Essex on Lake Champlain
\"Essex
  • About
    • Essex, New York (Town)
      • Essex Maps
      • Essex, New York Weather
      • Town of Essex Government
      • Close
    • Essex on Lake Champlain (Blog)
      • Contributors
      • Sponsors
      • Testimonials
      • Get Involved
      • Close
    • Close
  • Books
  • Blog
  • Calendar
    • Add an Event
    • Upcoming Events
    • Close
  • Essex on Lake Champlain
  • Connect
    • Social Media
      • Facebook
      • Twitter
      • Google +
      • Pinterest
      • YouTube
      • Flickr
    • Newsletters
    • GET INVOLVED
    • CONTACT
        • Your Name (required)

          Your Email (required)

          Subject (required)

          Your Message

      • Close
    • Shop
    • Search
        • Search
          • Close
        • Categories
            • Agriculture (518)
            • Architecture (76)
            • Arts (357)
            • Business (122)
            • Daily Doodle (62)
            • Dining (151)
            • Doodle Quotes (5)
            • Doodlebomb (3)
            • Education (298)
            • Entertainment (373)
            • Environment (28)
            • Essex Doodles (62)
            • Events (1712)
            • Exercise (54)
            • Government (247)
            • Health & Wellness (135)
            • Heritage (397)
            • History (183)
            • Hyperlocal (29)
            • Landscape (35)
            • Lifestyle (197)
            • Lodging (16)
            • Music (278)
            • Nature (260)
            • News (1228)
            • Nightlife (18)
            • Obituary (9)
            • Opinion (45)
            • Outdoors (177)
            • People (115)
            • Philanthropy (87)
            • Real Estate (3)
            • Recreation (214)
            • Resources (7)
            • Services (7)
            • Shopping (96)
            • Sports (22)
            • Transportation (71)
            • Worship (17)
          • Close
        • Archives
            • June 2018 (21)
            • May 2018 (30)
            • April 2018 (28)
            • March 2018 (30)
            • February 2018 (31)
            • January 2018 (26)
            • December 2017 (23)
            • November 2017 (25)
            • October 2017 (22)
            • September 2017 (32)
            • August 2017 (35)
            • July 2017 (30)
            • June 2017 (30)
            • May 2017 (35)
            • April 2017 (31)
            • March 2017 (33)
            • February 2017 (30)
            • January 2017 (35)
            • December 2016 (30)
            • November 2016 (37)
            • October 2016 (43)
            • September 2016 (53)
            • August 2016 (49)
            • July 2016 (59)
            • June 2016 (70)
            • May 2016 (57)
            • April 2016 (64)
            • March 2016 (69)
            • February 2016 (56)
            • January 2016 (46)
            • December 2015 (39)
            • November 2015 (43)
            • October 2015 (61)
            • September 2015 (57)
            • August 2015 (61)
            • July 2015 (54)
            • June 2015 (41)
            • May 2015 (67)
            • April 2015 (66)
            • March 2015 (72)
          • Load More
          • Close
        • Contact us
          • CONTACT US

              Your Name (required)

              Your Email (required)

              Subject (required)

              Your Message

            • Close
        • Close
      • Log In
        • Log Into Calendar
        • Log Into Blog
        • Close
      • Skip to primary navigation
      • Skip to main content
      • Skip to primary sidebar
      • Skip to footer

