News

kids on trails

Perfect Timing

Trails connect people to each other and the land

You would have thought that social distancing, and wearing masks, would bring our land trust’s trail work to a halt. Not so. Tug Hill folks are Tug Hill tough. People came together and the results speak for themselves—and next year we will be ramping up, even more.

Kids love it here

Our Joseph A. Blake Wildlife Sanctuary, located 10 miles from Watertown, saw a record number of visitors this year.

The three miles of trails are specifically designed for kids and families to provide interesting, and easy, access to various woodland habitats and experiences.

Over the course of the summer and fall, land trust staff were out every week checking the trails to ensure that the Sanctuary continues to be a welcoming place for our community.

“The Sanctuary is a great outdoor classroom, especially this year,” explained Lin Gibbs, Tug Hill Tomorrow Land
Trust’s Community Programs Director. “We’ve seen a lot of people tapping into this public conservation area because their kids love it.”

 

The first trail of its kind

That’s one of the reasons we are so appreciative of people like Cindy Stewart, from the Black River Chapter of the Adirondack Mountain Club, who volunteered to help create what will be the 20-mile Tug Hill Traverse Trail.

Thanks to her hard work, along with other fun and hardworking folks, seven miles are now completed. Cindy laughs as she considered what it was like, including the long trek in to initiate new trail work. “It’s perfect timing to be out there in the woods given what we have all be going through this year. I’m excited that this trail will be the first non-motorized, long-distance trail on Tug Hill.”

Views of the East Branch of Fish Creek, wetlands teaming with birds, and craggy rock outcroppings are just a few of the trail’s highlights. The trail design and implementation are overseen by Bob McNamara, our tireless volunteer extraordinaire. It’s an amazing vision and community effort unfolding before our eyes.

Cindy and her son