Safeguarding Vulnerable Land at Cowee Forest

Our Impact Our Projects Safeguarding Vulnerable Land at Cowee Forest

Along the area where New York, Vermont and Massachusetts meet, The Conservation Fund is protecting 23,000 acres.

Quick Facts

2.2M

tons of CO2 trapped from the atmosphere, equivalent to removing 471,000 passenger cars from the road for one year

305

jobs supported across Vermont, Massachusetts and New York, contributing to local economies

27B

gallons of water filtered annually

miles of streams conserved

Cowee Forest once consisted of several parcels of privately owned forestland scattered along the area where New York, Vermont and Massachusetts meet. Totaling 23,000 acres, the lands were assembled over generations to support wood-products manufacturing mills in the Rensselaer Plateau and Taconic regions.

The forest was sold to an investment fund and eventually put on the market, leaving it vulnerable to subdivision and conversion to non-forest uses — and threatening the local economy and the wildlife that depend on it.

Our Role

In 2017, TCF purchased the property. As temporary owner, we will manage the property as a sustainable working forest and will partner with the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation and local communities and other stakeholders across all three states to develop a strategy for Cowee Forest’s permanent protection.

In New York, a large portion of the permanent conservation funding will come from the U.S. Forest Service’s Forest Legacy Program through the Land and Water Conservation Fund, spearheaded by local landowners and advocates of working forest conservation such as the Rensselaer Plateau Alliance.

Why This Project Matters

Located just a short drive from Albany, New York, and Bennington, Vermont, Cowee Forest is adjacent to thousands of acres of protected public land, which enhances access to popular outdoor recreational activities such as hiking, biking, fishing, snowmobiling and cross-country skiing. The Cowee Forest lands in New York contain a portion of the Albany Road, a colonial highway dating back to 1753 and the first road that crossed the Rensselaer Plateau and the Taconic Mountains. The forest also sits within the viewshed of the Dickinson Hill Fire Tower, which is on the National Register of Historic Places.

Across the country, millions of acres of forestland such as those in Cowee Forest are at risk of being sold, as owners try to find a more profitable use for the land. Our work is helping to demonstrate that sustainable working forests are economically viable and are the best outcome for local communities and the environment.