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PRESS RELEASE

 

For Immediate Release:                                Contact:

Monday, March 10, 2008                                    Paul Ertelt, (518) 449-3870,

                                                                       paulertelt@adk.org


State Should Adhere to Snowmobile Trail Cap

The Adirondack Mountain Club (ADK) has urged state officials to adhere
to the letter and the spirit of the Adirondack Park State Land Master
Plan (APSLMP) in establishing mileage limits for snowmobile trails
within the Adirondack Forest Preserve.

When the plan was adopted in 1972, it established that there should be
"no material increase" in the mileage of existing snowmobile trails on
Wild Forest lands in Adirondack Park. The plan also stipulated that
the mileage cap should remain the same even as the Forest Preserve was
expanded.

In 1980, the state Department of Environmental Conservation estimated
that there were about 849 miles of snowmobile trails in the Adirondack
Forest Preserve in 1972, but a recent DEC analysis put that figure at
740 miles.

"It is ADK's position that the revised estimate of 740 miles
supersedes the former estimate of 849 miles and should be used for any
calculations of a prohibited material increase in new trails," said
ADK Executive Director Neil F. Woodworth.

It is ADK's understanding that when the Wild Forest Unit Management
Plans (UMPs) are completed and implemented, there will be 766 miles of
trails open for snowmobiling on lands classified as Wild Forest. The
additional 26 miles, an increase of about 3.5 percent, do not
represent a material increase over the 740 miles of snowmobile trails
that existed in 1972. But an increase of nearly 109 miles, or about 15
percent, is clearly material by any yardstick, Woodworth said.

Any material increase in the mileage cap would require an amendment to
the master plan, which would require public hearings.

The Adirondack Park Agency is scheduled to take up the issue of the
snowmobile trail cap at its monthly meeting this week. Woodworth
outlined ADK's position on the mileage cap in a March 3 letter to APA
Chairman Curt Stiles.

The Adirondack Mountain Club, founded in 1922, is a nonprofit
membership organization dedicated to protecting the New York State
Forest Preserve and other wild lands and waters through conservation
and advocacy, environmental education and responsible recreation.