GARDINER — The land that launched a thousand "Save the Ridge" lawn signs has been added to Minnewaska State Park Preserve, ending one of the region's oldest environmental battles.

The public may now roam where only the owners of luxury homes might have.

The state's purchase of the 2,518-acre Awosting Reserve appears to end the bitter four-year confrontation between conservationists and John A. Bradley, the owner of the largest privately-owned property on the Shawangunk Ridge. New York has wanted to see the Awosting Reserve protected for 15 years, since it was identified it as a priority in the state's first open space protection plan.

Bradley amassed the land over 30 years and unveiled plans in 2002 to build a golf course and 350 homes there, prompting Save the Ridge to post signs and bumper stickers that became as ubiquitous as daffodils in spring.

"I feel so relieved," said Patty Parmalee, the Town of Shawangunk resident who coordinated the Save the Ridge campaign. "We've all just been biting our nails."

The controversy galvanized land-protection efforts in the region, leading to intermunicipal regional open space protection and scenic byway plans. It led to a sea change in the government of the Town of Gardiner, and prompted a tightening of local building restrictions on other privately owned ridge land.

Bradley's plans unraveled along with his relationship to his business partners. After the partnership soured, a court-appointed arbiter auctioned the land last fall.

The Trust for Public Land and the Open Space Institute's bid of $17 million was chosen over that of movie star Robert De Niro, who owns a Gardiner estate in the shadow of the ridge.

After a legal challenge to the land sale by Bradley failed, the groups took title to the land about two weeks ago and then sold it to the state in an uncharacteristically speedy transaction. Another impending expansion of Minnewaska State Park, the transfer of about 4,000 acres of the Open Space Institute's Sam's Point Preserve, has dragged on for years.

The fast transaction was designed to limit the potential for further legal challenges, said Rose Harvey, the senior vice president of the Trust for Public Land, a national land trust.

Bradley retains about 150 acres adjacent to Awosting Reserve. He could not be reached for comment, and it's unclear if there could be additional legal challenges to come.

Ceremony marks opening

In a ceremony Tuesday, state officials, representatives of conservation groups and local advocates gathered to celebrate the opening of the newly expanded Minnewaska State Park.

Commissioner of Parks Bernadette Castro and Sen. John Bonacic, R-Mount Hope, slapped each other's backs and thanked the conservation groups that arranged the sale. They lauded Gov. George Pataki's record on open space preservation; his staff says he's only 55,000 acres from his 2002 goal of protecting 1 million acres.

The audience was filled with members of Save The Ridge, which the officials thanked for igniting a firestorm of public passion that led to the purchase of the land as a public park.

"The best government is grassroots," Castro said. "The best government is from the ground up."

The future public uses of the new parkland will be determined following a review of the natural resources on the site, and it could be years before there is formal access and trails are designated. Castro and others said existing cabins should be used for public camping — which is sorely needed since the state in 2004 closed 22 camp sites at its over-used Shawangunk Multiple Use Area campground on Route 299.

Despite all the attention to the ridge, the most prominent feature of the Awosting Reserve is the steep forested slope leading up to the distinctive white cliffs, not the cliffs themselves. A clear running creek, the Palmaghatt Kill, bounces down a deep ravine that still holds the remnants of an old-growth hemlock forest, and then spills into Tillson Lake.

Advocates said the most important thing about preserving the property was it maintains continuity in a roughly 28,000-acre chestnut oak forest. Some resident species of wildlife, such as the weasel-like fisher, require large unfragmented forests to thrive. The chestnut oak forest also buffers a pitch pine forest on the top of the ridge that harbors rare species and is itself considered globally rare.

Ecological impact feared

Advocates feared a network of roads and homes through the forest would have disrupted the ecological network of life on the ridge.

"It would have forever changed the face of the ridge," the Trust for Public Land's Harvey said. "It would have tamed the ridge. This ridge is wild."

As people celebrated the preservation of the Awosting Reserve's forests, there was an undercurrent of concern for other lands on the ridge. It might not be time to pack up the Save the Ridge paraphernalia yet.

Many private owners own small strips of land that climb from the valley to the top of the ridge, said Matthew Bialecki, a Gardiner town board member. Of 10 miles of ridgeline in Gardiner, the Awosting Reserve accounts for four miles.

Several landowners have applied to the town for building permits, he said, including one that wants to snake a 3,100-foot driveway to the top of the ridge.

"The image of the ridge are those white cliffs" Bialecki said. "Those are privately owned."

The southern stretch of the Shawangunk Ridge through Orange County also is the subject of intense development pressure, advocates said.

As a geologic feature, the Shawangunks stretch from Rosendale in Ulster County through New Jersey and into Pennsylvania. The New York portion is the only stretch that includes large swaths of unprotected land. Advocates are fond of saying if the country had been settled from West to East, the Shawangunk Ridge would be a national park — the Yosemite of the East.

"More work has to be done. The fight continues in Deer Park and Greenville," Bonacic said, referring to Orange County communities. "We want to have more of the ridge."

Whatever happens on the rest of the ridge, hikers and mountain bikers who can find their way to the remote and unmarked entrance of the Awosting Reserve on Aumick Road in Gardiner can begin exploring it now. Until the state sets up a formal entrance, there is limited parking and no apparent way to collect the usual $7 parking fee charged at Minnewaska's entrances on Route 44/55.

"We own it," said Jayne McLaughlin, deputy manager for the Palisades Region of the parks office. "It's open."

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