Catskill Escarpment - Protected Areas

Protected Areas

Most of the Escarpment, including all its mountaintops and ridges, has been acquired by the state and added to the Forest Preserve, requiring that it be kept forever wild. Private land is found only in the cloves, where some of it is also protected. The Forest Preserve lands are divided into management units by the state Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC). Initially all of the state lands save North-South Lake Public Campground were classified as Wild Forests, a protection level unique to New York that is slightly less restrictive than wilderness. In 2008 an updated Catskill State Land Master Plan combined the North Mountain, Windham High Peak and Blackhead Range Wild Forests into one new unit, the Windham-Blackhead Range Wilderness. Two old roads through the Escarpment were also given a new classification, Primitive Bicycle Corridor, to accommodate mountain bikes.

From north to south, the areas are:

• Overlook Turnpike Primitive Bicycle Corridor: The road up Overlook Mountain and past Plattekill Mountain to the end of Prediger Road in the Town of Hunter.
• Overlook Mountain Wild Forest: 590 acres (240 ha) around the road up Overlook and the mountain's summit.
• Indian Head Wilderness Area. Eastern section of the wilderness area that includes the entire Devil's Path located on the Escarpment. Includes Echo Lake, the only significant body of water in a Catskill wilderness area.
• Platte Clove Preserve. A 288-acre (117 ha) tract owned by the Catskill Center for Conservation and Development at the head of the clove. The only privately owned protected area in the Escarpment.
• Kaaterskill Wild Forest This 8,550-acre (3,460 ha) management unit includes all the state land on Kaaterskill High Peak, and, in the updated plan, the Kaaterskill Clove and South Mountain areas including Kaaterskill Falls.
• North Lake-South Lake State Campground. The 1,100-acre (450 ha) former site of the Mountain House and other hotels is the most-visited section of the Escarpment, with over two hundred campsites.
• Windham-Blackhead Range Wilderness. Created in the updated master plan from the merger of three smaller Wild Forests. Its 17,100 acres (6,900 ha) surround the Big Hollow Valley and include the Escarpment from North Point to past Windham high Peak.
• Colgate Lake/Dutcher Notch Primitive Bicycle Corridor: The 2.4-mile (3.9 km) old road from the lake through the notch and down the east side of the Escarpment.
• Elm Ridge Wild Forest: Formerly part of the Windham High Peak Wild Forest, this 1,355-acre (548 ha) unit occupies the north end of the Escarpment within the Catskill Park.