New York’s Adirondack Park, just two hours north of New York City, is often touted as a global model for biodiversity protection and co-existence with human populations. Approximately 45% of the six-million-acre state park is publicly owned, with 1.6 million acres protected as Wild Forest and 1.1 million acres protected as Wilderness.

The New York constitution has protected public land in the Adirondacks as “forever wild” since 1894, stating “…the forest preserve… shall be forever kept as wild forest lands. They shall not be leased, sold or exchanged…nor shall the timber thereon be sold, removed, or destroyed.” This legacy is a tremendous gift for every North American and for many generations to come.

While approximately half of the park is protected as forever wild, low-elevation lands rich in biological diversity remain largely unprotected. Of course, this pattern is seen across the United States. The “rock and ice lands,” limited in resources to extract, are protected, while the biologically rich lowlands, such as the Champlain Valley of the Adirondacks, are left vulnerable.

Map from Geographic Solutions

The greatest degree of biodiversity found in the park is within the Champlain Valley, but this area contains the least amount of protected land. The valley contains only a swath of forest in a sea of agriculture. The challenge is to preserve and restore this forested area—known as Split Rock Wildway—and reestablish a link from Lake Champlain to the High Peaks of the Adirondacks.

The Wildway was first conceived by Wildlands Project co-founder and board member John Davis. During rambles near his home in the Champlain Valley, he began contemplating the most effective way to protect and link existing conservation lands with a wildlife corridor. Split Rock Wildway is now a proposed habitat linkage extending from the Champlain Valley to the Jay Range Wilderness, a vital connection for wildlife movement within and beyond the park boundaries.

Joining Davis in his efforts, Wildlands Project board member Jamie Phillips has been instrumental in protecting important parcels within the Wildway, exploring creative, sustainable ways for living in the region and establishing partnerships with residents. Davis and Phillips are working with a strong association of individuals and organizations and making great strides in advancing the Wildway’s protection.

The Wildway features a range of elevational gradients and habitats that support a diversity of plants and animals. Protection of these gradients allows plants and animals to migrate upslope in response to climate change and other disturbances.

The Northeast Wilderness Trust (NWT) is a key partner in preserving the Split Rock Wildway. Based in Boston, NWT works to restore and preserve forever-wild landscapes for wildlife and people. NWT is the only regional land trust in the Northeast focused exclusively on forever-wild land protection. It has been protecting the Wildway for the past four years.

Recently, NWT targeted the Boquet Flats property, a low-elevation hardwood forest located in a largely unfragmented forest block within the Wildway. The 96-acre property is contiguous with other protected lands, and provides habitat for a wide range of species including black bear, fisher, pileated woodpecker and several species of salamanders. The price for acquiring and preserving Boquet Flats was $130,000.

The Wildlands Project stepped forward in support of this property with $50,000 from the Buy Back the ’Dacks Fund, created in 1992 to protect land in the Adirondacks. Buy Back the ’Dacks has helped preserve several parcels in the Split Rock Wildway.

The Wildlands Project has long championed the ecological benefits of connecting conserved lands while pointing out the limitations of preserving disconnected “islands” of habitat. Split Rock Wildway is a working example of this approach. Thanks to Buy Back the ’Dacks, NWT, and residents like John Davis and Jamie Phillips, the vision of a connected landscape from Lake Champlain to the High Peaks is becoming reality.