Essex County, NY
In December 2003, the Northeast Wilderness Trust accepted a conservation easement on a 55 acre property known as Hemlock Rock Wildlife Sanctuary, a forested parcel located in the Champlain Eco-zone (Gap Analysis, 2001). Hemlock Rock, which is contiguous with and near several other protected natural areas including a 300 acre Nature Conservancy preserve, contains ponds, streams, wetlands, fens, and forested swamps. Its close proximity to other protected areas will advance the efforts to relink forestland in the Champlain Valley and expand exisitng conservation areas.

The property is dominated by hemlock forest and contains rocky outcrops; thus, its name. In the Champlain Valley's pre-settlement forest, hemlock was much more abundant than it currently is and the variety of hemlock forest types is greatly diminished. The protection of Hemlock Rock preserves an example of a somewhat enriched type of hemlock forest.

Hemlock Rock also contains dragon's mouth orchid, a State threatened (S2) and globally rare (G4) species and its diversity of habitat, ranging from open water to thick forest, providing habitat for a diversity of native species such as otter, mink, fisher, beaver, bear, migratory song birds, reptiles, and amphibians.

Ecologist Marc Lapin reported, "the conservation of forests, like those on Hemlock Rock, that are allowed to function per a natural dynamics regime is rare in the Champlain Valley and providing spaces for the expression of variations in natural communities has and will continue to be a challenge in the Champlain Valley." Only 9.3% of the land in New York is conserved as Status 1 and 2 (Gap Analysis of New York Final Report, January 2001). The protection of the Hemlock Rock Wildlife Sanctuary as forever-wild is one small important step toward a broad habitat linkage of protected lands in the western Champlain Valley.

Reference: Lapin PhD, Marc, Hemlock Rock Ecological Assessment, October 2003.