the Lake Bomoseen region west of Birdseye and Grandpa's Knob, notable for their extensive slate quarrying operations. North of Grandpa's Knob, the Taconic Range soon diminishes into scattered hills which extend north into the Burlington, Vermont region. Isolated summits in this area include Snake Mountain , a Nature Conservancy preserve featuring a variety of rare and endangered species; and Mount Philo , home of Mount Philo State Park with its mountaintop campground. Geology and physiography The Taconic mountain range was formed from the collision of the North American Plate into a volcanic island arc, similar to modern-day Taiwan, during the late Ordovician period, around 440 million years ago. Similar subsequent events built up the parallel mountain ranges to the east. The western side of the Taconics rise gradually from a series of hills in eastern New York to a sharp mountain crest along the west border of the New England states; the east side of the Taconics falls off abruptly where river valleys divide it from the Berkshires and Green Mountains. The total length of the range is about with a varying width of . The Taconic Mountains are a physiographic section of the larger New England province, which in turn is part of the larger Appalachian physiographic division. Natural resources extraction Natural resource extraction has been an important industry in the Taconic Mountains; extraction industries have included marble, limestone, slate, and iron mining as well as logging and charcoaling. Conservation A narrow strip along the entire western border of Massachusetts has been designated by the U.S. Forest Service for potential conservation as the "Taconic Mountains Forest Legacy Area" under its Forest Legacy Program. The designated area averages perhaps a mile in width extending east of the state line, but is considerably wider in the southern Taconics region and middle section of Berkshire County. The district in Massachusetts abuts parts of New York State and Connecticut that carry similar designations under the federal program, which affords subsidies for the acquisition of conservation easements when available for purchase. The "Stockbridge-Yokun Ridge Reserve was designated as such at a slightly earlier date under the same federal program, which is aimed at close coordination with state and local government authorities. Multi-partner collaboratives that have targeted the Taconic Mountains include the New England Wildlands and Woodlands Collaborative, a regional conservation agenda for the New England states produced by representatives of dozens of non-profits and