Please
Note: Comment Period is Over
DEC
Seeking Comment on its Snowmobile Plan for the Adirondacks
- Please
Submit Your Comments Today -
January
2004
Dear Adirondack
Council member:
The Department
of Environmental Conservation (DEC) recently released its Comprehensive
Draft Snowmobile Plan for the Adirondack Park. The plan outlines
ideas for establishing a snowmobile system on Forest Preserve
lands in the Adirondacks. After a public comment period, the
plan will be sent to the Adirondack Park Agency (APA) for its
review to determine whether the plan complies with the State
Land Master Plan (SLMP).
The Adirondack
Council was a member of a focus group that provided input to
DEC throughout the plan’s development. Other members of
the group included representatives from environmental organizations,
local governments, snowmobile associations and private landowners.
The
Plan - the Good and the Bad
The Adirondack
Council recognizes that snowmobiling is an important part of
the Park’s economy, but wants to balance that with the negative
impact snowmobiling can have on the natural resources
and wild character of the Forest Preserve. The snowmobile plan
is a mixed bag of good and bad proposals. Provisions need to
be added to make the plan more protective of the environment.
The
Good
•
Establishing a new system of “community connector”
trails that would run along existing travel corridors and moving
trails from the interior of the Forest Preserve to the periphery.
This will link communities and enhance snowmobile related tourism
without harming pristine Forest Preserve lands.
• Moving
trails from the Forest Preserve to private lands. Moving these trails
will protect the natural resources and wildlife habitat of the
Forest Preserve. DEC can use money from the state snowmobile
trail fund to purchase land and conservation easements from willing
sellers to establish more trails on private land.
The
Bad
•
Including a very poor environmental impact assessment of snowmobile
use in the Park. Snowmobiles can cause significant damage
to natural resources. The plan neglects to propose ways to limit
or mitigate the effects of noise and pollution.
• Omitting an inventory on the location and the mileage
of existing snowmobile trails. The State Land Master Plan
established a cap on the number of miles of snowmobile trails
that could be created in the Park. It appears that DEC has allowed
more trails to be created than the SLMP permitted and now wants
to do away with a cap altogether. No map of existing trails has
been offered.
• Continuing
to allow the use of motor vehicles on the Forest Preserve, including
bulldozers, even on the most isolated trails. DEC has a history
of illegally allowing the use of motor vehicles on trails in
the Forest Preserve. This must not be allowed to continue.
The
DEC Needs to Hear from You
Please mail,
e-mail or fax your written comments to DEC. Contact information
can be found below.
In your comments
tell DEC:
- You support
the proposals to establish a new system of “community connector”
trails and to move trails from the interior of the Forest Preserve
to the periphery.
- Existing
snowmobile trails on the Forest Preserve should not be widened
and motor vehicles should not be used to maintain those trails.
- The environmental
impact assessment section of the plan must be enhanced. DEC must
provide an analysis of how snowmobiles impact the natural resources
of the Forest Preserve and ways to stop, limit or mitigate these
effects.
DEC
is accepting written comments until
March 31.
Please
send your comments to:
Rob Messenger
NYS DEC Bureau of Forest Preserve Management
625 Broadway
Albany, NY 12233-4254
ph: 518-473-9518
fax: 518-402-9028
e-mail: lfadk@gw.dec.state.ny.us
Copies of
the Draft Plan are available for review at any DEC Regional or
sub-office or online at http://www.dec.state.ny.us/website/dlf/publands/snow/index.html in Adobe Acrobat pdf
format. For a copy of the plan, contact Rob Messenger.
Please send your
comments to DEC. If you can, please send or e-mail us a copy
of your comments too. Feel free to contact us if you have any
questions. Our contact information is below. Thank you for your
help on this very important issue.
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