by Peter Bauer
UPDATE: The APA will make a decision in mid-December - take action on the classification of the lands by clicking here!
The classification of the lands around the Essex Chain of Lakes and Hudson Gorge is one of the biggest Forest Preserve decisions the Adirondack Park Agency (APA) has faced in more than a decade, one that has recently dominated public discussion in the Adirondacks.
The APA recently confirmed that the agency would not make a decision at its September meeting on how former Finch Paper lands recently acquired by New York will be classified and managed.
Last spring, the APA released seven classification alternatives. Public hearings were held this summer and the APA received over 3,600 comments running 4-1 in favor of a wilderness classification. State law requires the APA complete a review and analysis of these public comments and make an official “Response” to the most substantial comments. Although the APA holds a great deal of discretion as to which comments are substantial and how detailed the agency’s responses will be, in theory the official response should form the basis for the APA’s ultimate decision. A preliminary outline of comments distributed to the APA Commissioners in August detailed over 50 major comments. (Note: Under the APA Act a ‘Wilderness’ classification will prohibit all motorized vehicles and motorized watercraft; a ‘Wild Forest’ land classification would permit motorized access by snowmobiles, power boats, and floatplanes, etc.)
At the APA’s August meeting, the staff and commissioners deliberated for a day and a half about this issue.
APA Counsel James Townsend made a list of more than three dozen issues for which Commissioners requested additional information (referred to as the “Townsend List”). Additionally, at the end of the meeting, the staff was directed to develop the official response and a staff recommendation. APA State Lands Committee chair Dick Booth said the production of these three documents was likely too tall a task to be completed in a single month and the APA should set its sites on an October or November decision.
Following the August meeting, Town of Indian Lake Supervisor Brian Wells blasted the APA for the quality of its deliberations. At the same time, the Adirondack environmental community promoted the fact that public comments ran 4-1 for Wilderness and urged the APA to take a hard look at critical issues and not try and ram through a decision without following proper public procedure.
All indications point to the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) holding firm to its Wild Forest plan. Since the public hearings administered by the APA saw public comments submitted at a 4-1 ratio in support of Wilderness, a fair question to the DEC is whether these public hearings and comments had any effect on its thinking.
A common theme I’ve observed at the APA, DEC and the Governor’s Office in the past two weeks is that they feel damned if they do and damned if they don’t. This classification decision has been more intently scrutinized than any in recent years. A decision between Wilderness and Wild Forest leaves one side deeply dissatisfied and few politicians want to leave large constituencies aggrieved.
In past Forest Preserve classification decisions, state leaders were careful to offer a classification package that had something for everybody. When the William C. Whitney Wilderness Area was created, it was packaged with an extensive Wild Forest classification for the Watson’s East Triangle Wild Forest area as well as the creation of the Alice Brook Primitive corridor through the edge of the Five Ponds Wilderness Area to allow snowmobile access. While some wanted all Wilderness and some wanted all Wild Forest, all user groups and constituencies came away with something.
The decision to move ahead with classification of the former Finch lands piecemeal, as opposed to waiting until all 69,000 acres were purchased from The Nature Conservancy, may have been premature. Even if the Essex Chain Lakes tract is classified as Wilderness, it won’t be managed as such until 2018 at the earliest, because the leaseholders of the hunting camps have full motorized access rights until then. Perhaps the better course is to delay final classification until all lands are purchased and all short-term reserved rights have been extinguished. There are also serious legal issues regarding compliance with the NYS Wild, Scenic and Recreational Rivers Act.
The APA will soon post the staff responses to the three dozen questions on the Townsend List. The “Response” document will clearly set the stage for the APA’s final decision, which wasn’t expected until the first week of October at the earliest.
The votes at the APA are on the side of Wild Forest. A clear majority of APA Commissioners look at this decision solely through an economic lens and believe that Wild Forest areas generate more activity for the local economy than Wilderness. Motors equate to money for the local economy in their eyes. This is not a decision about natural resource protection. Nor is it a decision about creating and preserving an experience of wildness around a beautiful set of lakes for generations to come.
The final step of the classification process is the signature of the Governor, who can sign the classification or reject it. The longer the decision takes, the more time all sides will continue to press their strongest arguments and influence in Albany.
Peter Bauer is executive director of Protect the Adirondacks!, an organization dedicated to protection of the natural environment and human communities of the Adirondack Park; the organization is joining with the Sierra Club in a lawsuit against the APA and a Pennsylvania developer for failure to fully assess environmental impacts before granting a permit for a 6,000-acre development near the hamlet of Tupper Lake.
UPDATE: The APA will make a decision in mid-December - take action on the classification of the lands by clicking here!