DEC: Don’t climb Stillwater tower

Sue Bibeau on Stillwater Mountain.

In the July/August issue of the Explorer, I describe a short hike to the Stillwater Mountain fire tower.

Once the tower is rehabilitated, this will be a nice outing for the general public, but the state Department of Environmental Conservation warns that the tower should not be climbed in the meantime.

DEC spokesman Stephen Litwhiler said the department is unsure of the soundness of the wooden steps leading to the tower’s cab.

The tower’s first two sections of stairs are missing, but on the day of our hike, Sue Bibeau and I used a ladder to reach the stairs that remain in place. Litwhiler now tells me that the ladder should not have been there and will be removed.

You can still hike to the summit, but there isn’t a view from the ground.

Litwhiler said a volunteer group is fixing up the tower, but the project probably will take a few years.  After the rehabilitation, DEC plans to create a new trail across the Forest Preserve to the old jeep road leading to the tower. The trail’s route has been surveyed and marked by pink tape. The jeep road and the mountain are on lands owned by Lyme Timber, but the public is allowed to walk along the jeep road to the summit.

The tower provides views of Stillwater Reservoir and vast tracts of wild land, but you’ll have to wait awhile to enjoy them.

Changes planned for Moose River Plains

Map of proposed land-classification changes in Moose River Plains.

The state Department of Environmental Conservation has two interesting proposals for the Moose River Plains. One should make local officials happy. The other should make environmentalists happy.

The Moose River Plains is now classified as Wild Forest. DEC wants to reclassify twenty miles of dirt road as an “Intensive Use Area,” a designation usually reserved for state campgrounds.

The department does not intend to create a full-out campground, with showers, bathrooms, paved roads, and other modern amenities, but it expects to maintain up to 150 roadside campsites with fireplaces or fire rings, picnic tables, and outhouses.

The Intensive Use classification will allow more campsites than would be permitted under the Wild Forest classification. Without the classification change, in fact, DEC would be forced to close many of the existing campsites in the Plains.

The department also wants to reclassify more than fifteen thousand acres in the Plains as Wilderness, where all motorized use would be banned. As part of this proposal, the Otter Brook Road and Indian Lake Road would be permanently closed to motor vehicles, according to DEC.

The new Wilderness tract includes Little Moose Mountain, one of the Adirondacks’ hundred highest peaks, and Little Moose Lake, a large water body at the base of the mountain. The tract would be added to the West Canada Lake Wilderness.

Last month DEC touched off a controversy when it announced it lacked the resources to open the roads in the Moose River Plains (they are closed in winter). DEC has since agreed to open most of the roads—with the exception of Otter Brook and Indian Lake roads.

Asked why DEC wanted to expand the Wilderness Area, spokesman Yancey Roy replied in an e-mail: “For the overall balance of actions proposed.”

DEC will discuss its plans at Thursday’s meeting of the Adirondack Park Agency, which must schedule public hearings on the proposals.

Moose River Plains roads to open

The main road in the Moose River Plains. Photo by Phil Brown.

Under pressure from local officials, the state Department of Environmental Conservation announced today that it will open the roads in the Moose River Plains.

 

Earlier this month, DEC angered local officials when it said state budget cuts would keep it from opening the forty-mile system of dirt roads. Local towns rely on the Moose River Plains for tourism.

Following is the full text of DEC’s news release:

Thanks to a creative state-local partnership, the Moose River Plains Road — which provides access to one of the largest blocks of remote lands in the Adirondack Park — will be open to motor vehicles this summer, New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) Commissioner Pete Grannis announced today.

DEC worked with local officials from Inlet, Indian Lake and Hamilton County, as well as state legislators, to cover maintenance duties and costs for the season. The Moose River Plains includes more than 40 miles of dirt roads, approximately 170 primitive campsites and 50,000 acres of wild forest in the central and southwestern sections of the park. DEC had previously announced that this road would not be opened in 2010 because the state’s historic fiscal crisis had limited agency maintenance funds. Instead, local communities will assist by providing gasoline, trucks, materials and law-enforcement personnel to help cover operational needs.

State and local crews began clearing the road this week; the road will be open Friday—in time for the Memorial Day weekend. However, roads south of the “Big T” junction (Otter Brook and Indian Lake roads) will remain closed.

