Shoreline and forests protected in New York’s Griffin Gorge

The accredited Adirondack Land Trust, working with the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, has protected 60 acres of forest along Griffin Gorge on the East Branch of the Sacandaga River, including more than a mile of natural shoreline. The project, supported by the town of Wells, safeguards one of Hamilton County’s most striking landscapes, where dramatic rock formations and cascading falls draw both residents and visitors.

The conservation effort adds to the state’s Forest Preserve — comprised of 2.7 million acres in the Adirondack Park and 288,000 acres within the Catskill Park — by expanding lands adjacent to the Siamese Ponds Wilderness. It will also secure a public access easement to improve connections to the Wilcox Lake Wild Forest and help establish a sustainable tourism project. 

The Adirondack Land Trust and the Department of Environmental Conservation acquired a combined 78 acres from the estate and heirs of Fernando Sisto. In 2024, 37 acres were donated directly to the state, while the land trust purchased 41 acres with support from grants by The Nature Conservancy and the J.M. McDonald Foundation.

As part of the plan, the Adirondack Land Trust donated 18 of the acres it purchased — a stand-alone parcel without river frontage on a state road — to Adirondack Hamlets to Huts, a nonprofit organization creating community-based hut-to-hut trail routes throughout the Adirondacks.  

Hamlets to Huts has a goal of building a lodge that would accommodate between 36 and 42 people, with the property serving as a basecamp for hiking, gravel biking, rock climbing, fishing and boating, as well as snowshoeing and cross-country skiing in the winter.

This article originally appeared in Saving Land, Fall 2025 (Vol. 44 No. 4).