ULSTER COUNTY, N.Y. — The Open Space Institute has acquired 440 acres at Mt. Cathalia, protecting what it describes as the largest remaining undeveloped, privately owned parcel adjacent to Minnewaska State Park Preserve.
The property, also known as Mt. Meenagha, spans the Town of Wawarsing and the Village of Ellenville. It connects two previously unlinked sections of Minnewaska near the Ellenville Ice Caves.
The Open Space Institute, or OSI, plans to transfer the property to New York State for inclusion in the Sam’s Point area of Minnewaska State Park Preserve. The addition would bring the park to more than 24,000 acres.
The organization announced the acquisition Tuesday, Aug. 25.
“Mt. Cathalia is an extraordinary landscape on every level—environmentally, recreationally, and historically,” said Erik Kulleseid, OSI’s president and CEO. He said the acquisition moves the organization closer to its goal of creating a permanently conserved and connected Shawangunk Ridge.
The 1,750-foot peak offers views of the Shawangunk Ridge and has a long history in the region.
In the late 19th century, when the property was primarily known as Mt. Meenagha, the Terwilliger family established the Town of Wawarsing’s first prominent summer resort there.
In the 1950s, Joseph Tso, a U.S. Army veteran, businessman and attorney, purchased the property. He renamed it Mt. Cathalia — meaning “a little bit of China” — and turned it into a ski resort and hotel.
According to OSI, Mt. Cathalia became the nation’s only Chinese American-owned and operated ski resort and hotel. During a period when discrimination restricted where many Chinese Americans, Jews and other minorities could stay and vacation, the resort welcomed visitors who were excluded from other local resorts.
The property also has significant environmental value.
OSI said nearly the entire property ranks above average for habitat resilience because of its microclimates and diverse habitats. Its forests and soils collectively store more than 132,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent, according to the organization’s analysis.
The property also lies within the Sandburg Creek watershed and includes land bordering North Gully and South Gully. North Gully serves as an emergency drinking water source for Ellenville, while water from the property ultimately flows toward the Hudson River.
OSI purchased the property for $3.3 million from Morgan Barrington Financial Services Inc.
The land will remain closed to the public while OSI works with approved partners to secure and prepare it for its planned addition to Minnewaska State Park Preserve.
Since 1974, the organization says it has protected more than 40,000 acres in the region and helped add 14,000 acres to Minnewaska, more than doubling the park’s size.
Palisades Interstate Park Commission Executive Director Joshua Laird called the acquisition an important step toward protecting the landscape surrounding Minnewaska.
Ellenville Mayor Evan Trent expressed hope that it will eventually become a public recreational space as part of the Minnewaska system.
“The Mt. Cathalia property has a long and storied history, intertwined with the Village of Ellenville’s own. As one of the largest tracts of land in our watershed and an important ecosystem that affects us in a multitude of ways, I am pleased to see it preserved now and forever through Open Space Institute’s acquisition,” said Village of Ellenville Mayor Evan Trent.
The Cragsmoor Land Trust also credited OSI with preserving the property and its viewshed.
“This unmatched viewshed will remain wild and beautiful forever,” said Jeffrey Slade, President of the Cragsmoor Land Trust.
Image: Mt. Cathalia seen from Ellenville, NY. (Gregg Miller/Open Space Institute)