Lows Lake proposal OK’d

The Adirondack Park Agency voted 6-4 Friday to classify most of Lows Lake and adjacent lands as Wilderness, despite objections from local politicians.

Under the proposal, which requires approval from the governor, Lows Lake west of Frying Pan Island will be designated Wilderness. The rest of the lake, which is much narrower, will be designated Primitive.

Lows Ridge and Hitchins Pond will be part of the Eastern Five Ponds Access Primitive Area.

The two classifications do not differ much in their management guidelines. Both classifications forbid motorized use by the general public. In this case, the Primitive classification reflects a recognition that the eastern part of Lows Lake abuts private lands, access roads, and a large concrete dam, making it less wild.

The Boy Scouts, the major landowner on the eastern part of the lake, will continue to be allowed to to use motorboats.  They can take their boats on any part of the lake, but they usually stick to the eastern part, shuttling Scouts to and from islands.

Although the full APA board voted Friday, it debated the proposal on Thursday afternoon. One of the biggest objections was that the APA would set a precedent by giving a state-land classification to a lake. In the past, it has classified only land.

APA Chairman Curt Stiles argued that the novelty of the proposal was no reason to vote against it.  “If government never sets a precedent, it never moves forward,” he said.

But Fred Monroe of the Local Government Review Board, which has a non-voting seat on the APA, fears that it could lead to motorized-use restrictions on other lakes that are partially bordered by private land.”It’s not just that it establishes a precedent; it’s that it establishes a bad precedent,” he said.

Environmental activists also differed on the matter.

Neil Woodworth, executive director of the Adirondack Mountain Club, favored the classification of the lake. Since the lakebed is owned by the state, he said, it is part of the Forest Preserve and should be treated as such. Dan Plumley of Protect the Adirondacks took a similar position.

But Brian Houseal, executive director of the Adirondack Council, argued that it was premature to classify the lake as Wilderness (even in part), given the adjoining private lands. He also noted that Lows Lake is created by a large dam.

“This is what upsets local governments,” Houseal said. “They see an artificial lake classified as Wilderness.”

Woodworth said he doubted the precedent would affect many other lakes. In many cases, if not most, the state is not the sole owner of the lakebed. He suspects the main reason local governments strenuously opposed the lake’s classification is that it will make it harder for the APA to reconsider its decision to ban floatplanes from landing.

Earlier this year, the agency voted to ban floatplanes from Lows Lake after 2011. The Wilderness and Primitive classifications reinforce this decision.

The proposal approved Friday was a revision of an earlier proposal to designate 12,700 acres, including the bed of Lows Lake, as Wilderness. The revised proposal, besides splitting the lake between Wilderness and Primitive, creates an Eastern Five Ponds Access Primitive Area that encompasses the region around the Lows Lake dam, including Hitchins Pond and the access roads. As its name indicates, this area will be classified as Primitive. The remaining land will be classified as Wilderness.

Woodworth said the vote will protect two wilderness canoe routes that include Lows Lake. One starts on the Bog River and ends on the Oswegatchie River. The other is a multiday loop that includes Little Tupper Lake, Lake Lila, Lows Lake, the Bog River, and Round Lake.

The proposal is expected to be approved by Gov. David Paterson. All three state officials on the APA voted for it. Joining them were Curt Stiles, Dick Booth, and James Townsend. Dissenting were Frank Mezzano, Leilani Ulrich, Arthur Lussi, and William Thomas–all residents of the Park. Stiles is the only other full-time Park resident on the board.

McCulley wants Grannis off case

State Environmental Conservation Commissioner Pete Grannis may have ruled in Jim McCulley’s favor in the Old Mountain Road dispute, but McCulley still wants him off the case.

McCulley’s lawyer, Matthew Norfolk of Lake Placid, filed a motion Tuesday asking Grannis to recuse himself for engaging in in “ex-parte” communications about the case with the Adirondack Council and Adirondack Park Agency, both of which are seeking permission to intervene in the legal controversy. They want Grannis to reconsider the decision.

