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In answer to lawsuit, editor contends the public has the right to paddle on private waterways connecting public lands. By Kenneth Aaron In answer to a trespassing lawsuit, the editor of the Adirondack Explorer contends he had the right to paddle remote private waterways that link two pieces of state-owned Forest Preserve, and his lawyer…
By Phil Brown
By PHIL BROWN In 1989 and 1990, the state Department of Environmental Conservation drafted a preliminary list of navigable waterways, taking suggestions from its regional staffs, the Adirondack Mountain Club’s canoe-route subcommittee, and American Whitewater, a nonprofit group devoted to protecting whitewater resources. Since the list was only preliminary, DEC planned to hold public hearings…
Lawsuit questions public’s right to paddle through private property. By Fred LeBrun A year and a half after paddling through posted land connecting publicly owned waterways, Adirondack Explorer Editor Phil Brown has been sued for trespass by the private landowners, namely the Brandreth Park Association and the Friends of Thayer Lake. The case could clarify the…
By Phil Brown
The owner of the Hudson River Rafting Company has been indicted on five misdemeanor charges accusing him of endangering clients on whitewater trips. The defendant, Patrick Cunningham, pleaded not guilty to the charges last week in Hamilton County Court, according to the office of District Attorney James Curry. Cunningham is charged with two counts of…
By Phil Brown
A few days ago, the Brandreth Park Association filed a lawsuit against me, alleging that I trespassed when I canoed through private land last year on my way to Lake Lila. As part of the suit, the association is asking the New York State Supreme Court to declare that the waterways in question—Mud Pond, Mud…
Kayakers feud with tourist company over paddling rights on the Ausable River. By BRIAN MANN For the first time ever this year, whitewater paddlers have enjoyed the right to plunge through the Ausable Chasm in the northeastern Adirondacks, testing their skills against waterfalls and rapids that had been off-limits. “Coming over that first drop, you’re…
By Phil Brown
Our latest story about Shingle Shanty Brook has attracted some attention in the blogosphere and elsewhere. The state Department of Environmental Conservation has determined that the disputed stretch through private land is open to the public under the common law right of navigation. Click here to read the online version. The print version in our…
The Explorer tests the navigability of a posted stretch of the Beaver River. By PHIL BROWN The Beaver River starts at Lake Lila and flows for eight miles through largely wild country to Stillwater Reservoir, and in so doing it connects two of the Adirondack Park’s most popular destinations for canoe camping. But you don’t…
Three guys play Robinson Crusoe on Lake Champlain’s forgotten island. By BRIAN MANN A few quick strokes with the paddle draw me out from the Port Kent beach, my kayak threading through the tar-black pilings of the ferry dock. It’s hot and still. Lake Champlain is glassy calm, and the Green Mountains lie against the…
By Phil Brown
No charges will be pursued against three kayakers who paddled through Ausable Chasm in June, the Explorer has learned. The Ausable Chasm Company complained that the three trespassed on the company’s land on the first weekend that the river was declared open (against the company’s wishes) to whitewater paddlers. Based on the company’s complaints, state…