Visions of the Future

First off let me say that this blog post isn’t about one specific location I’ve visited lately, so if you want to click the exit button now I completely understand(no hard feelings). For those of you that choose to continue reading I thank you for following along as I ramble on about this great corner of the earth and its potential. On this cold Sunday morning while drinking my cup of coffee and scrolling through Facebook(I know, it's the devil) I came across a post from the Louisville Landing Recreation page. It highlighted some proposals that the Louisville Recreation Committee has come up with to make improvements to Whalen Park. For those of you that don’t know what Whalen Park is, I will give you a quick overview. Whalen Park is located in the Town of Louisville on State Route 131 along the St. Lawrence River. This park has a paved trail about 1.5 miles long following the river. It has a tennis court, basketball court, playground, pavilion, kayak/canoe launch, amazing views of the river and is home to several events like the Turtle Trot 5K(Coming up on 7/16/22).

The proposals show upgrades like a dog park location, adult exercise area, new sun shading structures and a splash pad. We have to realize that these proposals are a wish list, a dream, A VISION for the future of this wonderful park. Something to work towards to make this area a little better place to visit and live in. I wish them the best of luck with these upgrades and I hope to be able to enjoy them someday.

So let's look at the facts for a moment. A quick search on the DANC mapping website shows that one government agency or another owns almost all of our riverfront property from Massena to Waddington. Local governments to Federal agencies. Now before you expose your political talons please stay with me. A quick shake of the magic eightball reveals that this changing any time soon is highly unlikely. So let's now take a closer look at what is sitting between these boundaries. Along the shore of the St Lawrence river in Waddington we have a wonderful beach, a large park that has a baseball field, basketball court, tennis court, a beautiful boat launch and enough green space to host Bass Masters several times over the last 10 years. According to the DANC map all this is sitting on NYPA property. As we move east we have the Brandy Brook boat launch. This little boat launch is for public use and creates easy access to the St. Lawrence. You may not want to launch your cabin cruiser here but it is great for fishing boats to quickly get on the river. This too is on NYPA property. Shift your map a little to your right and the next stop is Coles Creek campground. This is a New York state campground that has 228 sites, many of them sit right on the bank of the St. Lawrence. This campground also has a beach, playground, pavilion, fishing opportunities, and has bike friendly roads. A bit farther to the east we have the Coles Creek marina. This marina has boat launches, seasonal boat dockage and fuel. Yet again all state owned property. If you take a quick trip south down the Coles Creek Rd. you will find a small kayak/canoe launch on Coles Creek. This is a great area for fishing, or just getting out on your kayak on a sunny weekend afternoon. It isn't a super popular location so there is a good chance you could get some peace and quiet while on the water.

Now let's take a look at Louisville. First stop Wilson Hill. I know that most people think of the beautiful camps sitting on the river. Not many people realize what is really sitting there. Wilson Hill is a NYS wildlife management area. This management area is 4000 acres of open water, wetlands, vast forest, sprawling fields, and gravel roads. This land is set up for hunting, fishing, bird watching, and hiking. That is 4000 acres of outdoor recreation opportunities. The Wilson Hill causeway also houses a nice boat launch and is a popular ice fishing destination for the hard water anglers. As we continue our journey east on 131 we come to Whalen Park which is also sitting on NYPA property. Next stop is the River Course at Louisville Landing. This was formerly known as the Massena Country Club. It is an 18 hole golf course along the river. The fairways are beautifully groomed and some of the holes have spectacular views of the river. It also has a driving range, a practice chipping green, practice putting green and a beautiful clubhouse with a restaurant.

The back deck overlooking the river is home to some of the most beautiful sunsets on earth. A few miles down the road and we come to the Richards Landing Trail. This is a 1.5 mile gravel and dirt road that can be used for walking and biking. It follows along some beautiful bays along the river. If one were interested in carp fishing this is a great place to be able to look down over the river and look for tailing fish. Right next door to this trail is the Massena Town beach. This beach has a concession stand, 3 pavilions, ball fields, beach volleyball, and plenty of green space for any other activities. I guess now would be a good time to point out that north of the beach sitting out in the middle of the river is Croil Island. This island is a state park and is the home of a very popular sand bar. If you ever get the chance to go to Croilfest at least once in your life do it. You will be talking about it for years to come.

