The New York State Conservation Partnership Program has awarded the Adirondack Land Trust a grant of $23,535 to improve trails at Coon Mountain. The grant was made possible by a private matching grant of $6,000 from the Fields Pond Foundation, $1,000 from the Ellen Lea Paine Memorial Nature Fund, and $4,490 in donations from 21 individuals.

The Adirondack Land Trust was also awarded a Conservation Partnership Program grant of $30,000 to increase its technical capacity to protect and care for lands such as Coon Mountain. The technology grant was matched by a $10,000 private grant from the Jane N. Mooty Foundation.

The Adirondack Land Trust’s Coon Mountain Preserve includes a one-mile hike with views over Champlain Valley farmlands, woodlands, Lake Champlain, the Adirondack High Peaks and the Green Mountains of Vermont.

These grants were two of more than $2.2 million in Conservation Partnership Program grants awarded to 47 not-for-profit land trusts across New York. A total of 70 grants funded through New York’s Environmental Protection Fund will leverage an additional $2.2 million in private and local funding to support projects that protect water quality and farmland, boost public access for outdoor recreation, and conserve open space areas that benefit community health, tourism and economic development. The program is administered by the Land Trust Alliance in coordination with the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation.

The Adirondack Land Trust (ALT) established Coon Mountain Preserve in 1991 through a land swap with a timberland owner. With the help of Champlain Valley friends and neighbors, ALT purchased land over the years to expand the preserve to 378 acres.

The trail system has become well-worn over 28 years. The funding will allow Wilderness Property Management (WPM), of North Creek, to begin a second year of work on a seven-phase trail-improvement project on April 29. WPM is rerouting, redesigning and reinforcing sensitive sections of trail to prepare them for potentially increased use.

The land trust also plans to work with local woodworkers, mapmakers, naturalists and graphic designers to improve a trailhead kiosk and brochures.

For directions and more information on Coon Mountain, click here.

Founded in 1984, the Adirondack Land Trust works to protect farms and forests, undeveloped shoreline, scenic vistas, and lands and waters contributing to the quality of life of our communities as well as the wildness and rural character of the Adirondacks. The land trust has protected 24,194 acres to date. To learn more, contact info@adirondacklandtrust.org, or call (518) 576-2400.

Map of Coon Mountain courtesy Adirondack Atlas. Photo of Zack Rabeler, a crew member with Wilderness Property Management, reroutes a trail at the Adirondack Land Trust’s Coon Mountain Preserve courtesy Nancie Battaglia.