BNRC purchases 144 Acres of Black Bear Habitat

Henry Flint, Sandy Flint and Tad Ames in Alford

Along salmon streams in the Western US, it is well documented that nutrients from bear scat and decomposing fish carcasses increase tree growth. On a recent site visit with BNRC board member Henry Flint and his son Sandy, we began to wonder if proximity to corn fields might yield a similar result. The question arose while walking BNRC’s new 144-acre tract located in the Taconic Mountains above the Wilcox and Shepard farms in Alford Valley. The evidence of black bear was hard to miss.

The new parcel, purchased from Reed Rubin, who conveyed it in memory of his father in-law Phillip Gregory, is adjacent to BNRC’s Alford Springs Reserve, accessed by Mountain Road. The now 776-acre Reserve features a loop trail that winds through high elevation forestland, over cold brooks, and past abundant blackberry bushes. The new acreage has fantastic potential for additional loop trails that would include views over Alford Valley and opportunities to see wood ducks, wild turkey, and black bear.

All of this could have been very different. The 144-acre tract was the subject of a proposed mountain-side subdivision of 25 lots. If built, the subdivision would have been a textbook example of habitat loss and fragmentation. Preserved, it provides a textbook example of conservation partnership and habitat protection.

BNRC received a low-interest loan from The Conservation Fund to purchase the property on December 23, 2008. To pay off the loan, we sold a conservation restriction to the Division of Fisheries and Wildlife, and raised private donations with the help of the Alford Land Trust. The 144-acre addition to the Alford Springs Reserve stopped northward expansion of the subdivision on Old Village Road and enhanced the recreation and wildlife habitat values of the Reserve. We thank all the individuals and institutions that made this acquisition possible and we thank the bears for doing their part to support a healthy forest.

What could have been: the proposed subdivision of the Rubin property.

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