“The Moose River Plains Road will be open for 2010, thanks to the willingness of local communities to help and the quick reaction of DEC crews to make it happen,” Commissioner Grannis said. “Together, we’ve forged a solution that will benefit the anglers, birders, hunters, hikers, mountain bikers and others who make the Plains a popular destination – as well as the businesses in Indian Lake and Inlet that depend on tourists.”

“Commissioner Grannis and the DEC staff moved heaven and earth to coordinate this effort and get us to a point where the road can be opened this weekend – which not something we thought could be done,” said Bill Farber, who serves as Morehouse town supervisor and chairman of the Hamilton County Board of Supervisors. “And, of course, the offer of assistance from the towns and the county were indispensable. By collaborating, we’ve come up with a solution that works for everyone.”

“We’re thankful that DEC accepted our offer of help and we’re looking forward to working together in partnership,” said Inlet Town Supervisor John Frey. “Our community and surrounding communities stand ready to assist in any reasonable way possible.”

“This is a great example of local and state officials coming together, working cooperatively and achieving a positive result,” said state Senator Betty Little.  “It’s the kind of teamwork that is so important during this time of fiscal crisis. Commissioner Pete Grannis and his staff understood what was at stake. Losing the economic activity generated by the thousands of hikers, campers, sportsmen, mountain bikers and other tourists who visit the Moose River Plains would have dealt a severe financial blow to our Hamilton County communities.”

“The creative solution Commissioner Grannis and his DEC staff reached with our Adirondack towns to keep the Moose River Plains Road access area open is a fine example of how government should work,” said Assemblywoman Teresa Sayward. “Following DEC’s lead, we could save our parks and save New York taxpayers money.”

“This is a great piece of news for this part of the Adirondacks,” said Assemblyman Marc Butler. “I want to thank Commissioner Grannis and the DEC for listening to our appeal. At a time when we need good things to happen in our region, this is definitely welcomed news. And it’s great that it happened in time for the Memorial Day weekend.”

The Moose River Plains Wild Forest is bounded on the north by the Pigeon Lakes Wilderness Area, Raquette Lake and the Blue Ridge Wilderness; on the east and the south by the West Canada Lakes Wilderness and the private lands of the Adirondack League Club; and on the west by the Fulton Chain Lakes and State Route 28. It includes the Red River, the South Branch of the Moose River and the 675-acre Cedar River Flow.

The Moose River Plains Wild Forest offers many year-round recreational opportunities, including hiking, skiing, mountain biking, snowmobiling, canoeing, hunting, fishing, horseback riding and primitive camping. Miles of marked trails and numerous lakes and ponds make this area an ideal destination for recreationists with varied interests and abilities.

County official protests to governor

Hamilton County’s director of economic development and tourism has written Governor David Paterson to protest the state’s plan to close to vehicles all the roads in the Moose River Plains Recreation Area.

The main road in the Moose River Plains. Photo by Phil Brown.

In his letter released today, William Osborne asserts that the closures “will have a devastating effect on the Hamilton County business community and a local economy already teetering on the brink.”

He also contends that the state should not purchase any more land for the Adirondack Forest Preserve unless it can guarantee it can pay to maintain the land.

 “Why is the State of New York buying more and more land when it cannot begin to care for, maintain and police the land it already owns?” he asks.

Osborne suggests the state pass legislation tying future land purchases to maintenance funds.

The state Department of Environmental Conservation says budget cuts prohibit it from opening the forty miles of dirt roads in the Moose River Plains. DEC spokesman David Winchell said the department lacks the staff to maintain and patrol the roads and 110 drive-in campsites. The roads usually open in May.

The Hamilton County Board of Supervisors adopted a resolution last week demanding that the state open the roads immediately.

Click the link below to read Osborne’s letter in its entirety (in PDF format).

Osborne letter

Officials angry over road closures

DEC plans to close 40 miles of dirt roads in the Moose River Plains. Phil Brown.

Hamilton County officials are livid over the state’s plan to close the Moose River Plains Recreation Area to motor vehicles, saying it will hurt the region’s economy, intensify political tensions, and harden stances against land acquisitions by the state.

“It’s one of the worst ideas I’ve seen in recent times,” said Bill Farber, the chairman of the county’s Board of Supervisors.

Farber said the county plans to press Governor David Paterson, the state legislature, and the state Department of Environmental Conservation to open the roads before Memorial Day weekend.

