The DEC first announced the planned acquisition of the conservation easements on the Follensby Pond property in February. Under the agreement, the Nature Conservancy will retain ownership of the property while the DEC permanently protects it, creating both public recreational access and a freshwater research preserve at the site.

“Today’s announcement marks a critical milestone in the State’s efforts to open the Follensby property to recreation while advancing opportunities for research and preserving these lands and waters for future generations,” DEC Chief of Staff Erica Ringewald said in a statement. “Working hand-in-hand with our partners at The Nature Conservancy, New York state is implementing a conservation pilot that supports globally significant research and ensures visitors have the opportunity to see these pristine lands and waters for the first time in decades.”

The 14,645-acre parcel was first purchased by the Nature Conservancy in 2008. It includes 10 miles of shoreline on the Raquette River and the 958-acre Follensby Pond. The sale closed slightly later than expected, with DEC officials in February saying they expected the sale to close in the spring.

The money for the purchase — which DEC officials said in February would amount to $9.3 million plus additional unspecified transaction expenses — came from the state’s Environmental Protection Fund, which received $400 million in this year’s budget.

Follensby Pond easement (Photo provided — New York state Department of Environmental Conservation)

“The Nature Conservancy has been caring for Follensby Pond for 16 years and in partnership with DEC, we are thrilled to embark on this next chapter that includes new recreational access to nearly 6,000 acres adjacent to the High Peaks Wilderness Complex and the establishment of a research preserve that pilots a collaborative approach to freshwater conservation in a changing climate,” Peg Olsen, director of the Adirondack chapter of the Nature Conservancy, said in a statement.

The easement along the Raquette River includes the lower Moose Creek watershed and will provide public access to the river, which is part of the Northern Forest Canoe Trail and also a popular brook trout fishing location. Public access will be granted to 5,985 acres along 10 miles of the river for the first time in a century, the DEC said. The easement tract will only be accessible via the Raquette River; There is no road access. It’s adjacent to the DEC’s 275,000-acre High Peaks Wilderness Complex. The easement will support non-motorized public recreation activities like camping, picnicking, hiking, hunting and fishing.

Follensby Pond is the site of transcendentalist Ralph Waldo Emerson’s 1858 “Philosophers Camp,” a gathering of philosophers, artists and scientists that is often cited as one of the founding moments of the American conservation movement. It is also the location where DEC reintroduced the bald eagle to the Adirondacks in 1983.

The Follensby Pond easement will not be open regularly to the public, though the Nature Conservancy plans to provide managed access via public education opportunities consistent with the pond’s new use as a research site. An 8,660-acre freshwater research preserve is set to be established at Follensby. The preserve will serve as a research site to monitor the impacts of climate change while simultaneously protecting the habitat for cold-water fish and aquatic species.

Former DEC Commissioner Basil Seggos said in February that this research preserve will be “one-of-a-kind.”

“(Follensby was) not picked by chance,” he said. “This is one of only nine remaining intact such bodies of water in the lower 48 states that still supports an old-growth population of fish.”

Follensby sits at an elevation of 1,545 feet and has a depth of 102 feet. These characteristics make the pond relatively cold and resilient to climate change and will give scientists the opportunity to research the effects of climate change on an “unexploited population” of aquatic life.

“Less than 1% of lakes are lucky enough to have the physics to protect the populations of fish and other organisms,” Peter McIntyre, professor of aquatic conservation at Cornell University, said in February.

The state plans to establish a science and research consortium that includes the DEC, the Nature Conservancy, Cornell University, Paul Smith’s College Adirondack Watershed Institute, SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and U.S. Geological Survey. He added the pond, under this plan, would become a “global destination for research.” Through a partnership with SUNY ESF’s Center for Native Peoples and the Environment, the DEC said that it also plans to “(restore) Indigenous peoples’ access to, and caretaking of, their ancestral homelands.”