This spring, Grannis ruled that the state never legally closed the Old Mountain Road, which runs between Keene and North Elba in the Sentinel Range Wilderness. He dismissed a ticket issued to McCulley for driving a pickup truck on part of the road.

After the decision, Brian Houseal, executive director of the Adirondack Council, and Curt Stiles, chairman of the Adirondack Park Agency, wrote letters to Grannis expressing concern that the ruling calls into question the status of other old roads in the public Forest Preserve.

Norfolk contends that he should have received copies of these letters. State law forbids communications between parties in a legal matter unless all parties are privy to them. Communications that violate this rule are referred to as “ex-parte” communications.

McCulley’s lawyer not only wants Grannis to recuse himself, but he also is demanding that the requests from the council and APA to join the proceeding be denied.

Grannis spokesman Yancey Roy declined to comment on the motion. APA spokesman Keith McKeever also said he could not comment immediately.

Marc Gerstman, the council’s lawyer, pointed out that the council was not a party to the case when Brian Houseal wrote his letter to Grannis. “There is no ex-parte issue here,” he said.

McCulley argues that DEC and the council have “an incestuous relationship” and that Houseal’s letter “planted a seed” in Grannis’s mind shortly before the council filed its request to intervene.

Paddling scenic Fall Stream

Paddling the weedy end of Fall Lake. Photo by Phil Brown.

A few years ago, the Explorer published a story by Mark Bowie about a canoe trip on Fall Stream, a tributary of Piseco Lake. Mark did the trip with some volunteers from the Adirondack Mountain Club who were investigating the possibility of adding Fall Stream to the state’s Wild, Scenic, and Recreational Rivers System.

Mark concluded that all or most of Fall Stream should be classified as Scenic. After paddling the river to Fall Lake and Vly Lake last weekend, I heartily agree.

Most of the river lies within the state Forest Preserve, but the put-in and some of the land upstream are owned by the Irondequoit Club. You paddle upstream to Fall Lake and then Vly Lake, winding through beautiful marshes decorated with pickerelweed, cardinal flower, turtlehead, and other flowers. We saw lots of ducks and a few great blue herons.

I can think of three reasons for adding the stream to the Wild, Scenic, and Recreational Rivers System:

1. To give this lovely stream the cachet it deserves.

2. To provide some extra protection against development.

3. To give the state more reason to ban motors from at least part of the stream.

The last would be controversial. Despite beaver dams above Fall Lake, anglers take small motorboats all the way to Vly Lake. On Saturday, we saw three motorboats on the lake. Given the dams and the smallness of the stream, I was rather surprised that they made it that far.

As a compromise, motors could be allowed as far as Fall Lake, which is located about a mile from the put-in. Most of the property in this stretch is private, and the stream is broader. Above Fall Lake, the stream narrows and becomes wilder as it penetrates the interior of the Jessup River Wild Forest.

Directions: From the intersection of NY 8 and NY 30 in Speculator, drive west on NY 8 for nine miles to Old Piseco Road (County 24) on the right. Turn and drive 1.6 miles to the bridge over Fall Stream. The put-in is on the right on the far side of the bridge. Park along the road, being sure not to block the entrance to the put-in.

The road to Pine Pond

Canoeing on Oseetah Lake. Photo by Phil Brown.

Last Sunday, two friends and I paddled from Second Pond on the Saranac River to Oseetah Lake and then walked to the beach at Pine Pond for a swim. Although the weather was iffy throughout the afternoon (we got rained on twice, albeit briefly), the sun came out just as we returned to our canoes on Oseetah.

Pine Pond is a beautiful body of water that lies just inside the High Peaks Wilderness, where motorized recreation is forbidden. We were somewhat surprised to find an all-terrain vehicle and a golf cart at the pond.

But only somewhat surprised. The High Peaks Wilderness boundary is an old dirt road that runs for several miles from Averyville outside Lake Placid to Oseetah Lake. The road may be impassable to the family sedan, but not to ATVs. Just before the lake, there is a short spur that leads to Pine Pond. People can reach the spur by riding from Averyville or from camps on Oseetah.

