by Tony Gray
posted: 4 June 2021

DRESDEN,NY --- Town Board members authorized raising the level of a road that runs through 156 acres on Lake Champlain that The Nature Conservancy donated to the state in 2012. The land known locally as Chubbs Dock was purchased by TNC for $500,000, in 2009, and features 2,140 feet of undeveloped shoreline and 70 acres of wetland, according to a state Department of Environmental Conservation press release. Town Trustees are also considering adding a pavillion at the end of the road, according to minutes of the town's regular April meeting.

"Chubbs Dock conserves excellent wildlife habitat along the narrow headwaters of Lake Champlain," said Joe Martens, the then DEC Commissioner. "The property will be added to the Forest Preserve and serve as part of a travel corridor for wildlife between the Adirondack and Green Mountains."

Washington County transferred an adjoining 283-acre tract on Maple Bend Island around the same time that year to create a total 439 acres of new wetlands in the Forest Preserve. As part of the Forest Preserve, DEC will pay taxes on both properties and the land transfers helped increase public access to Lake Champlain, according to the release.

"This is a great example of strategic, high leverage conservation work of regional and national importance," said Michael Carr, the Executive Director of The Nature Conservancy's Adirondack Chapter at the time.

Trustees further discussed having the town use highway department crews to maintain weeds along the road, perform trash pickup and placing a sign on the property declaring the area as "Take in-Take out." According to the meeting minutes, board members decided to get quotes from local contractors and try to get the work done as soon as possible.

Is does not appear clear the state would agree the town may legally raise the road or build a pavilion on Forest Preserve land, in light of the Court of Appeals recent ruling against DEC's attempt to build 300 miles of snowmobile trail in Forest Preserve land.

Highway Superintendent Richard Hobus said his highway crew would not raise the road unless the town receives prior clearance from DEC. "We were told a year or so ago by DEC we couldn't raise the road," Hobus said. "The state of Vermont wanted to raise the road and make it wider but DEC said no, so we're just doing the regular maintenance. My work ends where the dock area is." He was not present at the April meeting when board members cast their votes because he said he would have voiced his opinion that DEC would need to sign off any work like that, first. The town coordinates with Vermont in an annual program to remove invasive water chestnuts from Lake Champlain.

"It's such a small area there, that personally I cant see how [a pavilion is] going to be made," Hobus said, "There's times in the Spring when the water there is over the top of that area." Hobus said he passed along contact info so Town Supervisor Paul Ferguson could talk with DEC's Champlain Basin Coordinator and the agency's regional office in Warrensburg but has not heard whether the three have talked yet about Chubbs Dock.

The highway crews have already staged more than enough materials to fix the road before the water chestnut program starts. "The road should be crowned so water drains off the road but right now is has the bathtub effect, where it dips to the center," Hobus said, adding that restoring a crown is what normal maintenance usually involves, along with repairing large potholes and removing trash and weeds.

"Until I hear from somebody from DEC," said Hobus, "I'm not going to work outside my parameters." He noted that the proposed pavilion site is very small and floods in Spring so, even if DEC signs off on the work, it may not be a prudent project. "If you were to put a wooden structure there, the darn thing would float away unless you secured it somehow."

DEC spokeswoman Eileen Mowrey said, "Chubbs Dock is located on land classified as Wildlife Management Area and managed as part of the Lake George Wild Forest. DEC is coordinating with the town of Dresden to determine the best management plan for Chubbs Dock and the section of town road leading to the dock."

Town Supervisor Paul Ferguson has not returned voicemail messages left over the last three weeks requesting comment.