SPECTRUM NEWS VIDEO: Residents on 216 parcels of land on Raquette Lake were finally granted titles to their property after living on contested land for decades. In the 1800s, those parcels were accidentally sold to the state in a tax sale. Since then, residents were unable to get mortgages, take out home equity loans, and some were denied electricity. In 2013, voters approved a constitutional amendment to grant those homeowners the titles, so long as as the state could aquire an equal piece of land. To support that agreement, Open Space Institute donated the 296-acre Marion River Carry, a popular waterway, to the forest preserve. The trade ensures that visitors would have canoe access between Raquette and Blue Mountain lakes.