The state Department of Environmental Conservation has posted signs against vehicle use on the spur to the pond. The main road, though, lies within the Saranac Lakes Wild Forest, and it’s uncertain whether it’s owned by the state or local towns, according to DEC spokesman David Winchell. In winter, the road is used as a snowmobile trail.

There has been talk of closing the road to vehicles, but Winchell says DEC will not decide what to do until it writes a management plan for the Saranac Lakes Wild Forest. The plan has been in the works for years, so it’s anybody’s guess when it will be completed.

Jim McCulley, who won a legal fight with DEC over the ownership of another old road, predicts a firestorm if DEC tries to ban ATVs and other vehicles from the Oseetah Lake road. ”You want a fight?” he says. “Try closing that. All the local boys hunt in there.”

McCulley contends that the road is owned by the towns of North Elba and Harrietstown. In recent years, he adds, North Elba has used crushed tarmac to harden the surface. “They do some work on it nearly every year, just so there’s no question who owns it,” he said.

Winchell says DEC’s lawyers are researching the ownership issue.

Given the implications of the McCulley case, DEC lawyers may find themselves looking into the history of a lot of roads in the Adirondacks.

APA loses court fight

A state appellate court has ruled against the Adirondack  Park Agency in its battle with an Essex farmer who constructed worker homes on his property without an APA permit.

The APA had levied a $50,000 fine against Lewis Family Farm, owned by Salim “Sandy” and Barbara Lewis. The Lewises contend that farmworker houses are exempt from APA regulations that apply to other single-family homes.

On Thursday, the Appellate Division of state Supreme Court ruled 5-0 in the farm’s favor. The court noted that the state constitution and various state laws reflect an intent to encourage agriculture. “Nothing in any of these provisions suggests, as the APA argues, that New York’s strong pro-farming policy should apply differently to farms within the Adirondack Park than to farms elsewhere in the state,” wrote Justice Elizabeth Garry.

APA spokesman Keith McKeever could not be reached Friday. In an Associated Press story, however, he said the agency was reviewing the decision. The APA could ask the Court of Appeals, the state’s highest court, to take the case.

Click on the hypertext below to read the full decision.

lewis-decision

Lows Lake proposal meets opposition

On Monday, the Adirondack Park Agency held the first two hearings on classifying Lows Lake as Wilderness, and as expected, there was a lot of local opposition.

Both hearings took place inside the Park: at the town hall in Long Lake and at the state Ranger School in Wanakena. The opposition was stronger in Long Lake.

APA spokesman Keith McKeever said only eight people attended the Wanakena hearing, and their views were “split down the middle.” Eighteen showed up at Long Lake, where “there more people opposed to the classification than were for it,” McKeever said.

Following are newspaper accounts of the two hearings:

• Wanakena (from Watertown Daily Times).
• Long Lake (from Adirondack Daily Enterprise).

A third hearing will be held in Albany at noon Monday at the headquarters of the state Department of Environmental Conservation, 625 Broadway, Room PA 129B.

The APA is expected to make a decision in the fall.

See my earlier blog for more information about the proposal.

Adirondack Council joins McCulley fight

Jim McCulley takes a stroll on the Old Mountain Road in Keene with Cherokee, his golden Labrador retriever. Photo by Susan Bibeau.

Environmentalists worry that a snowmobiler’s victory in the Old Mountain Road case could lead to the opening of roads throughout the Forest Preserve to motorized use. So worried is the Adirondack Council that it has asked for permission to intervene in the case.

In May, Pete Grannis, the chief of the state Department of Environmental Conservation, dismissed a ticket issued to Jim McCulley, a Lake Placid resident who drove a snowmobile and then a truck on the Old Mountain Road in the Sentinel Range Wilderness. Grannis agreed with McCulley that the old road had never been legally abandoned by the local towns and therefore DEC had no right to ban motorized use. (The decision is attached below.)

