Higgins Lake Land Consservancy Creates the "Almeda Beach Wilderness Preserve"
August 19, 2017

The Higgins Lake Land Conservancy has created the Almeda Beach Wilderness Preserve in recognition of the generous contributions of the Townsend Family, the residents of Almeda Beach and the Higgins Lake community. These donations have enabled the preservation of 26 acres of sensitive wetlands adjacent to Higgins Lake and the Cut River.  A primary goal of the Land Conservancy is to preserve watershed lands in a natural state.  Managing watershed land preserves the beauty of the lake and the quality of life for the community. 
 
The Higgins Lake Land Conservancy was established in July of 2007 to encourage landowners in the Higgins Lake area to engage in strong stewardship of their lands and to promote the protection of vacant land from over development and dense urbanization.
 
Active stewardship by landowners is necessary to protect the water quality of Higgins Lake. This is true, even though there are a number of government regulations also aimed at protecting water quality. Despite the seemingly endless local, state and federal water quality laws, the water quality in many of our inland lakes is still being degraded. This is almost solely the result of over development of the lands around those lakes.
 
When land is developed, natural vegetation, which previously served as a filtering system, is lost. The result is an increase in surface water runoff entering our lakes. The surface water runoff carries with it pollutants such as lawn fertilizers, petroleum products, and waste by-products. The runoff changes pristine, clear lakes into turbid bodies of water rich in nitrates and sulfide.
 
The most cost effective and permanent way to protect the water quality of our lakes and streams is to control the intensity of development through conservation of undeveloped land. The efforts of the Higgins Lake Land Conservancy will assure the natural beauty of the surrounding lands are preserved for future generations while at the same time protecting the quality of the water of Higgins Lake.
 
Any person, family, family trust, estate, group, organization or legal entity who wants to help ensure the beauty and quality of Higgins Lake and the Higgins Lake Area can help the Conservancy in it’s efforts.
 
If you or your family own undeveloped land in the Higgins lake area and you want to protect it from becoming overdeveloped, there are a number of alternatives available to you. Some of the alternatives are discussed below.
 
If you or your family do not own undeveloped land but want to assist in protecting undeveloped tracts, then you can be a donor to the Higgins Lake Land Conservancy. Your donation will be used to protect and conserve vacant land. One of the strategies we use to conserve and protect land is to apply donated funds to the purchase of vacant properties in the Higgins Lake area and dedicate them to be undeveloped wilderness. Such is the case of the “Almeda Beach Wilderness Preserve”