      Essex on Lake Champlain

      Essex, New York Community Blog Since 2011

      • Lifestyle
        • Agriculture
          • CSAs in Essex, NY
            • Essex Farm
            • Full and By Farm
          • Farmstead Catering
          • The Hub on the Hill
          • Reber Rock Farm
        • Outdoors
          • Champlain Area Trails (CATS)
          • Pok-O-MacCready Outdoor Education Center
        • Entertainment
          • Champlain Valley Film Series
          • Whallonsburg Grange Hall
        • Arts
          • Adirondack Art Association
          • Essex Community Concerts
          • Champlain Valley Film Series
          • Essex Poetry Open Mic
        • Music
          • Essex Community Concerts
        • Shopping
        • Recreation
          • Champlain Area Trails (CATS)
        • Health & Wellness
          • Lake Champlain Yoga & Wellness
          • NEW Health
        • Nature
          • Champlain Area Trails (CATS)
        • Education
          • CFES Brilliant Pathways
          • Pok-O-MacCready Outdoor Education Center
        • Nightlife
        • Worship
      • Events
        • Christmas in Essex
        • Downtown Essex Day
        • Fourth of July in Essex, NY
      • Dining
        • Chez Lin & Rays
        • Essex Ice Cream Cafe
        • Essex Inn on the Adirondack Coast
        • Farmstead Catering
        • Old Dock Restaurant
        • The Pink Pig Cafe
      • Lodging
        • Essex Inn on the Adirondack Coast
        • The Cupola House and Cottage
      • Transportation
        • Essex-Charlotte Ferry
      • Heritage
        • Architecture
          • Essex, New York Architecture: A Doodler’s Field Guide
        • Historic Essex
        • History
        • People
        • Government
          • Essex Post Office
          • Town of Essex Government
        • Vintage Essex Trivia
        • Vintage Essex Artifacts
      • Directory
        • Adirondack Art Association
        • Champlain Area Trails (CATS)
        • CFES Brilliant Pathways
        • The Cupola House and Cottage
        • Essex-Charlotte Ferry
        • Essex Farm
        • Essex Ice Cream Cafe
        • Essex Initiatives
        • Essex Post Office
        • Farmstead Catering
        • Full and By Farm
        • Historic Essex
        • Lake Champlain Yoga & Wellness
        • NEW Health
        • Pedal Power
        • Reber Rock Farm
        • The Hub on the Hill
        • Town of Essex Government
        • Whallonsburg Grange Hall
      • Show Search
      Hide Search
      You are here: Home / Outdoors / Building Bridges & Another Conservation Easement Success Story

      Building Bridges & Another Conservation Easement Success Story

      April 26, 2016 By Champlain Area Trails (CATS) Leave a Comment

      Building Bridges for Grand Hike to the Essex Inn

      Building bridges (Credit: CATS)
      Building bridges (Credit: CATS)

      We built some bridges in preparation for the May 14th Grand Hike to the Essex Inn. Using materials purchased by a Creating Healthy Places grant, we placed boardwalks and short bridges on the new “Wadhams Highlands Trail” and the Field and Forest Trail. This year, we are starting the hike in Wadhams and starting a little later—between 12:15 and 1:30. Sign up now so you can enjoy this amazing hike. Click here for details and to register.

      Trail of the Week

      Coon Mountain View (Credit: CATS)
      (Credit: CATS)

      Spring is an especially great time for hiking to the top of Coon Mountain in Westport, a nature preserve owned by the Adirondack Land Trust. It has a fabulous display of wildflowers in the ravine where you climb the steep stone stairsteps through the small beech-maple forest community. This moderate 2 mile round-trip hike begins on Halds Road 3/4 of a mile west of Lakeshore Road. It features fabulous views of the Champlain Valley and Adirondack High Peaks.

      Conservation Easements: Success Story #2 – Full & By Farm

      [See the previous posts discussing conservation easements here.]

      When the Eddy Foundation bought a large property in Essex featuring Boquet Mountain about fifteen years ago, the primary purpose was to conserve the forest because it is part of the Split Rock Wildway wildlife corridor connecting Lake Champlain and the Adirondack Mountains. The property came with a run-down farm with untended fields along Leaning Road.

      Full and By Farm, Essex, NY
      Full and By Farm, Essex, NY

      Several years later, James Graves and Sara Kurak, who had come here to work at Essex Farm and were looking for their own farm, made an arrangement with Eddy and began renovating the farm. It’s best for farmers to own their farm so Sara and James made an arrangement with Eddy Foundation so they could buy the farm at a price they could afford. That was done through their donation of a conservation easement that keeps the land open for farming, provides wide vegetated buffer along the Boquet River to protect clean water, and encourages farming practices that preserves wildlife habitat. The donated conservation easement provided income tax benefits and a credit on their state income tax worth 25% of their property taxes. Their “Full and By Farm” became one of our area’s first “community supported agriculture (CSA)” farms providing outstanding local farm products to its happy members. It has also spawned several other new, young farmers who are making the Champlain Valley known for productive local farms growing food we all enjoy.