John Sheehan, spokesman for the Adirondack Council, said the decision could affect hundreds of miles of old roads in the Forest Preserve. The council has asked permission to join a motion by DEC’s staff to clarify the decision.

“Our entire object is not to go after McCulley but to prevent problems from arising in other parts of the Preserve,” Sheehan said.

Sheehan said the council wants Grannis to overturn his own decision or modify it “to remove some of the erroneous interpretations of the law.” He argues that state law and legal precedents suggest that a road is legally abandoned if it has not been used as a road for a number of years.

The four-mile stretch of the Old Mountain Road in question–which runs from Keene to North Elba–has not been maintained for motorized use for many years (click to see  its history). It is part of the Jackrabbit Ski Trail.

Soon after Grannis issued his decision, DEC’s own staff filed a motion asking for clarification (see attachment below). DEC attorney Randall Young says the staff believes the decision “misapprehended or misapplied” the law and needs to be clarified “to ensure proper care, custody, and control of the lands under the administration of the Department.”

McCulley’s attorney, Matthew Norfolk of Lake Placid, opposes both DEC’s motion and the council’s request to support the motion. In legal papers filed with the agency, Norfolk contends that “DEC staff are simply attempting to reargue points of law that were argued (over and over again) in the administrative proceeding.”

DEC spokesman Yancey Roy said Grannis probably will decide within a month or two whether to consider the request to clarify his ruling. If he does agree to reconsider it, the two sides would be asked to present arguments for and against modifying the decision.

Grannis decision PDF

DEC staff motion PDF

Lows Lake hearings

The Adirondack Park Agency has scheduled hearings for reclassifying as Wilderness 12,545 acres of state land in the Lows Lake region. The state Department of Environmental Conservation proposed the reclassification to appease environmentalists angered by DEC’s decision to allow floatplanes to continue landing on Lows Lake through 2011.

As noted in an earlier blog, the proposal is unusual in that it would classify the lakebed as well as the adjacent lands.

The Wilderness classification is the strictest of the APA’s seven zoning categories for state land. The main restriction of Wilderness Areas is that motorized use is prohibited.  After 2011, no planes will be allowed to land on Lows Lake. Motorboats already are banned, except those used by owners of private inholdings.

The hearing schedule is as follows:

Monday, July 13

Wanakena Ranger School, 11 a.m.

Long Lake Town Hall, 5:30 p.m.

Thursday, July 20

DEC headquarters, Rm. PA 129B, 625 Broadway, Albany, 12 p.m.

McCulley case drags on

An attorney in the state Department of Environmental Conservation’s Watertown office has asked DEC’s commissioner to clarify his decision to dismiss a complaint against Jim McCulley, who was ticketed for driving a truck on the Old Mountain Road in the Sentinel Range Wilderness.

 McCulley contends that the Old Mountain Road, now part of the Jackrabbit Ski Trail, remains a town road and therefore DEC has no right to exclude from it snowmobiles or other motor vehicles.

 In May, Commissioner Pete Grannis ruled that DEC’s lawyers had indeed failed to prove that the road had been legally abandoned by the towns of Keene and North Elba. The ruling has created doubt about the future of the Old Mountain Road and other old roads in the Forest Preserve.

 In a motion dated June 5, DEC attorney Randall Young asserts that “specific aspects of the decision should be clarified to ensure proper care, custody, and control of the lands under the administration of the Department.”

 Young says the department’s staff believes the decision “misapprehended or misapplied the applicable law.” He argues that improving the road for motor vehicles would violate the forever-wild clause of the state constitution, the Adirondack Park State Land Master Plan, and Environmental Conservation Law.

 The attorney is asking only for clarification. He is not asking Grannis to reverse the decision.

 ”DEC is appealing to itself,” McCulley said after receiving the motion papers. “It’s so dumb it’s scary.”

 I found out about this too late in the day to contact DEC for comment. I’m attaching the motion documents below. Be forewarned that some pages are missing. I hope to get a complete set soon.

 dec-motion