See the letter to the Adirondack Park Agency (APA) below from fellow Sierra Club member, Russell Ziemba. There are instructions at the end of his letter on how to take action!
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Dear Sierra Club Friends -
One thousand acres of southern Adirondack wilderness are being threatened by a residential subdivision. Woodworth Lake and Hines Pond, two beautiful, wild lakes are at risk!
There is a proposal by the land speculator, New York Land and Lakes Development, LLC to subdivide the 1119 acre, former Woodworth Lake Boy Scout Camp, into a 29 lot residential subdivision. There would be 24 building lots and five lots held in common. The site is in the towns of Bleeker and Johnstown in Fulton County at the end of Woodworth Lake Road.
The Adirondack Park Agency (APA) is taking written comments on Project 2014-48. The deadline is this Thursday, December 4**.
I camped at Hines Pond and Woodworth Lake three times as a Boy Scout during the winter of 1964-65, and had an unforgettable wilderness experience. I went back recently and found the lakes even more wild and beautiful 50 years later. Woodworth Lake is a real gem. It is set in a bowl behind a ridge, so it is a very secluded and quiet place and has a very dark sky at night. Except for the former Boy Scout camp at one end, the lake shoreline is unbroken, mature forest predominated by towering evergreens. The shoreline of Hines Pond is also beautiful, unbroken, wild forest. The bunkhouse cabins that we stayed in are set back from the pond, on a hill, near the road.
Most of the former Boy Scout camp was originally donated in 1941 by Gloversville businessman Frank J. Hine to the Catholic Diocese of Albany for "philanthropic and educational purposes" to be "community forest" to honor his mother, and to be known as "The Sophia Hohler Memorial Forest." It's a real pity that after 73 years it might now be divided up and parceled off.
Almost all of the land in the former Boy Scout camp is classified by APA as "resource management." Residential subdivisions are not appropriate for the resource management land classification.
The APA Act states:
"The basic purposes and objectives of resource management areas are to protect the delicate physical and biological resources, encourage proper and economic management of forest, agricultural and recreational resources and preserve the open spaces that are essential and basic to the unique character of the park. Another objective of these areas is to prevent strip development along major travel corridors in order to enhance the aesthetic and economic benefits derived from a park atmosphere along those corridors."
The land adjoins the Shaker Mountain Wild Forest; the highest public good would come from the land becoming a southern extension of the wild forest and remaining accessible to the public. New York State should buy the land.
Subdividing and fragmenting this large, unspoiled piece of land is a very bad idea, especially since there are tens of thousands of acres of privately owned land nearby within that Adirondack Park that are classified rural, low intensity or moderate intensity use that would be more suited for a residential subdivision. And there is even more privately owned land nearby which is outside the blue line where camps and houses could be located.
If this large, wild forest is broken up into two dozen building lots, the wild character of the land and these lakes will be lost forever along with any hope of continued or future public access to this nearby gem.
Please mail or fax comments on Project No. 2014-48 to the APA by the deadline this Thursday, December 4 to:
Ariel Lynch, Environmental Program Specialist
Adirondack Park Agency
PO Box 99
Ray Brook, NY 12977
518-891-3938 (fax)
** The Board of Commissioners does not meet until January 15, 2015, so the APA is likely to accept letters up to that date**
Be sure to tell the APA that these lands are too valuable to the citizens of New York to rush the permit process. The project has had clearly insufficient public review, and must go to a full adjudicatory hearing. The comment period must be extended.
Thanks very much for your help!
Sincerely,
Russell Ziemba, Troy, NY
For more on this issue: Peter Bauer: Backcountry Sprawl at Woodworth Lake.