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Watsons East Triangle Wild Forest

Watson's East Triangle Wild Forest Draft UMP Summary

This UMP includes Watson's East Triangle Wild Forest and adjacent easement lands in the towns of Croghan, Diana, and Watson in Lewis County and the town of Webb in Herkimer County. The Wild Forest Unit consists of 13,229 acres of State Forest Preserve lands and two Conservation Easements (Lassiter and Croghan Tract) totaling 25,923 acres.

The unit is bounded on the west by the Adirondack Park Blue Line, on the east by the Five Ponds and Pepperbox Wilderness Areas, on the north by the Aldrich Pond Wild Forest and on the south by the Beaver River, with the exception of a portion of the Croghan Tract easement which extends south of the river.

The Watson's East Triangle Wild Forest Unit is located on the western edge of the Adirondack Forest Preserve. Several of the units ponds support a good brook trout fishery as does the Middle Branch of the Oswegatchie River. Good access to the area affords many recreational opportunities, including but not limited to hiking, hunting, trapping and fishing. Several snowmobile trails also pass through the area and link to a larger network of trails.

The draft UMP contains:

  • An inventory of natural resources and man-made facilities;
  • An inventory of actual and projected public use, and an assessment of the potential impacts of public use on natural resources and the public enjoyment of the area;
  • An assessment of the physical, biological and social carrying capacity of the area; and
  • A statement of management objectives to address the protection and rehabilitation of the area's natural resources, the control of public use, the removal of nonconforming uses, opportunities for additional recreational use and the need for new facilities.

A partial list of recommended management actions in the draft UMP include:

  • Improving recreational opportunities for people with mobility impairments, including the development of two accessible lean-tos;
  • Construction of new parking areas and foot trails;
  • Survey and boundary line marking to adequately identify public lands;
  • Various measures to manage illegal public motor vehicle use including the installation of barriers;
  • Relocation of the Number One Camp snowmobile trail to avoid impacting wetlands;
  • Bringing all public motor vehicle roads on easement lands into compliance with §2405 of the Vehicle and Traffic Law. This action will result in the closure of 12 roads to the use of ATV's;
  • Closure and reclamation of an existing gravel mine on Forest Preserve; and
  • Closure of eight roads or road segments on wild forest lands to public passenger vehicle use.

Table of Contents, Acknowledgements, Preface, and Sections I - VI (657 kb pdf)

All appendices without maps (560 kb pdf)

Unit Map with Existing and Proposed Facilities (440 kb pdf)

Unit Map with Hydrology (517 kb pdf)

Unit Map with Potential Deer Yard Habitat (853 kb pdf)

Unit Map with Potential Spruce Grouse Habitat (764 kb pdf)

Entire Watsons East Triangle Draft UMP (3.61 mb pdf - This file is very large and may take a long time to download)