Threats to the Ridge Actions that should be taken to save the Ridge About the Shawangunk Ridge Coalition Media coverage about the Shawangunk Ridge Learn more about the environment of the Shawangunk Ridge Conservation efforts on the Shawangunk Ridge Recreation on the Shawangunk Ridge Maps of the Shawangunk Ridge Links to supporters and affiliated sites Search this site for information Contact information for the Shawangunk Ridge Coalition Return to our home page

'Gunks battle brewing Developer wants to build on nature reserve land
By Dan Shapley
Poughkeepsie Journal, Monday, January 13, 2003

Kathy McLaughlin/Poughkeepsie Journal
The land surrounding Tillson Lake in Gardiner is part of the development
proposal that will be publicly aired Jan. 21. This photo was taken Thursday
along Lake Road.

GARDINER -- In environmental studies, there are two competing theories of protecting land -- conservation and preservation.
The proposed development of a 2,660-acre forest known as Awosting Reserve at the base of Ulster County's landmark Shawangunk Ridge is fast turning into a case study of that debate.

The contrasting visions of the ridge's future have set in motion a battle
the likes of which hasn't been seen in the Shawangunk mountains in two
decades. In the 1980s, residents successfully fought a condominium and hotel proposal on land the state eventually turned into Minnewaska State Park Preserve. Minnewaska shares a five-mile border with Awosting Reserve.

The ''conservation community'' proposed by own-er John Atwater Bradley and the development firm Chaffin/Light Associates would create plots for 349 retreats, cottages and cabins around a village center and a 296-acre golf course near Tillson Lake. They will most likely be sold for second homes to wealthy families.

Impact called small

The development would have a small impact on the environment relative to other developments that size, with strict building guidelines to ensure
conservation, said Roger Beck, president of Awosting Reserve.

An Awosting Trust would be formed to educate landowners about living in
harmony with the land. It would also manage the 1,753 acres -- about 60
percent of the property -- that is to be put in a conservation easement
barring future development.

''Our theory is that we've got to figure out a way to have compatible
development on the land,'' Beck said. ''If you bring people in who care a
lot about the environment and put them on the land and educate them, then they will care for the undeveloped portion of that land very efficiently,
very effectively, and it's another form of environmental conservation.''

Awosting Reserve's neighbors -- Sam's Point Preserve, Mohonk Preserve and Minnewaska State Park Preserve -- are examples of preservation. Each is open to the public at a cost, and each has little but foot trails and carriage roads criss-crossing the white-cliffed ridge and its vast forests.

Together, the preserves have made the Shawangunks -- or Gunks as they are commonly known -- a popular destination for hiking, biking, rock climbing, blueberry picking and other recreation. Its sheer cliffs and sky lakes are popular for locals and tourists.

Homes might disrupt ecology

The question is whether enclaves of expensive homes carved forest at the
base of the cliffs will interrupt the ecology of a place both sides of the
debate speak of in reverential tones.

''In our own New York legacy, FDR and Teddy Roosevelt were great
conservationists,'' said Richard Feldman, a professor in the Department of
Environmental Science at Marist College in Poughkeepsie. ''They viewed
resources as things to be used to the benefit of human society while
protecting them so they would be present for future generations. Good
conservation is about sustainable use of those resources.''

By contrast, preservation means no development at all, Feldman said.

''Since we've got this remarkable section of New York State that is being
encroached upon little by little, slowly from the south, it behooves us to
protect it from encroachment,'' Feldman said. ''Some planners would say the worst thing is low-density, dispersed development'' rather than clustering new houses where population centers already exist.

The forest is home to increasing numbers of bear, fisher -- a member of the weasel family -- and other animals that need large tracts of unbroken
forest. The ridge is also home to four rare natural habitats and 27 rare
plant and animal species, including peregrine falcons that have nested in
recent years on the cliffs.

Organizations such as the Nature Conservancy and the Open Space Institute, which manage and own, respectively, Sam's Point Preserve, have tried to buy Bradley's land without success. The two tracts share a small border.

Bradley, a 70-year-old partner in a Manhattan consulting firm who splits his time between New York City and Ulster County homes, bought the Shawangunk land in pieces over three decades. He has rejected offers from companies that proposed developments that would have damaged the environment, Beck said.

Chaffin/Light Associates has planned developments similar to Awosting
Reserve's around the country, including a development Beck said is similar
in South Carolina. It has been heralded by golf enthusiasts as well as the
Audubon Society and the Urban Land Institute. Home sites there are on sale for between $250,000 and $4.8 million.

Awosting Reserve is in the towns of Gardiner, Shawangunk and Warwarsing. Eighty-four percent of the land is in Gardiner. No development is planned for the 141-acre Warwarsing portion. Permit applications have been filed in Gardiner but a moratorium on subdivisions has delayed any formal action in Shawangunk.

