There has been intense debate in New York State over the past several years regarding proposals to allow high-volume hydraulic fracturing (hydrofracking) on New York’s public lands. ADK has worked to promote awareness of the dangers of this type of gas drilling (water contamination, disruption of natural areas) and to convince New York State that this type of development is inconsistent with the purposes for which the legislature created state parks, forests, wildlife management areas and trail corridors. ADK has also sought stricter regulations of such drilling activity in NYS in order to protect our groundwater and aquifers. In response to ADK’s advocacy efforts, DEC has proposed prohibiting gas drilling and its related infrastructure (roads, etc.) on such public lands. The private energy industry, however, is lobbying Governor Cuomo to reverse this decision and to open our public lands for hydrofracking.

In November, ADK issued an Action Alert to inform the membership about the importance of commenting to DEC and the Governor in an effort to persuade them to prohibit leasing the oil and gas rights under the surface of public lands, and to support stricter regulations for oil drilling in NYS. Our website has carried the complete Action Alert for our members, with information on where to submit comments and details on ADK’s concerns. Additional information about hydrofracking is available on the Club’s website.
 

Saratoga PLAN, in partnership with the Saratoga County Chamber of Commerce and the Saratoga County Board of Supervisors, has created a countywide online trail map. After receiving a grant from the county, Saratoga PLAN was able to hire a graduate student from the State University at Albany, Chris Ferraro, who worked with the county officials to collect the data used to create the graphic information system. Over 200 miles of public non-motorized use trails and 124 miles of snowmobile trails are available on the site, as well as information about trailheads, parking, canoe and kayak access points and use regulations.

Our chapter’s website has a link to the maps (“Viewing Saratoga County Trails using Google Maps and Mapping Data from Saratoga PLAN”).

The Link is:
  Viewing Saratoga County Trails using Google Maps and Mapping Data from Saratoga Plan
 

Low’s Lake Classified as Wilderness – New York’s Supreme Court issued a ruling on August 15 that Lows Lake, part of a popular canoe route in the northwestern Adirondacks, should be classified as wilderness. This classification, the most restrictive land-use category in the Adirondack Park, means that floatplanes will be prohibited from using the lake. The ruling came as a result of a lawsuit brought against the Adirondack Park Agency by the Adirondack Mountain Club and Protect the Adirondacks. GF-S Chapter member John Caffry was the attorney for the two groups filing the lawsuit.

In September of 2009, the APA voted to classify Lows Lake as Wilderness, but reversed that vote in November 2009. The judge upheld a 1987 state plan that classified the lake as wilderness, and voided the November decision to leave the lake unclassified.

This ruling is important for future protection of all water bodies in the Adirondack Park because it upholds the principle that the Adirondack Park Agency is legally obliged to classify water bodies in the Forest Preserve. Justice Michael Lynch, who issued the ruling, affirmed that the Adirondack Park Agency Act and the State Land Master Plan both require the APA to classify bodies of water in the Forest Preserve, even if the water is not entirely surrounded by state-owned land.

The issue of motorized use of Lows Lake has been a controversy for many years. As a result of a previous lawsuit, December had issued a decision to stop floatplane use on Lows Lake at the end of 2011. This ruling will prevent December from changing that decision and opening up the lake to floatplane use in the future.
 

During the 2011 session, the New York State Legislature passed three bills that will help to protect the state’s lands and waters from negative impacts of drilling for natural gas. ADK’s Advocacy Office worked with bill sponsors and lobbied intensively for passage of this legislation.

The water withdrawal bill authorizes DEC to regulate, monitor and limit industrial water withdrawals from New York’s lakes and streams. This legislation will protect our waters from the effects of hydraulic fracturing, or hydrofracking, a process that requires millions of gallons of water for extracting natural gas. This bill was a legislative priority for ADK.

Two other bills will protect Allegany State Park from drilling threats. New York State does not own all subsurface mineral rights in the park, but one bill provides for subsurface claims that have been dormant for 20 years to revert to state ownership. The other bill gives the Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation the authority to regulate above-ground drilling activities within the park.


 

New York’s DEC announced that its plan for mitigating the environmental impacts of hydrofracking will prohibit surface drilling on state-owned land including parks, forest areas and wildlife management areas. ADK has pushed for this protection for state lands vulnerable to drilling, including state-owned portions of the Finger Lakes and North Country Trails.
 

It is sometimes necessary for ADK to pursue legal action when protecting the state’s natural resources, but raising funds for specific projects often takes more time than is available to meet court deadlines. At the June Board of Directors meeting, a resolution was passed to establish an ADK Legal Defense Fund.

This fund will enable ADK to act quickly when the need arises. To donate to this special fund, send a check payable to the Adirondack Mountain Club to ADK’s Development Department, 814 Goggins Road, Lake George, NY 12845, ATTN: Deb Zack.

(In addition to a $1000 donation, an anonymous donor has pledged 10 cents for each dollar contributed by ADK members and chapters, up to an additional $1000. This challenge ends December 3.)
 

