The Adirondack Park just got bigger. The previous landowners of the park’s new land, located on the south side of Moxham Mountain, left the area undeveloped, so the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) and the Student Conservation Association (SCA) have a chance to create a new recreational area with long-lasting trails that can withstand heavy foot traffic while protecting wildlife.
The mountain, part of the Vanderwhacker Mountain Wild Forest, is a pristine wilderness. The land trust purchase happened after the DEC and SCA opened a trail on the north side of Moxham Mountain in 2012.
Zac Ballard, the manager of the SCA Adirondack Corps trail crew from 2008 to 2013, said, “The state had acquired a new piece of property and got to the top of the mountain, and they kind of identified that as something that people would inevitably want to get to.”
As an SCA staff member, Ballard led small groups into the Adirondack wilderness for days at a time to create and manage rural trails.
“It’s a challenge to think of what tools we need to get the job done to make us the most efficient in the field without taking every single tool under the sun,” said Ballard. “It can often be 100 pounds of tools, and that’s in addition to gear that you may be using to camp at your worksite and all the food you would need to stay at your worksite.”
Read more at The Science Writer. Author Jessica Andreone is an SCA alumna…
