The only independent, nonprofit news organization solely dedicated to reporting on the Adirondack Park.
By Phil Brown
Soon after the state purchased the MacIntyre East Tract, Brian Mann and I explored it by paddling the Hudson and the Opalescent rivers. We launched our canoes beneath a bridge over the Hudson and took out at a spot where the river abuts the Tahawus Road. From the bridge we paddled down the Hudson through…
By Phil Brown
Hikers will be able to drive to within a tenth of a mile of Boreas Ponds, but most probably will have to park farther away, under a draft management plan written by the state Department of Environmental Conservation. The Boreas Ponds parking area is just one of numerous proposals for other parking areas, trails, canoe…
By Phil Brown
The latest Forest Rangers Report from the state Department of Environmental Conservation contains, among other items, accounts of three snowmobile accidents, a lost skier, and an injured hiker in the Adirondacks. Following is the report for March 12-18. Town of Indian Lake Hamilton County Rescue: On March 16 at 2:48 p.m., Central Dispatch received a…
By Phil Brown
In a controversial move, the state has recommended that former hunting camps in the Essex Chain region be added to the state and national Registers of Historic Places. The buildings in question are known as the Outer Gooley Club and the Inner Gooley Club. The Outer Gooley Club is an old farmhouse that overlooks the…
By Phil Brown
The Adirondack Park Agency’s board gave preliminary approval Thursday to an amendment to the State Land Master Plan that will enable the state to create a thirty-four-mile rail trail between Lake Placid and Tupper Lake. The board voted unanimously to send the proposed amendment to public hearings. It will vote again on the amendment after…
By Phil Brown
The Adirondack Park Agency will consider amending the State Land Master Plan next week to allow the state to create a thirty-four-mile rail trail between Lake Placid and Tupper Lake. The APA approved the rail trail in 2016, but a state judge ruled last fall that the trail would violate the State Land Master Plan.…
By Phil Brown
A state court handed down another decision Thursday in the fifteen-year battle over the status of the Old Mountain Road section of the Jackrabbit Ski Trail, declaring that the road was not legally abandoned. In its 5-0 decision, the Appellate Division overturned an administrative decision issued in 2015 by state Environmental Conservation Commissioner Joseph…
By Phil Brown
The state Department of Environmental Conservation has won a preliminary round in its fight to remove empty tank cars stored on a rail line in the central Adirondacks. In a decision Tuesday, the federal Surface Transportation Board granted DEC’s request to waive certain requirements in the department’s forthcoming application to declare the rail line abandoned.…
By Phil Brown
A skier who vanished from Whiteface Mountain and somehow ended up in California doesn’t recall what happened in the six days he went missing, according to New York State Police. “We ask no one to jump to any conclusions,” said Major John Tibbitts at a news conference in Ray Brook Wednesday afternoon. Constantinos “Danny” Filippidos,…
By Phil Brown
After years of public debate, the Adirondack Park Agency voted 8-1 on Friday morning to approve a classification for the Boreas Ponds Tract that splits it into two main categories, Wilderness and Wild Forest. Most environmental groups applauded the decision, characterizing it as a compromise that will protect the ponds, streams, wetlands, and mountain slopes…