State’s plan to cut 13,000 trees on Lake George’s Prospect Mountain raises ire of environmental group

Tree removal proposed to open views along popular highway

By Gwendolyn Craig

The state Department of Environmental Conservation plan for tree-clearing on a Lake George mountain is in violation of the state Constitution, an environmental watchdog group contends.

The department released its intentions to cut more than 13,000 trees obstructing several highway overlooks on Prospect Mountain.

Protect the Adirondacks, an environmental organization that has successfully challenged the DEC’s tree-cutting plans in the past, says the amount of trees felled would be unconstitutional.

The Prospect Mountain Day Use Area includes the Veterans Memorial Highway, a 5.5-mile road built in 1969 winding up to the summit. The route is popular for its views of Lake George, Vermont’s Green Mountains and other Adirondack peaks.

In a forest preserve work plan, the state notes “a lack of ordinary maintenance that began during the pandemic as the facility was closed during the 2020 and 2021 operating seasons” has created several years of new trees partially obstructing these views.

The work plan includes cutting 284 trees that are three-inches or greater in diameter at breast height and 13,109 trees that are between one- and three-inches in diameter at breast height. The plan was subject to a 30-day public comment period that began in early September.

Peter Bauer, executive director of Protect the Adirondacks, claims the level of tree cutting violates Article 14 of the state constitution, which designates forest preserve lands as “forever wild.”

Deputy Director Claudia Braymer called on the DEC to withdraw its plans and “prepare a constitutionally-compliant proposal.”

The DEC said it is considering all comments and did not respond to questions about the plan’s constitutionality or when it would make a decision on the work.

Protect the Adirondacks sued the DEC over plans to cut trees for community connector snowmobile trails in the Adirondack Park. In 2021, the state’s highest court ruled in the organization’s favor, leading the DEC to now count trees smaller than three-inches in diameter at breast height for its forest preserve work.

The Prospect Mountain Day Use Area and the Lake George Wild Forest, which includes a hiking trail up Prospect Mountain, do not have unit management plans. These plans include both natural resource protection and recreational projects and must be authorized by the Adirondack Park Agency, in charge of public and private development in the park. Without a unit management plan, significant projects cannot be undertaken.

Protect the Adirondacks argued that the DEC should refrain from “this significant work” without a management plan.

Instead, the group contends, the DEC could be “restoring, rerouting and repairing the extremely steep, rocky, and washed-out hiking trail” of Prospect Mountain. That trail “serves untold numbers of visitors from all over the world who are visiting the Lake George area, which may be their only experience hiking in the Adirondacks,” Protect wrote in a news release.

The Explorer highlighted this trail as one section of about 782,000 acres in the forest preserve lacking a management plan.

In its work plan, the DEC said the scenic highway up Prospect Mountain was designated by the state Legislature to provide vista opportunities for people of all abilities.

“To restore this historic desired condition of the scenic overlooks, a large quantity of trees must be cut as these areas have grown in over time,” according to the work plan. 

The DEC also quoted part of the Adirondack Park State Land Master Plan, the leading policy document governing the forest preserve, that says “scenic vistas from these travel corridors are relatively rare and their protection and enhancement are important.” 

Top photo: A view from the summit of Prospect Mountain in Lake George. Photo courtesy of Protect the Adirondacks