Diane Valden reports in The Columbia Paper that New York's Department of Environmental Conservation just purchased 689 acres in Ancram and Taghkanic to create the Doodletown Wildlife Management Area, Ancram Town Supervisor Art Bassin said at the February 16 town board meeting. The Ancram land amounts to 325 acres and lies between Doodletown and Westfall roads, said the supervisor. The DEC will make a formal announcement about the purchase in a few weeks. DEC Natural Resources Supervisor Peter Innes wrote the the board, “The DEC is interested in protecting and enhancing important habitat for [a] variety of wildlife species, especially the New England Cottontail rabbit. This is a species of greatest conservation need in New York, and a candidate species for federal listing as threaten[ed] or endangered." Eventually the DEC might acquire up to 1,500 acres in Ancram and Taghkanic to expand the wildlife area. Read the full story in The Columbia Paper.