Adirondack Park Agency’s proposed amendments strike balance between accessibility, wilderness

Updates to Adirondack Park State Land Master Plan can protect wilderness lands AND allow access to people with disabilities

By Jerry Delaney, Executive Director, Adirondack Park Local Government Review Board

For more than a decade, in accordance with the federal Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation has allowed people with disabilities to apply for a permit to use what are known as “other power-driven mobility devices” (OPDMDs) to visit state-owned Adirondack Park “Wilderness” lands where motorized vehicles are otherwise largely prohibited. (Wheelchairs have always been allowed in the Wilderness, but they simply can’t provide safe access in some locations.)

DEC reviews each permit request and decides to grant or deny permission based on a series of “assessment factors.” These include whether the specific type of OPDMD in question may be used in the specific location requested in a way that is safe for the operator and nearby pedestrians and doesn’t create a substantial risk to the environment.

This common-sense approach — undertaken in an admirable effort to protect the rights of people with disabilities and make these publicly owned lands accessible to the greatest degree practical to all who seek to enjoy them — has instead created a calamity for the ages.

This past summer, hikers seeking to enjoy any of the more popular Wilderness areas in the park were shocked to find their favorite trails transformed into superhighways for mobility devices: motorized scooters, weaving in and out of traffic; golf carts forcing pedestrians off the beaten path; the roar of engines and shrill of back-up alarms ruining a tranquil, natural wilderness experience.

What’s that, you say? You hadn’t heard about this?

That’s because it hasn’t happened. DEC has made access opportunities available to people with disabilities by permit for more than a decade, and it’s truly been a non-issue. Even the Forest Preserve watchdog organizations didn’t seem to know OPDMDs were being used.

Now that the Adirondack Park Agency (APA), with DEC’s support, is proposing to amend the Adirondack Park State Land Master Plan (SLMP) to formally reflect and endorse this decade-long practice, however, environmental advocates are up in arms. They say allowing OPDMD use will be “devastating.”

The Adirondack Park Local Government Review Board, created as part of the APA Act to represent the interests of local governments in the park, disagrees.

We applaud the efforts of the APA and DEC to make Wilderness areas more accessible to people with disabilities where it may be done safely and without harming the environment, not only because it’s required by the federal ADA, but because it’s the right thing to do.

We ask you to consider the following:

·   The ADA REQUIRES that places of public accommodation (like state-owned property) make “reasonable accommodations” to allow people with disabilities “full and equal enjoyment” unless it can be shown that such actions would “fundamentally alter the nature of” those accommodations. Allowing a person with disabilities to access publicly owned Wilderness areas with an OPDMD is a “reasonable accommodation” and does not “fundamentally alter” the experience for those of us fortunate enough to get there under our own power.

·   The APA is not proposing to allow cars, trucks, ATVs, motorbikes or motorboats in Wilderness areas. These are clearly defined as “motor vehicles” in the proposed amendments and remain largely (see below) prohibited. All the APA is saying is that people with disabilities may be granted a permit to use other power-driven mobility devices IF the DEC determines that the specific use requested can be achieved in a manner that is safe for the operator, other people in the area, and the surrounding environment … just like now.

·   Before issuing a permit for a person with disabilities to use a specific type of OPDMD in a specific Wilderness area, DEC will evaluate the request based on the following factors: the type, size, weight, dimensions, and speed of the device; the volume of pedestrian traffic expected in that particular Wilderness area at that particular time of the year; whether legitimate safety requirements can be established to permit the safe operation of the OPDMD in that area; and whether the use of the OPDMD creates a substantial risk of serious harm to the immediate environment or natural or cultural resources. Where the opportunity is right, access may be granted. In most instances, it can be reasonably argued, this access is most likely to be granted in areas where actual woods roads, designed for use by cars and trucks, already exist and where specially permitted motor vehicle traffic is already allowed. Which leads us to …

·   The occasional sighting of an OPDMD will not detract from someone’s “wilderness experience.” The SLMP’s guidelines for management of Wilderness lands describe a place “where man’s influence is not apparent.”  Read literally, NO ONE should be allowed in the wilderness -– at least not without a blindfold and ear plugs, so that the presence of others is not apparent. Of course, we all understand that is not the state’s intention. In fact, the SLMP allows us to erect temporary lean-tos, primitive tent sites, pit privies, as well as trails for hiking, skiing, and horseback riding in Wilderness areas, as long as you can get there by your own power. In some cases, state employees are allowed to access Wilderness lands by cars and trucks for management purposes. Private individuals who own property surrounded by state-owned land, including  Wilderness, are also allowed to drive across the Wilderness lands if they have an easement or right of way on an existing road. Suffice it to say, man’s influence is already apparent throughout the Adirondack Wilderness.

When the Adirondack Park State Land Master Plan was created in 1972, protecting the rights of people with disabilities was simply not the societal priority it is today. It’s perfectly reasonable to amend the Plan to reflect modern sensibilities.

By the same token, the creation of the APA and the private and public land master plans were not intended to protect the Park solely for those who can enjoy it without mobility assistance.

Our goal should be providing opportunities for people with disabilities to enjoy Wilderness lands without jeopardizing the protection of the Park. The APA and DEC have found a reasonable, responsible, and commendable balance.