A balance sheet of life in the Tri-State Corner

As we inure ourselves to ever grimmer news from the wars in Iraq and in Washington we may benefit by considering the balance sheet in the Tri-State Corner in which we live.  Newcomers and visitors may not be familiar with all the physical assets we enjoy.

The Upper Harlem Valley, with its fertile fields and handsome farms between the low mountains of Columbia County on the west and the green wall of the Taconic Range on the east, presents what is surely one of the most satisfying views in the Northeast. The ridge and plateau of the Taconic Range in Salisbury tower over the Marble Valley with its enormous botanical and mineral riches. To the east the Southern Berkshires become the Litchfield Hills in Connecticut, with nooks, crannies and interesting people galore.

We are fortunate that this landscape is protected — through the Taconic State Park in New York and the Mt. Washington State Forest in Massachusetts and by an interesting combination of entities in Connecticut — Mt. Riga Inc., an association of descendants of the original property owners on the mountain, the National Park Service, which owns land on both side of the Appalachian Trail, and the Appalachian Mountain Club. Public use is welcomed under controlled conditions. The Mt. Riga Road and Mt. Washington Road are owned by the Town of Salisbury and much used by hikers. From the west and north the area is accessible from Copake Falls, N.Y., and South Egremont, Mass.

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No one would confuse today’s Taconic Range with the Alps, but geologists tell us that before repeated glaciation it was even higher than the European peaks and what remains is eroded volcanic and metamorphic remnants, a prominent one of which is known as Salisbury schist. All the Riga plateau is part of what the Nature Conservancy has designated as the Berkshire-Taconic Landscape of some 36,000 acres of forested mountain land protected by parks and conservation easements — a rare accomplishment.

Below the Taconic Range on the east is another rarity — a calcareous fen, consisting of wetlands over limestone, drained by Moore Brook in Salisbury and Schenob Brook in Sheffield, Mass. This calcium formation under the acidic mountain runoff is largely responsible for the fact that these two towns contain more rare plants and species than all the rest of Connecticut and Massachusetts put together.  Quarrying remains active in the valley. Marble from East Canaan was used in the state Capitol in Hartford in 1874. Limestone from Canaan helped produce magnesium during World War II.  

The forested mountains we see today make it difficult to imagine that 150 years ago this was a busy industrial area with iron furnaces and charcoal mounds glowing all night. As furnaces closed and the iron industry shut down, a few landowners had the foresight to create what became Great Mountain Forest in Norfolk and Falls Village. The state purchased large amounts of forest land as well as Robbins Swamp. Rare resources were protected, but Falls Village was left with a much-depleted tax base.

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With the decline of the iron industry, the Tri-State corner began to attract summer visitors — first by rail to the various lakes, then more and more by automobile. Independent schools found this an attractive area in which to locate. Visitors purchased second homes. The weekend contingent from New York City grew enormously. Another large group of newcomers began to retire here. Land values increased phenomenally.

Dairy farmers, long the agricultural mainstay, found it difficult to meet production costs and many sold their herds and land for development. Ingenuity enabled others to persist in Columbia County, East Canaan, Sheffield and Sharon, but it is hard slogging.  Sale of development rights to the state enables some to survive while ensuring that the land will remain in agricultural use.

A condition faced by all towns in the area is the exodus of young people because of the lack of well-paying jobs. This endangers community services like the fire company and ambulance corps that depend upon well-trained volunteers. Cooperative groups such as the Salisbury Housing Trust and Habitat for Humanity have worked hard to provide more housing for families of modest income and with some impressive success, but of course there is never enough.

In Millerton, for example, a moderate-income housing plan has not borne fruit. In Pine Plains an opposite situation looms. A plan to build some 1,000 private housing units would provide accommodations, clearly enough, but a development of that size, no matter how well designed, would irretrievably alter the nature of the community. Town fathers have wisely concluded that the project needs more study.

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While most of the issues before community governments are local, some commend themselves to a regional approach or at least regional study.  About 50 years ago Millerton and Amenia opted out, alas, when 90 percent federal funding for sewers was available. Salisbury is about to authorize a new solid waste transfer station, probably again with Sharon. Could Harlem Valley towns also be accommodated in the recycling and share the cost?  Are towns exchanging information about ways to help legal immigrants obtain citizenship, and how to help illegals make themselves legal?

All of us who live here have a responsibility to learn about the history and traditions of the lovely area we inhabit. Our challenge is to work together, on a regional basis wherever possible, not in a futile effort to prevent change, but to ensure that whatever change is undertaken is well thought out so as to preserve values we cherish.