The plan calls for 500-foot setbacks from the distinctive white cliffs,
100-foot buffers around state-designated wetlands and 50-foot buffers around five streams in the Shawangunk Kill watershed.

No tree older than 100 years old will be cut down, documents filed in the
Town of Gardiner said. The Old Growth Forest Association has identified
hemlocks several hundred years old in a ravine that snakes through Awosting Reserve and Minnewaska State Park Preserve.

Snakes would be protected

A scientific study of the land's natural resources by the developers found
one timber rattlesnake -- a protected species in New York -- and prompted
the plans to include protection of an area believed to be a den for the
rattlers, Beck said.

The buildings will have to conform to standards that limit the amount of
cleared land and the size of homes, and that require natural building
materials with colors that blend into the landscape.

In addition to municipal approval, an Awosting Reserve group similar to a
planning board will have to approve all building designs, Beck said.

''The only people willing to put up with those restrictions, because they're
financially restrictive to adhere to, the only people who want to do that
are people who care about the environment, so it's self-regulating
environment, if you will,'' Beck said.

Opponents of the development argue the proposal represents neither
conservation nor preservation.

''It sounds nice. It's a nice selling point, but they're going to build
houses all over that slope. To me that's not conservation,'' said Keith
LaBudde, president of Friends of the Shawangunks, a 550-member organization that is one of the groups coalescing in opposition to the development.

While the plan calls for permanently protecting 1,753 acres, the protected
land would be in spider-like swaths -- not in one contiguous block.
Buildings will dot virtually the entire footprint of the land Bradley owns.

546 acres disrupted

Overall, 546 acres of forest will be disturbed and 111 acres of roads will
be built, documents on file in Gardiner said. Many roads would be
traditional shale roads similar to the historic carriage roads on much of
the ridge, and Awosting Reserve would be responsible for maintaining them -- not the town or its taxpayers.

Beck points out that on the planning documents, the areas of protected land may seem small, but ''it's a finger of land that might be 200 feet wide and a mile and a half long. It looks small on a map but it's a lot of acreage.''


Critics believe carving up the forest will destroy habitat for sensitive
animals that need large blocks of forests to survive. Such animals include
the fisher, an animal in the weasel family that disappeared from the
Shawangunks and much of the northern U.S. in the 1930s but was successfully reintroduced to the ridge in the 1970s.

Gray foxes, bear, dragonflies and even moths sensitive to artificial lights
may be affected, Gardiner resident and environmental educator Hatti Langford said.

''I see luna moths at Minnewaska, but I never see them in my back yard
because they're sensitive to light pollution,'' she said.

Building homes so close to the ridge and the other preserves could also
upset ecological processes such as the water and fire cycles, said Cara Lee, director of the Shawangunk Ridge Program for the Nature Conservancy. Periodic fires are needed for certain parts of the forest to reproduce and remain healthy, Lee said.

''The cycle of fire is what is needed. If you build homes in that area, it
inhibits your ability to let fires go through,'' Lee said.

The debate also has undertones of a class war, with many decrying the wealth that would likely be needed to purchase the homes. Some opponents resent a gated community of second homes with a private, championship-caliber 18-hole golf course designed by noted designer Rees Jones. It's been called a playground for the rich.

''I will tell you that, yes, it may be expensive compared to the average
home built in Ulster County,'' Beck said. ''I don't imagine that they'll be
at the top of the price point for homes in Ulster County, but I would
venture to say ... they will be above average. But honestly, we don't know
how much they will be because we don't know the plan that will get
approved.''

Open to criticism

Beck said Awosting Reserve is willing to listen to criticism and consider
changes to the plan.

The plan requires at least 26 reviews and/or approvals from town, county,
state and federal governments, including state permits to store more than
1,100 gallons of chemicals and/or petroleum and to use herbicides or
pesticides on the golf course.

If approved, construction could begin in December 2004, and 50 homes would be built in the initial phase by developers. The balance of new homes would be built over the following decade by private owners.

A measure of the public's interest and opposition to the project came last
week when a Gardiner town board meeting drew upward of 60 people. At that meeting, the town board did nothing more than refer the applications to its attorney to see if they were complete.

''We are seriously concerned about the scope of the proposal and the density of the development,'' Mohonk Preserve Executive Director Glenn Hoagland said.

''We'll be monitoring the project and we've been encouraged by the dialogue we've already had with the Awosting Reserve. We're hoping to see a better product in the end than that which is currently on the table.''

WHAT'S NEXT
AWOSTING RESERVE

The Gardiner Town Board will consider a resolution designating the lead
agency for the Awosting Reserve development at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday.Town hall is on Route 44/55 in Gardiner.

The planning board will discuss the development plans at 7:30 p.m. Jan. 21 at the schoolhouse across from the firehouse on Route 44/55 in Gardiner.

Relevant Web links
To read about Chaffin/Light Associates, the firm chosen to develop Awosting Reserve, visit www.chaffinlight.com. To read about opposition to the development, visit www.savetheridge.com.