Adirondack Land Trust Conservation Program Director Chris Jage speaks at a press conference in Saranac Lake Tuesday. (Enterprise photo — Aaron Marbone)

SARANAC LAKE — The Adirondack Land Trust was awarded $100,000 by the state on Tuesday toward its project to build a 2.25-mile network of accessible trails with parking at the 238-acre Glenview Preserve on state Route 86.

“It’s one thing to open up lands for recreation. We have a lot of those,” ALT Conservation Program Director Chris Jage said. “But to do something that’s fully accessible for people of all ages, people of all mobilities and people of all comfort levels out in nature (is different).”

The preserve, near the Harrietstown Cemetery, is known for its grand sweeping view of Whiteface and the McKenzie Mountain Range.

The state Department of Environmental Conservation interim Commissioner Sean Mahar was in Saranac Lake on Tuesday to announce the state’s $3 million in grants for 64 Conservation Partnership Program projects, including the support of 44 not-for-profit land trusts like ALT across the state.

The timeline for this Glenview Preserve project has shifted. Initially planned to break ground this summer, the work likely won’t start until next year. The project would need approvals from the town of Harrietstown, the Adirondack Park Agency and the state Department of Transportation before starting construction.

ALT Grants Manager Mary Thill said they have a lot of fundraising still to do to fund the project.

Thill, who wrote the grant, said universally accessible trails are more expensive to create than footpaths.

It’s been a controversial project, especially among neighbors of the land, who have criticized it as too much development or a traffic safety hazard. Others are excited for the chance to access such a beautiful location not far from town.

In an ALT survey and in letters to the editor in the Enterprise, people have expressed both passionate support and opposition for the project.

But there have been several design changes since initial conceptual plans for the property were shared.

Instead of the 3.4 miles of trails initially considered, it would have 2.25 miles of gravel trails with a spur trail leading to a natural overlook on the Bloomingdale Bog. Instead of a 22 parking space lot that was estimated, it would have a 16 parking space lot with three of those being paved handicap spots. The proposed pavilion would have a vegetated roof. There are also plans for an informational kiosk and bathrooms at the site.

Jage said the forest there is recovering from years of logging. It was last logged in 2011 and still has logging trails there. He said since the ALT acquired the land from the Trevor family in 2016, they have always wanted to open it to the public.

The ALT currently mows the field and keeps trees from growing to preserve the meadow and the view.

The Adirondack Land Trust was noted by the state as an accredited land trust which met “high standards for land conservation, stewardship and nonprofit management” through its work.

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Other land trusts

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The state’s CPP awards totaled $508,601 in the North Country, including an $82,000 for The Nature Conservancy to develop a Cultural Provisioning Network to facilitate Indigenous access to its lands in Keene Valley. The application says this could be a model for other lands trusts and private landowners to build bridges between Indigenous Nations and communities in their ancestral lands.

Other projects will protect water quality and prevent farmland conversion.

The CPP is supported by the state’s Environmental Protection Fund and administered by the Washington, D.C.-based Land Trust Alliance.

The Land Trust Alliance’s New York Program Manager Jamie Brown said land trusts can be large tracks of land — forests and fields — as well as small patches like community gardens and open spaces in urban cities.

While the state usually protects wide swaths of land here, Brown said land trusts are privately owned protected land, supported by the state. These 501(c)3 trusts sometimes hold properties to sell to the state, or manage and preserve them on their own.

Mahar said partnerships between the state and land trusts are key to conservation.

Brown said these grants contribute to New York and the federal government’s “30 by 30” goal of conserving 30% of public land by 2030. In 2022, Gov. Kathy Hochul signed legislation setting the goal for New York to contribute to the U.S. goal to conserve at least 30% of U.S. land and water by 2030.