      Chris Maron
      CATS Executive Director

      Related articles
      • Weasels of Our Home: Aquatic Mustelids (www.essexonlakechamplain.com)
      • Split Rock Wildway: A Critical Wildlife Corridor (www.essexonlakechamplain.com)
      • Champlain Area Trails Honors Founding Member Bruce Klink (www.essexonlakechamplain.com)
      • Serpentine Splendors: Snakes of Split Rock Wildway (www.essexonlakechamplain.com)
      • Split Rock Wildway: Creating and Protecting a Wildlife Corridor (www.essexonlakechamplain.com)

      Share this:

      • Facebook
      • Twitter
      • Pinterest
      • Email
      • More
      • Print
      • LinkedIn
      • Pocket
      • Reddit
      • Tumblr

      Filed Under: Outdoors Tagged With: CATS (Champlain Area Trails), CATS Grand Hike, Conservation easement, Coon Mountain, CSA, Eddy Foundation, Full and By Farm, James Graves, Sara Kurak, Split Rock Wildway

      Avatar photo

      About Champlain Area Trails (CATS)

      Champlain Area Trails (CATS) is a non-profit organization, begun in 2009, which creates and maintains hiking and cross-country ski trails in the Champlain Valley that link communities, connect people with nature, and promote economic vitality. In its short history, CATS has developed 35 miles of trails that when added to existing trails, gets it half-way toward the long-envisioned goal of a 30-mile trail loop between Westport and Essex. CATS will extend its trails to neighboring towns and eventually connect them to trails in the Adirondack Mountains, Vermont, and Quebec. Learn more on the CATS website.

      Reader Interactions

      Leave a Reply Cancel reply

      Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

      This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

      Primary Sidebar

      Essex, New York Architecture: A Doodler’s Field Guide 

      Essex, New York Architecture: A Doodler's Field Guide

      View all Essex Editions books...

      Follow Essex, NY on FacebookFollow Essex, NY on TwitterFollow Essex, NY on PinterestFollow Essex, NY on YouTubeFollow Essex, NY on FlickrFollow Essex, NY on RSS

      Search

      Top 10 Contributors

      • Katie Shepard (595)
      • Geo Davis (394)
      • Whallonsburg Grange Hall (259)
      • Avatar photoChamplain Area Trails (CATS) (208)
      • Avatar photoEssex Farm (205)
      • Olive Alexander (190)
      • Sara Kurak (165)
      • Avatar photoTom Mangano (142)
      • Avatar photoFort Ticonderoga (142)
      • Avatar photoLakeside School (116)

      Footer

      Resources & Policies

      • About Essex on Lake Champlain
      • About Essex, New York
      • Essex, NY Weather
      • Disclosure Policy
      • Privacy Policy
      • Submit a Story
      • Contact Us

      Popular Essex, NY Searches

      • Essex, NY
      • Essex, New York
      • Essex on Lake Champlain
      • Essex Charlotte ferry
      • Essex ferry schedule
      • Essex Charlotte ferry schedule
      • Full and By Farm
      • Essex Farm
      • timber rattlesnake
      • Essex NY fireworks
      • Christmas in Essex, NY
      • Champlain Area Trails

      Local Links

      • Adirondack Art Association
      • Belden Noble Memorial Library
      • Champlain Area Trails
      • Champlain Valley Film Series
      • Essex Community Concerts
      • Essex Theatre Company
      • Historic Essex
      • Rosslyn Redux
      • The Crater Club
      • Town of Essex Information
      • Whallonsburg Grange Hall

      Copyright © 2023 Essex Editions

       

      Loading Comments...