Next stop is the Massena Intake boat launch. Over the past several years NYPA has done 3 Million dollars of upgrades to this location. This is one of the busiest boat launches in the area, but its layout allows for quick in and out. Just the other side of the intake on the south side of 131 sits 68 acres of Town of Massena property that sat vacant and unused for years. A few years ago a group of citizens approached the Town Board with a vision for this property. Between grants and many hours of volunteer work it's now home to the Retrieve Training grounds. A portion of this land is now set up for hunters and dog enthusiasts to train and hone their K9 hunting partners skills. This was a wonderful example of citizens and government officials working together to utilize unused land, and it still leaves some room to expand other recreational opportunities. If we zip down the road a bit more we come to the unofficially named S-curve trail. This is a dirt/gravel road that is owned by NYPA. This road sees lots of walkers and bikers each year. It is over 2.5 miles of amazing St. Lawrence river scenery.

If you want to watch the ships pass through the Seaway you can’t find a much better place. They usually start slowing down in this area as they approach the locks. I will finish this tour with what I like to call “The North Country’s Island of Adventure”.

Robert Moses State Park and Barnhart Island. The grand entrance to this area you are immediately faced with the Eisenhower locks. This is Federal property and has two viewing platforms as well as a visitors center. In 2019 during the Seaways 60th anniversary event at the locks the Federal Government announced that it will be building a new $6 million dollar visitors center. When completed this will be an amazing start to this Island of Adventure. Driving under the lock you will find Barnhart Campground with 207 campsites and 15 cabins, a beach, marina, a huge pavilion that you can rent, The Nicandri Nature Center, the NYPA visitor center with an additional boat launch.

At the end of the road is a 90 acre parcel of town property that is home to a remote control airplane runway with plenty of open space to expand outdoor recreational opportunities.

Now that we have taken a 15 mile long journey along the St. Lawrence river what does this all mean? I think there are two ways of looking at this. One, the government owns too much property. Or two, the government owns all of this property and they are setting it up for us to use and recreate on. I am an “option two” kind of guy. I see these lands as an opportunity to work with all of the government agencies to improve access to the rivers and open spaces they are responsible for maintaining. The communities that line the river corridor need to work with groups like the Town of Waddington, Town of Louisville, Town of Massena, Power Authority, New York State Parks and the Seaway to create an outdoor recreation economy. Will this be the one thing that saves the North Country and puts it back on the map? No, but it is a big piece of the puzzle. I’m a believer that if you build it they will come. There are many small towns that depend on tourism as part of their economic stability and I know we could do the same. The footprint is already here for us; we just need people with visions to help expand it. We need groups like the retriever grounds guys and the Louisville Recreation Committee to present ideas to local officials that can help generate dialog with NYPA and other agencies to boost our outdoor recreation into an outdoor recreation economy. The bass fishing explosion up here has created a lot of interest in this area over the last few years and it's been a great launching pad to show the rest of the world the resources we have. But let's face it, most of us don’t have $250,000 sitting around to invest into a boat, truck, and all the other equipment. Let's keep welcoming these folks to our communities with open arms and expand our invite to the hard working average American family that just wants to get away for a peaceful summer vacation. Most people are willing to save up to buy a kayak, shotgun, fishing pole, mountain bike at Walmart, a pair of skis or snowshoes at Grasse River Outfitters, a stand up paddle board at Dick’s or a decent tent at REI. These are the items that could be filling the 450 campsites in our area every weekend. These are the thousands of people that show up to the nature center every year. These are the people that can buy the close out sale set of golf clubs at Dicks and hit our local links. These are the outdoor recreation opportunities that we must find ways to continue to improve to help give our economy a boost.

I encourage any of you that enjoy the great outdoors in any capacity to reach out to your local officials with any outdoor recreation ideas you have. It could be an update to a local boat launch, maybe an idea for a new walking trail, an improvement to a bike path, or a way to increase water access to the many streams and rivers that fill this area. NYPA, New York State Parks, and the US Federal Government, you all hold the keys to accessing and improving these great resources. While our small North Country communities struggle to decide how to buy a new fire truck, give the town hall a facelift and repair the local streets, your investments into your properties could be the catalyst that creates a whole new economy for this area. Local governments, you must find ways to continually promote these locations and find ways to utilize them through special events and outside the box thinking to attract more people to our communities. If we can get our local communities and these agencies to work together we could have a landscape full of Northern NY Adventures that people from miles around would come to enjoy year after year.

Aaron Hardy

Northern NY Adventures