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This reforestation land with 9,233 acres was once farmland, and during the late 1930's and 1940's, men from the Civilian Conservation Corps planted evergreen trees, built roads, ponds, and buildings on this land. As the trees have grown to maturity, foresters have marked many stands for wood products, including red pine poles going overseas, pulpwood to Deferiet Paper Mill, black cherry to Harden Furniture and chips for energy. Around 1980, three people met to discuss a trail system, including cross-country ski racing, as this area on the Tug Hill Plateau has the biggest snowfall east of the Rockies. The trails became known as the Tug Hill Tourathon Trails. Each year since then, new trails have been added. Much volunteer work went into this project and an increased presence of the Operations crew of DEC, with their heavy equipment and manpower, has made these trails what they are today. Over the past years, many different groups have enjoyed the use of these trails, but this obviously made for some difficulty in how to designate which trails would be used, and for what purpose. The Western Edge Recreational Association (WERA) was developed around 1995 to bring together all the users: skiers, snowmobilers, dog sledders, horse owners, ATV riders, hunters, bikers and orienteering people. With the melding of ideas, resources and manpower, this will become one of New York State's best venues for recreation and at the same time provide timber resources.