In June, DEC announced a new dispatch number for forest rangers and environmental conservation officers. The 24/7 statewide contact phone number for all regions, agencies and calls-for-service is

(518) 408-5850 .
 

Efforts are continuing to establish a permanent legal route to the summit of Spruce Mountain, which is a destination of our chapter’s Fire Tower Challenge. Saratoga PLAN and New York State own property along the route, and the trail also crosses private parcels of land. The 1.5 acres underneath the state-owned tower were supposed to be transferred from the county to the state last year, but the deal fell through.

The Chairman of the Saratoga County Trails Committee, Ed Kinowski, has called for Saratoga County Supervisors to renew efforts to transfer the land under the Spruce Mountain Fire Tower to the state, or to a land trust. Mr. Kinowski fears liability issues as the hike to the fire tower summit becomes more and more popular. Once the land transfer is finalized, Friends of Spruce Mountain Fire Tower will repair and restore the tower.
 

The Club’s Conservation Committee and Board of Directors have voted to pass a resolution calling for ADK to actively support legislation which would provide statewide hydrofracking regulations, as well as regulations for water withdrawals associated with it. Hydrofracking is a natural gas extraction technique that relies on pumping a pressurized mixture of water, sand and chemicals into shale formations to free the natural gas for extraction.

ADK’s concern is the threat of water contamination, as well as the effects of drawing high volumes of water from rivers and lakes in the state. In addition, the Marcellus Shale, a potential source of natural gas, extends under Allegany State Park and some of our state forests. Development of well sites would change the character of the lands from natural areas to industrial sites.

Legislation known as the “Omnibus Fracking Bill” would establish standards for control and treatment of contaminated water resulting from hydrofracking operations, and prohibit drilling in certain areas such as watersheds, state parks and forests, and critical habitats. An associated 'Water Withdrawals Bill' would create a statewide program to regulate water withdrawals. ADK’s Public Affairs Office will work for passage of these bills. To learn more about the proposed legislation and to see the Club’s resolution, visit the ADK website.
 

New York’s Attorney General has taken action in support of the public’s right to paddle on navigable waters in New York State. This right is being challenged by private landowners along Shingle Shanty Brook in the Whitney Wilderness, who have put up barriers and no trespassing signs, and filed a lawsuit against a paddler who published an account of a paddling trip along the brook between Little Tupper Lake and Lake Lila.

New York’s Department of Environmental Conservation has supported the public’s right to travel on the water route, and ordered the landowners to remove the barriers. The AG has made a motion to the court for DEC and New York State to intervene in the case in order to uphold the right of public navigation.
 

A new off-road 1.2-mile section of the long-awaited Spring Run Trail in the City of Saratoga Springs opened on November 18. The paved pedestrian and bicycle path runs through the Spring Run wetlands along an old railroad bed that once connected the city to Saratoga Lake. Construction of the path and bridges was funded by a $1.6 million grant under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

The concept of the Spring Run Trail began in 1996, when the Saratoga Springs Open Space Project, now Saratoga PLAN, envisioned a pedestrian/bicycle path that would connect downtown Saratoga with the city's Weibel Road recreational facility, the Wilton Mall and eventually with the Bog Meadow Brook Nature Trail on Route 29.

The Spring Run Trail is supported by trails advocates and conservationists alike; when completed, it will offer an alternative to motorized travel between the city and destinations near Exit 15. The newly opened section of trail can be accessed on East Avenue, just south of Excelsior Avenue. At present, it extends from there to the Adirondack Northway; it will eventually pass under the Northway. The Spring Run Trail is owned and maintained by the City of Saratoga Springs. A map is in development, and will soon be available on Saratoga PLAN’s website, www.saratogaplan.org.

In October, the Adirondack Park Agency voted to reclassify the land beneath the Hurricane Mountain and St. Regis Mountain fire towers as Historic Areas, allowing the fire towers to remain in their wilderness settings. The Adirondack State Land Master Plan had originally called for removal of the towers, citing "non-conforming use." The APA amended the State Land Master Plan after historic preservation groups opposed the removal of the towers. The APA anticipates volunteer groups such as "Friends of St. Regis" and "Friends of the Hurricane Fire Tower" to raise the funds necessary to repair and preserve the towers. The Adirondack Mountain Club had called for removal of the towers, because the precedent of spot-zoning in specific areas might eventually lead to permitting other structures, or even old roads, in areas designated as wilderness.

In October, a judge rejected the state’s effort to dismiss a lawsuit brought against New York’s Department of Environmental Conservation and the Adirondack Park Agency by the Adirondack Mountain Club and Protect the Adirondacks. The suit is intended to force DEC and the APA to adhere to the State Land Master Plan and classify the waters of the Forest Preserve, such as Lows Lake, as well as the surrounding land. ADK further asserts that Lows Lake was already classified as Wilderness in 1987, and wants that classification enforced. If successful, the lawsuit will ensure that floatplanes will be banned from using Lows Lake, part of a wilderness canoe route in the Adirondacks.

