When completed, the easement will be the largest ever for the ALT, and protect a parcel of land PSC has been conserving through its practices, though not on paper.

The easement will preserve the natural landscape — limiting development and subdivision of the property — and preserve the traditional uses of the land for education, recreation and athletics.

The VIC attracts 35,000 visitors annually, who hike, ski, snowshoe, play disk golf and birdwatch on the trails there, according to the college. The Nordic ski trails and biathlon shooting range are used by the college’s ski team for training. The college also uses the wilderness there as a “living laboratory” and a “working forest” where students learn about ecology and practice sustainable forestry.

PSC Dean of the Faculty Brett McLeod said the people who use the VIC probably won’t notice a difference. But that’s sort of the whole point of a conservation easement.

An aerial view of Barnum Brook and the Boreal Life Trail. (Provided photo — Eric Adsit, courtesy Adirondack Land Trust)

“A lot of people think that it was already protected,” ALT Conservation Program Director Chris Jage said.

He said this is because the college’s ethics, values and decisions around the property have preserved it, though there was no official conservation written down on paper. Over the years, wealthy landowners have made offers to the college to buy portions of the VIC but the college has always turned them down.

“I think there was this assumption because it is a nature center that it was wholly protected, but the reality is that it did not have any development protections on the land,” McLeod said.

PSC President Dan Kelting said it is exciting to be involved in something so momentous. Both ALT and PSC have been eyeing a conservation easement at the VIC for years now. Jage said it’s an attractive property. Kelting said it has been needing official protection. The agreement came about from staff of both groups meeting up and talking at events.

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Details of the easement

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The college will continue to own the land. Partial rights to the land would be given to ALT, giving it a legal responsibility to uphold the ecological objectives of the easement.

ALT will annually monitor the property to make sure the conservation values are upheld. ALT staff have created a detailed baseline report describing nearly every square foot of the land as it currently is.

The VIC is one of the only parcels of land owned by the college that is not currently protected. PSC has easements with New York to protect around 7,700 acres of its properties, including some of the earliest working forest conservation easements dating back to the 1990s.

McLeod said the VIC is different. PSC wanted to retain the right to manage its use privately, to ensure it stays open to students and the public. ALT agreed to find a way to do that. McLeod said this flexibility in allowing the current uses is what led the college and environmental nonprofit to work together.

The agreement allows forestry practices that are not in other easements; includes “envelopes” of development around the main lodge, the biathlon range and Osgood Farm; and makes accommodations for the college to continue to modernize its biathlon range and Nordic facility with snowmaking, grooming and new trails, as long as they don’t impact natural features.

ALT Communications Director Connie Prickett said the easement also has a buffer area around wetlands and waterbodies where timber cannot be harvested that exceeds state standards.

McLeod said conservation is about more than preserving land — it’s also about ensuring that land has continued value to people. He said ALT is an “exceptional partner” to do that with.

“This easement isn’t just about protection — it’s about alignment,” McLeod said in a statement. “When you have two mission-driven organizations with deep roots in the Adirondacks and real expertise on the ground, you can move quickly and get bold things done.”

He said it took a lot of trust — easement lasts forever and they needed room to plan for the future.

McLeod said easements today look at impacts rather than use. In the past, they would do things like ban motor vehicles. Now, easements do things like making sure motor vehicles don’t cause any unwanted impacts to the land.

“The countless ‘firsts’ that happen on the VIC forestlands — a kid’s first diagonal stride on cross-country skis, a birder’s first scarlet tanager sighting, a student’s introduction to Adirondack ecosystems — tell a powerful story,” ALT Executive Director Mike Carr said in a statement.

The ALT plans to finalize the easement by Dec. 31.

If finished by then, this will be the fastest-ever completed ALT easement — less than 12 months from initial conversations to final recording. Jage said sometimes these talks last decades. But the two parties’ experience in forestry and the in-house land stewardship offered by VIC staff allowed this speed.

It has launched a campaign to raise $4.1 million for the cost of the easement. This is set by calculating the value of the college giving up development rights at the property.

The influx of $4.1 million to the college will provide PSC with a bit of “stability,” McLeod said. Kelting said they plan to reinvest this money into academics and the VIC. The college is on an ambitious plan for growth after a period of declining enrollment and a failed partnership with another organization.

Jage said they are looking at “all channels” to raise the money for the purchase. The ALT relies a lot on private individual giving — small and large donations. Prickett also said they have put out $2 million in grant requests from local and national institutions.

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The property

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The VIC property is bordered by Keese Mills Road on its southern edge. It goes north to Barnum Pond and Jenkins Mountain and then east, across state Route 30 to Osgood Farm. Kelting said the VIC is the college’s most public property.

It is surrounded by more than 100,000 acres of land protected by the state Forest Preserve, other land trusts or other means. The VIC has a mix of northern hardwood forests, wetlands, mountains and ponds.

“(The property) ranges in elevation from 1,596 feet above sea level — at the outlet of an unnamed pond along Keese Mills Road — to 2,488 feet — at the summit of Jenkins Mountain,” Prickett said.

The property has 15 water bodies, including several which provide habitat for a self-sustaining population of heritage-strain brook trout which is used for the state’s stocking program. It has lowland boreal forests which provide habitat for white-fringed orchids, black-backed woodpeckers, boreal chickadees, bobcats and moose. It also has deep peatlands which store carbon.

The VIC has 25 miles of trails and is the western anchor of the 30-mile Jackrabbit Trail which connects Paul Smiths and Keene.

The ALT is holding a tour of the VIC on Thursday from 5 to 6:30 p.m. For more information, go to tinyurl.com/yufymjj8.