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Adirondack North Country Association Preliminary Review
Adirondack Park Snowmobile Plan
Town of Tupper Lake
December 19, 2006
Plan Overview
The Snowmobile Plan for the Adirondack Park/Final Generic Environmental Impact Statement, released jointly by the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation and the NYS Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation as lead agencies in October, 2006, provides "a framework for discussion through a public process to implement specific [on the ground] proposals" which in and of themselves could require subsequent State agency and environmental impact reviews. The lead agencies responsible for preparing, accepting and adopting the plan are the Department of Environmental Conservation and the Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation. The Adirondack Park Agency and the Department of Transportation are involved State agencies responsible for determining, respectively and at appropriate times, the conformity of the plan with the Adirondack Park State Land Master Plan, and its compatibility with the state highway system. Neither involved agency presumably must approve the plan, per se.
The plan calls for a network of snowmobile trails situated on public and private lands to accomplish three goals:
- Protect natural and cultural resources, and the wild forest character of the Park’s public lands.
- Provide a safe, enjoyable snowmobile experience.
- Promote tourism and economic opportunities for local communities.
To achieve these goals, the plan outlines a framework for the following:
- Proposed Trail Connections
- Reconfiguring the Existing Trail System on the Forest Preserve
- Trail Development and Maintenance, Standards and Guidelines
Proposed Trail Connections
The concept of linking Park communities reportedly stems from the desires of local governments and the "snowmobiling community" as identified through a planning process. However, the actual establishment of such routes is tied to, and will be influenced by several factors, including but not limited to:
- Willing participation by private landowners.
- Community support.
- Identification of appropriate new routes and elimination of old routes on the Forest Preserve through the unit management planning process.
- A commitment to trail stewardship.
- Environmental conditions and potential impacts to natural resources.
- Potential conflicts with other recreational interests.
Reconfiguring the Existing Trail System on the Forest Preserve
The concept of reconfiguring the trail system presumably will shift snowmobile use from interior Wild Forest areas to peripheral areas and existing transportation corridors. Three categories of Forest Preserve trails will be established:
Class I Trails—Forest Preserve roads opened seasonally to motor vehicles, designated for snowmobile use generally up to 8 feet wide, but may be maintained to the width of the existing road corridor.
Class II Trails—primary and secondary Forest Preserve routes providing access to recreational facilities, services, and natural resource-based sites, generally up to 8 feet wide but those leading to population areas and services (Class II-a) may be cleared to a maximum 12 ft. width on curves and steep slopes.
Class III Trails—community connector Forest Preserve routes generally on the periphery of Wild Forest units or within 500 feet of a travel corridor; they may be 9 feet wide but up to 12 feet wide on curves and steep slopes, have a prepared surface, and be opened to other, non-motorized recreational use.
Trail Development and Maintenance, Standards and Guidelines
Standards and guidelines are specified separately for Forest Preserve lands and private lands within the following categories:
- Forest Preserve Lands
- Trail designation and classification
- Route design, construction, and maintenance
Alignment and grade
Trail width
Tree cutting
Trail surface
Drainage
Wetlands
Snowmobile season
Speed limits
- For trail construction and maintenance
For grooming
- Other Public and Private Lands
- Snowmobile route design and construction
Snowmobile route maintenance
Snowmobile route grooming
- Guidelines for both Public and Private Lands
- Trail placement laws, policies and guidelines
Public use controls
Public Participation and Issue Summary
Public informational meetings, public hearings, comment periods, and focus group discussions provided input at various times regarding snowmobiling ideas, issues and concerns as the final plan evolved. Focus groups participants include the following:
Adirondack Association of Towns and Villages
Adirondack Council
Adirondack Landowners Association
Adirondack Mountain Club
Adirondack Snowmobile Association
Association for Protection of the Adirondacks
Empire State Forest Products Association
Hamilton County Board of Supervisors
NYS Snowmobile Association
Residents Committee to Protect the Adirondacks
St. Lawrence County Snowmobile Association
Town of Newcomb
The plan also outlines the issues raised by the public in broad topical areas, but it neither prioritizes nor assesses the significance of the publics’ specific concerns. The identified topics include:
Trail Location
Trail Standards
Trail Maintenance
Trail Safety
Environmental Impacts
Economics Issues
User Conflicts/Compatibility
Illegal Uses/Trespass
Accessibility
Mileage/Amount of Trails in System
State Land Master Plan/Rules and Regulations/Policy
Specific Trails to be Created/Eliminated
All Terrain Vehicles and other Motorized Access
Plan Response to Issues Raised by ANCA and Others
In its March 26, 2006, letter to the Department of Environmental Conservation commenting on the draft snowmobile plan, the Adirondack North Country Association noted that development of the draft did not include regional economic development interests or organizations. The letter also identified areas in which information was believed lacking, and that should be addressed to "appropriately guide the recreational use of the State Forest Preserve and the economic use of private lands and community assets in an integrated snowmobiling the Adirondack Park." ANCA’s issue-areas are summarized as follows:
- Insufficient baseline information about snowmobiling activity in the region and analysis of its economic impact, including how communities might benefit from snowmobiling investments and potential impacts of snowmobiling on other types of winter recreation.
