeline. The ridge naturally gathers water for the people who live below. Walter Klein, 72, has seen coyotes, ravens, bobcats and speckled brook trout.
Increasingly, it's also home to people who can afford homes that can cost more than $1 million.
A new development on Devon Farms Road on the ridge replaced forests and fields with parallel rows of homes, each with a commanding view west across Dutchess to the Catskill Mountains and the Highlands. New homes to the north, on Depot Hill Road in Beekman, are poking through the ridge's otherwise forested facade.
''We shouldn't have this mountain full of houses,'' Klein said one day recently while he drove a Journal reporter and photographer on a tour of the ridge. ''Around here, you can't build them fast enough.''
The Forest Service agrees. In a 2002 study of the Highlands, it identified 11 priority areas for conservation where the development pressure threatened important environmental, scenic and recreational assets. One of the priority areas is a large swath of Beekman, East Fishkill and Pawling.
Preserving the forests on dramatic mountains south of Beacon is another priority.
About 4.5 million New York and New Jersey residents rely on the Highlands for drinking water, including many in southern Dutchess. About 14 million people use it for recreation. Abundant wildlife, cultural and other resources are also present, the study found.
Open space shrinks
The New York/New Jersey Highlands lost about 5,000 acres a year to development in the late 1990s, according to the study. Development appears to have continued apace this decade. In Dutchess, the Highlands towns of Beekman, East Fishkill and Pawling have been among the fastest-growing communities in New York.
Between 1990 and 2003, the population of those three towns increased by 9,764 people -- an 11.5 percent increase, according to the Census Bureau.
Under the Highlands Conservation Act, the government can now pay up to half the cost of buying land or purchasing easements that restrict future building. Local and state governments or private land trusts must pay the balance.
Congress has not appropriated a dime for 2005. When it does start spending, even if it decides to spend the full $100 million possible, there is likely to be stiff competition for the money. The price of land is high throughout the Highlands, and the act covers 2 million acres.
''We are all going to want to tap into the $100 million that is going to be made available over the next 10 years,'' said Andy Chmar, executive director of the Hudson Highlands Land Trust, which focuses on preserving land primarily in Putnam County. ''Spread over the entire region, it may not be as much as we all hoped, but it's a great first step.''
In New Jersey, protecting the Highlands has been a hot topic for several years. Last year, New Jersey prohibited building in some parts of the Highlands, restricted it in others and removed barriers to building in other areas.
Under the act, the governors of New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and Pennsylvania will recommend areas to the Forest Service for protection.
The only eligible lands will be those the Forest Service identified as priorities based on three maps that categorize the region's water resources, recreational value, wildlife habitat and scenic qualities, said Edward Boyer, highlands coordinator for the Forest Service. The map that highlights the Depot Hill area is one of those maps.
''Not everything is fundable through the Highlands Act,'' Boyer said.
Gov. George Pataki has proposed boosting spending on land purchases throughout the state by 25 percent next year. Among the priorities in the state's Open Space Conservation Plan is protecting a continuous swath of forest through the Highlands.
An umbrella organization of environmental groups has set its own priorities for the Highlands. The Highlands Coalition pushed for the law and its members have a hand setting state open space priorities.
The coalition groups identified 50,700 acres in New York they want to see preserved -- at an estimated cost of $260 million.
No group is focused on protecting land in the southern Dutchess towns, which include such peaks as Stormville, Shenandoah and Hosner mountains.
Scenic Hudson wants to buy a 1,100-acre piece of land that straddles Putnam and Dutchess counties on Scofield Ridge near the Hudson River north of Breakneck Ridge. That land is within the Forest Service's priority area in the East Hudson Highlands.
The land is owned by Peter Morris, a Chicago developer. Morris could not be reached.
A prime candidate
The property lies between Hudson Highlands State Park and Beacon reservoir lands, said Seth McKee, director of policy and programs for the Scenic Hudson Land Trust.
''We have had discussions with this owner. We would love to preserve this property or significant portions thereof, and in our minds it would be a prime property for Conservation Act funding because of its size and because it's one of the last large contiguous forest parcels that is unprotected in that area,'' McKee said.
The Great Swamp, which runs through the valleys of the Highlands in the eastern portion of Dutchess and Putnam counties, also qualifies for the federal money. Several groups have been active in protecting land in the swamp in recent years.
Other sources of local money could come from Dutchess County, which has an open space protection fund.
Beekman is considering strategies for protecting open space. There is some momentum for it to establish its own fund to protect open space, based on a survey that showed many residents were willing to pay more taxes to preserve open space. Pawling has purchased parkland in recent years.
People such as Klein just want to see land protected that preserves his water supply and the sense of place he's known since he was a boy.
''This was just fields and woods,'' Klein said, looking out from the top of the ridge in East Fishkill, past a row of new houses. ''Now look at this.''
Dan Shapley can be reached at [email protected] ([email protected])
On the Web
- Forest Service: www.fs.fed.us/na/highlands (http://www.fs.fed.us/na/highlands) - Highlands Coalition: www.highlandscoalition.org (http://www.highlandscoalition.org/)
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Catch you later...
KevBoy