“It’s going to be a fight like none we’ve seen since the Forest Preserve tax cap,” he added, referring to Paterson’s proposal in 2008 to limit the taxes the state pays on Preserve lands.

Located between the hamlets of Inlet and Indian Lake, the Moose River Recreation Area boasts forty miles of dirt roads, 140 primitive campsites, and numerous trails. It’s dotted with ponds and crossed by many rivers and streams. The region is popular with car campers, hikers, birders, bikers, hunters, and fishermen.

Bill Osborne, the tourism director for Hamilton County, said the closure of the roads to vehicles will have a huge impact on the local economy. “It will be absolutely devastating to us,” he said.

Farber said the decision is likely to sour local officials even more against state land acquisition.

“If the argument [for state land] is that it helps the economy and brings people into the region, why would you close a recreation area?” he asked. “It’s counterintuitive.”

Although Paterson has called for a moratorium on state-land purchases, the state plans to buy from the Adirondack Nature Conservancy, perhaps within a few years, nearly sixty thousand acres formerly owned by Finch, Pruyn & Co. Local towns signed off on that deal, but Farber thinks some may take a second look at it.

Farber said local officials and residents already were angry over the state’s management of the Park. “This is just throwing gasoline on the fire and heating up the political rhetoric,” he said.

DEC spokesman David Winchell told the Explorer on Thursday (see yesterday’s post) that the department is forced to make cuts. “It’s not a decision we wanted to make,” he said of the road closures. “It comes down to money, plain and simple. We can’t continue to provide the same services we have in the past under the current fiscal conditions.”

Winchell said DEC will save money by not having to maintain the roads, repair culverts, or patrol the campsites.

Farber, however, contends that it makes more economic sense to maintain the roads rather than let them deteriorate. He also argues that the closure of the roads will hit the state’s pocketbook: fewer tourists mean less sales-tax revenue.

In another controversial step, DEC plans to discontinue hiring assistant forest rangers. The Adirondack Daily Enterprise published a detailed story today on this issue.

Revisiting Crane Pond Road

The words "Adirondack Homeland" appear on a boulder at the entrance to the Pharaoh Lake Wilderness, a reminder of the battle over Crane Pond Road two decades ago.

In the next issue of the Adirondack Explorer, we plan to publish an article by Adam Federman on the implications of the Old Mountain Road decision on the state Forest Preserve.

Federman notes that probably hundreds of old roads crisscross the Preserve. As a result of the Old Mountain Road case, observers are asking whether towns could reopen these roads to snowmobiles and/or other motor vehicles.

Any attempt to open these roads is sure to put the state Department of Environmental Conservation in the crossfire between local governments and environmental groups.

Remember Crane Pond Road? The dirt lane penetrates nearly two miles into the Pharaoh Lake Wilderness, ending at Crane Pond. Since motorized use is forbidden in Wilderness Areas, DEC placed boulders across the road in 1989 to blockade it.

The closure enraged local residents and became a cause celebre. In 1990, a group of men wearing masks removed the boulders and vowed to keep the road open. Members of Earth First, a radical environmental group, later pitched tents at the start of road to keep out vehicles.

A truck at the Crane Pond, nearly two miles inside the Pharaoh Lake Wilderness. Photo by Phil Brown.

This set up a confrontation between the Earth Firsters and locals who wanted to keep the road open. Jack LaDuke, who was there as a reporter for WCAX-TV, recalls that Warrensburg Supervisor Maynard Baker was among those who approached the encampment.

“Out of the corner of my eye I saw some commotion,” LaDuke told me today. “Baker and this other fellow were going at it. It was a very short encounter. Baker threw a punch and hit the fellow, it appeared to me on the chin, and he went down.” The Earth Firsters left soon afterward.

LaDuke’s footage later aired on a 60 Minutes piece about violence against environmentalists.

I went to Crane Pond Road on a gray, chilly day a few weeks ago to take photographs for Federman’s story. There is still an American flag hanging from a tree near the boundary of the Wilderness Area. Just where the road crosses into state land I noticed a boulder with spray-painted letters. I scraped off the moss and to reveal what they said: “Adirondack Homeland.”

