The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) is ultimately responsible for the hands-on work on trails, campsites, access roads, and trailhead parking lots. Recently two projects were completed in the Tooley Pond Conservation Easement to improve a road and a popular multi-use trail trail.
These projects are funded by the Environmental Protection Fund‘s overuse funds, which was allocated by the legislature as a dedicated source of revenue for areas in the Adirondack and Catskill Parks that accommodate more visitation, relieving pressure on other high-use areas.
The Tooley Pond Conservation Easement is a more than 23,000-acre tract in Adirondack Park’s Grass River Complex. The easement provides opportunities to the public for fishing, hunting, snowmobiling, observing nature, and accessing the St. Lawrence County Multi-use Trail.
According to DEC, over time, increased use and weathering had created uneven, rocky conditions on several roads and trails within the Tooley Pond easement, making navigation by visitors difficult.
DEC’s Region 6 Potsdam office supervised two separate projects in the Tooley Pond Conservation Easement. The first project resurfaced 1.5 miles of the Old Railroad Bed Haul Road south of Tooley Pond Road.
The second project resurfaced a half mile of the St. Lawrence County Multi-use Trail north of Tooley Pond Road and installed ditches and culverts to improve water drainage.
Since the Tooley Pond Conservation Easement is considered better suited for motorized and higher impact uses than nearby parcels of Grass River Wild Forest, DEC says it hopes that completion of these projects will also divert recreation from more sensitive Forest Preserve tracts in a sustainable way.
DEC contracted with Seaway Timber Harvesting, Inc., to complete the work.
Photos, from above, provided by DEC: The St Lawrence County Multi-use Trail in the Tooley Pond Conservation Easement, after improvements of Oct 2024; and before.
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