What Will Happen to Snake Hill? Nonprofit Seeks Community Input

STILLWATER — Saratoga PLAN (Preserving Land and Nature), a nonprofit land trust, held an open house event at Dock Brown’s Lakeside Tavern on Tuesday to share three potential site options for Snake Hill, a 32-acre forested dome on the eastern shore of Saratoga Lake.

The hill, located in Stillwater, was purchased in December by Saratoga PLAN from Stewart’s Shops for $1 million. Now the nonprofit must decide what to do with their acquisition.

The first of the three options would be to simply preserve the land, allowing no public access. Staff would work to maintain and improve native species and biodiversity, minimize invasive species, and protect the water quality. The only human imprint would be a small parking lot that would allow staffers to access the hill.

The second option would allow limited public access to the property via pedestrian trails. Only small groups participating in Saratoga PLAN or partner programs or volunteer initiatives would be granted access to the hill. These group activities would be focused on environmental education. In addition to a small parking lot, picnic tables and a loop trail would be added to the land. This second option is the one preferred by Saratoga PLAN. 

The third option would open Snake Hill to visitors during daylight hours. Added to the property would be a parking lot, picnic tables and benches, and a loop trail. This option would result in staff being focused primarily on visitor safety and minimizing any visitor impact on the land’s species and biodiversity. Should Snake Hill become a popular destination, increased traffic and parking could become a problem, along with potential damage to the habitat caused by visitors.

“A lot of you know Snake Hill better than any of us,” said Saratoga PLAN Executive Director Rob Davies at the open house event. “You know details about this land that we don’t, and that’s why we’re here. We want to hear from you.” Regardless of what ultimately happens to Snake Hill, Davies said that the land would be protected “forever.”

Snake Hill, currently closed to the public, rises 200 feet over Saratoga Lake. It is the site of Saratoga County’s only documented rattlesnake hibernacula, hence its name. The snakes are believed to have been hunted to extinction more than 150 years ago. Snake Hill’s native name, Torwarloonda, means “hill of storm.” According to Michael Gaige, a consulting ecologist and Saratoga PLAN advisory council member, the hill’s “abundant fossils, folded layers, and relative isolation from other similar structures make it a geological anomaly.” 

Additional information about the three site options is available at SaratogaPLAN.org/snakehill. The community can also share their feedback via this web address. The deadline for submitting feedback is Friday, September 13. Saratoga PLAN said it would hold another community event in the fall once plans for Snake Hill had been further solidified.