The only independent, nonprofit news organization solely dedicated to reporting on the Adirondack Park.
By Phil Brown
Protect the Adirondacks wants motorboats banned from Weller Pond and Little Weller Pond near Middle Saranac Lake. If you agree, you have until Friday to submit comments to the Adirondack Park Agency. In a draft unit management plan (UMP) for the Saranac Lakes Wild Forest, the state Department of Environmental Conservation did not ban motorboats from the two ponds, but it is proposing to impose a 5-mph speed limit.
By Phil Brown
If proposals for new state lands win approval, people could be driving most of the way to Boreas Ponds later this year. The state Department of Environmental Conservation wants to build a six-car parking area a tenth of a mile from the ponds and a ten-car parking area about a mile away. Rob Davies, director…
By Phil Brown
The Adirondack Park Agency board voted Thursday to fast-track a number of proposals for the High Peaks Wilderness and Vanderhacker Wild Forest, including tens of thousands of acres of newly acquired state lands. Some environmental groups contend the agency is moving too fast. Among other things, the proposals call for parking lots that would allow…
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 state will hold a public meeting in Newcomb on Tuesday, April 3, on its management of the recently expanded High Peaks Wilderness. Other meetings will be held but have not yet been scheduled. Click here to read about the Adirondack Park Agency’s decision that led to the expansion of the Wilderness Area. Following is…
By Phil Brown
Governor Andrew Cuomo has signed off on the Adirondack Park Agency’s classification of the Boreas Ponds Tract and numerous other Forest Preserve parcels. The APA voted 8-1 in February to split the tract between two classifications: motor-free Wilderness and the less-restrictive Wild Forest. There also is a small Primitive Area near the foot of Boreas…
By Phil Brown
The state plans to combine the High Peaks Wilderness and Dix Mountain Wilderness after the Adirondack Park Agency classifies the Boreas Ponds Tract and other nearby lands. Kathy Regan, the APA’s deputy director, told the agency’s board Thursday that the expanded High Peaks Wilderness would encompass 274,000 acres, making it by far the largest Wilderness…
By Phil Brown
Several environmental groups are applauding a recommendation by the Adirondack Park Agency staff to classify most of the 20,543-acre Boreas Ponds Tract as motor-free Wilderness. The APA board is expected to begin discussing the recommendation at its meeting next Thursday and vote on it the next day. The agency’s staff considered five classification schemes. The…
By Phil Brown
State voters approve land bank proposal to amend Article 14 to streamline projects that infringe on Forest Preserve. The town of Horicon has been unable to replace this bridge over the Schroon River. Photo by Carl Heilman II By Phil Brown New Yorkers narrowly passed in November a constitutional amendment to establish a “land bank” for…
By Phil Brown
A state judge has dismissed a lawsuit challenging the Department of Environmental Conservation’s construction of “community connector” snowmobile trails in the Forest Preserve. Protect the Adirondacks argued that the trails—up to twelve feet wide on curves and graded smooth—violated Article 14 of the state constitution, which declares that the Preserve “shall be forever kept as…