In the 1990s, the Adirondack Mountain Club intervened in a lawsuit that eventually reinforced the public’s right to paddle on rivers and other bodies of water along water routes that are navigable and can be accessed without trespassing. This includes the right to portage around obstacles, such as rapids, even if those water bodies flow through private lands. This right is being challenged again in a lawsuit by private landowners against paddlers traveling between two pieces of state land in the Whitney Wilderness. Paddlers have passed through private land on Mud Pond, Mud Pond Outlet and Shingle Shanty Brook while paddling from Little Tupper Lake to Lake Lila. Landowners have put up barriers and no trespassing signs, and are suing one of the paddlers who published an account of his trip. New York’s Department of Environmental Conservation has supported the public’s right to travel on the water route, and has ordered the landowners to remove the barriers. DEC maintains that recreational use should be allowed even if the water route has no history of commercial use. The matter will likely be resolved in court.

ADK’s Executive Director Neil Woodworth testified at an Environmental Protection Agency hearing on September 13th about gas drilling in New York’s Marcellus Shale using the process called hydrofracking. He expressed concern about the environmental impacts from potential groundwater contamination, as well as the need to disclose the chemicals used in fracking and to monitor the disposal of spent fracking chemicals. The possible negative effects of massive water withdrawals from New York’s rivers and streams were also part of his testimony. Check ADK’s website for the text of ADK’s comments, and to learn more about gas drilling in New York’s Marcellus Shale.

As an extension of our chapter’s Fire Tower Challenge, we support several groups that work to preserve and maintain fire towers, and to maintain trails that hikers use to access the towers. Several of the groups also have summit steward programs. These summit stewards, or guides, greet visitors to the summits, educate them on the history of the towers and interpret the natural history of the mountain. We thank the following organizations for the work they do, and for making our experience on these summits more meaningful: Hadley Mountain Fire Tower, Vanderwhacker Fire Tower, Friends of Spruce Mountain Fire Tower and Friends of Poke-O-Moonshine Fire Tower.

New York’s Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation (OPRHP) has released a detailed and thoughtful draft Master Plan for Allegany State Park. This state park is the largest in New York. It contains old growth forests, a rich variety of plant and animal life, and is used extensively by ADK members for its recreational opportunities and natural beauty.

An important aspect of the plan is OPRHP’s proposal to designate more than 80% of Allegany State Park as Park Preservation Area (PPA). ADK enthusiastically supports this proposal, because PPA status will provide the best possible protection from oil and natural gas exploration and drilling in the state park. The park is on top of the Marcellus Shale formation, and some of the sub-surface mineral rights are privately owned. Since state law requires PPA lands to be maintained in a near-wilderness state, it would be possible to protect the area from energy exploration proposals on environmental grounds.

In testimony during public comment meetings in May, ADK noted how important it was for the park’s unique scenic, ecological and geological qualities to be preserved under the PPA designation, and supported recreational opportunities that are in keeping with the natural character of the area.

To read the entire draft Master Plan for Allegany State Park, go to www.nysparks.com/inside-our-agency/publicdocuments.aspx.

To learn more about ADK’s concerns regarding the potential environmental and recreational impacts of natural gas drilling in the Marcellus Shale, visit ADK’s website www.adk.com, click “Conservation,“Current Issues," then “ADK Testimony on Proposed Gas Drilling of Marcellus Shale."

The Spruce Mountain Fire Tower, located on top of a 2003-foot mountain in Corinth, is on the chapter’s Fire Tower Challenge and a popular local hiking destination. Recent developments will help to ensure that hikers will have legal access to the 73-foot tower, and allow the Friends of Spruce Mountain to begin efforts at restoration.

In late February, Saratoga County settled a sewage permit violation fine by transferring ownership of 2.5 acres of land on the top of Spruce Mountain, including the fire tower, to New York State. On March 5, the Adirondack Park Agency approved the Spruce Mountain subdivision application, and efforts are underway to work out a recreational easement agreement with Lyme Timber, owner of some sections of the planned route up the mountain.

The Friends group and Saratoga PLAN have faced many challenges in their attempts to establish legal public access and to restore the tower, but the land deal and other progress that has been made means that trail work and tower restoration could begin this summer. If you are interested in helping with this work, please contact Andy Fyfe, Stewardship and Education Coordinator at Saratoga PLAN ( andy@saratogaplan.org ).

Mar 2010: Moreau Lake State Park Trail Work
Many of our chapter members helped establish the trail network on the Palmertown Range, and enjoy the local hiking opportunities and great views of Moreau Lake and the Hudson River. In an effort to improve and maintain the trails, a work project has been planned for National Trails Day on June 5, from 8:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. If you are interested in helping, please contact Ben Snyder at 793-0511 Ben.Snyder@oprhp.state.ny.us.

Make a Difference on Issues Important to You — Many of us feel strongly on issues such as recently proposed state park closures, but don’t know what action to take to try to prevent these proposals from becoming reality. ADK’s Action Alerts let you know how you can make a difference on issues important to ADK and its members. The alerts supply you with facts, background and contact information. It is often as easy as sending a short e-mail or making a phone call. To sign up to receive ADK’s free Action Alerts, e-mail adkadvocacy@nycap.rr.com , or check the Main Club Links on our chapter’s website.