- A lack of existing and needed trail information—including public and private costs to establish a network of trails—and assessment of anticipated increased tourism and necessary community improvements to accommodate increases.
- Failure to address trail stewardship needs such as rider education, community safety, and enforcement, and funding to sustain all such initiatives, but especially enforcement in terms of specific financial and personnel resource-needs.
- No mechanism for involving communities in decision-making about trail networks and resource protection, including considerations such as land use for vehicle access, recreational and public safety, community infrastructure needs, community character and development and maintenance costs.
- A failure to address coordinated signage needs to provide a safe, user-friendly trail system involving considerations such as speed monitoring and control, highway intersections, and pedestrian conflicts.
In partial response to ANCA’s and other commentators concerns, the final snowmobiling plan arrays three broad categories of response: economic impacts, environmental impacts, and miscellaneous concerns. However, this categorization lumps most responses together and fails to relate in any clear fashion to the specific public concerns and topical issue-areas identified by commentators as recorded in the plan. Consequently, determining the plan’s responses to specific points of comment is difficult at best. In fact, many miscellaneous responses actually connect directly to community considerations—such as safety, stewardship and quality of life concerns—that bridge economic and environmental impacts. Other miscellaneous comments are directed to to specific environmental and economic interests.
While many of the responses do provide much additional information and elaboration of draft plan issues, the final document leaves unresolved many questions about connector routes, incentives for landowners, and signage within the Adirondack Park. The plan does suggest that funds will be available through registration and the Snowmobile Fund, and that enforcement will not be a significant factor in that the number of miles of trails will be relatively the same as present mileage on Forest Preserve lands. There is no additional consideration of enforcement or the impact on communities of new connector trails. The plan includes community connection goals, but emphasizes that snowmobile clubs, local officials and property owners will have to be involved to successful implement new connector routes. Simultaneously, the plan leaves responsibility for coordinating snowmobile planning on private lands in the hands of snowmobiling enthusiasts and organizations. Additional New York State planning with respect to trail configuration and maintenance in the Forest Preserve will take place as part of the unit management planning process.
But perhaps most importantly, the need for comprehensive economic and strategic planning in reference to snowmobiling is virtually ignored in the final snowmobile plan(1). This shortcoming is especially troublesome given the plan’s failure to realistically address issues of snowmobiling on private lands. The plan fails to address, for example, liability questions faced by private landowners leasing their lands for snowmobiling, as well as potential economic and environmental impacts of the increased snowmobiling on private lands compelled by the plan. Indeed, private landowner willingness to allow snowmobiling could be a serious potential deterrent to snowmobile plan implementation, yet the plan is virtually silent concerning the need for close public and private coordination of trail development efforts if trail systems are to be truly interconnected. The emphasis in the plan on community-connector trails, likely to involve extensive use of private lands for snowmobiling, underscores the need for thorough and careful consideration of economic impacts both within communities and across the entire North Country. Such a coordinated, more comprehensive approach could help shape the plan into truly successful public policy not only for snowmobiling, but also for all outdoor recreational development in the Adirondacks.
(1)The final plan states that it "will include [emphasis added] an expanded consideration of the economic impacts of all winter recreational activities," and that "Additional discussion...will be presented in [a] Revised Economic Impact of Snowmobiling in the Adirondacks." Yet, those references are not specifically included in the final plan, nor do they accompany it or appear within the bibliography.
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