There were no signs either indicating that this was the boundary of a Wilderness Area or forbidding motor vehicles. In fact, I wasn’t sure this was the boundary when I first drove up the road. I went as far as the trailhead for Goose Pond and hiked the rest of the way to Crane Pond. I saw three pickups parked along the road, including one at Crane Pond.

John Sheehan, a spokesman for the Adirondack Council, argues that DEC is obligated by the Adirondack Park State Land Master Plan to close the road. “It was closed [initially] by a legal action,” he said. “It was reopened by an act of vandalism.”

But the agency has no desire to open this can of worms.

When I asked why the road remains open, DEC spokesman Yancey Roy sent this e-mailed response: “When the controversy became public some years ago, the administration at the time decided to delay any action on the road until some future date. All subsequent administrations have continued to follow that policy.”

How big is the Forest Preserve?

Local officials in the Adirondack Park have long complained about the amount of land owned by the state in the Park. The state constitution decrees that this land, the Forest Preserve, “shall be forever kept as wild forest lands.” In other words, no development.

The critics see this as bad for the region’s economy. Environmentalists, however, argue that the Preserve attracts tourists and boosts the economy. This debate shows no signs of letting up.

The light-green and bluish regions are Forest Preserve.

During the Pataki administration, the state started saving vast tracts of timberlands not by acquiring them for the Preserve, but by purchasing conservation easements. Such easements prohibit development but allow logging and usually permit at least some public recreation.

As a result, the local officials have added a new phrase to their vocabulary: “owns or controls.” For example, Fred Monroe, executive director of the Local Government Review Board, recently wrote an op-ed piece asserting that the state “owns or controls” 75 percent of the land in the Park.

So just how much land does the state own and how much does it control?

First we need to correct the oft-heard claim that the Park comprises 6 million acres of private and public land. Actually, it’s 5,821,257 acres, according to the APA website. If you’re rounding, make it 5.8 million acres.

David Winchell, a spokesman for the state Department of Environmental Conservation, says the Forest Preserve totals 2,732,975 acres. This works out to 47 percent of the Park (up 5 percent since 1973).

In addition, the state holds conservation easements on 664,443 acres, according to Winchell. This works out to 11 percent of the Park.

Ergo, the state “owns or controls” about 3,397,418 acres, or 58 percent of the Park. This will rise to 61 percent if and when the Adirondack Nature Conservancy and the state complete deals in the works to save the former Finch, Pruyn lands and Follensby Pond.

All this assumes, of course, that DEC’s figures (and my math) are accurate.

Shingle Shanty decision a ways off

Don’t expect the state Department of Environmental Conservation to reach a quick decision on the Sierra Club’s request to force landowners to remove a steel cable that stretches across Shingle Shanty Brook.

In a recent letter to the club, DEC Regional Director Betsy Lowe says the department plans to provide “a comprehensive response” to the request. “As you can imagine, this will take some time given the careful consideration required by the Department’s technical and legal staff, possible coordination with the State Office of the Attorney General, and the need to balance a variety of demands with limited resources,” she wrote on November 4.

The Sierra Club contends that the public has a common-law right to paddle through a corner of a large tract of private land owned by the Friends of Thayer Lake, which is affiliated with the Brandreth Park Association. The association owns the recreational rights to the land and has posted no-trespassing signs to deter paddlers from using the waterways in question.

The club’s request was sparked in part by an article that appeared in the July/August issue of the Adirondack Explorer. In it, I described my two-day trip from Little Tupper Lake to Lake Lila. At one stage, I paddled on three connected waterways owned by the Friends of Thayer Lake: Mud Pond, the pond’s outlet, and a stretch of Shingle Shanty Brook. This enabled me to avoid a mile-long portage.

The Brandreth Park Association contends that the public doesn’t have the right to paddle these waterways. Since my article appeared, the owners have strung a rope across Mud Pond, put up additional no-trespassing signs, and installed two motion-sensitive cameras.

The Sierra Club contends that the chain, rope, and signs are an illegal blockage of a public canoe route.

Lowe’s letter was addressed to Roger Gray and John Nemjo, the co-chairmen of the club’s Adirondack Committee, and Charles Morrison, who is heading the committee’s public-navigation-rights project.

Click here for an earlier post that contains links to letters to DEC from the Sierra Club and Brandreth Park Association.

Click the link below for a PDF of Betsy Lowe’s reply to the club.

Shingle Shanty letter