upstate rider
01-23-2003, 04:33 PM
The following is reprinted with permission from author Phil Brown of the Adirondack Explorer magazine.
This is a very interesting issue worth keeping an eye on particularly if you have interest in OHV recreation in NY’s Adirondack region.
Alex Ernst
www.nysorva.org
Adirondack Explorer, January/February 2003, Vol. 5 No. 3
http://www.adirondackexplorer.org, 888-888-4970, print by paid subscription.
Town fights state over access
By Phil Brown, Explorer Staff
The more I climb, the rockier and muddier the way gets, and I begin to doubt whether I can make it to the end. No, this isn't the trail up Marcy. I'm in my car on the road to Lily Pond near Brant Lake in the Lake George Wild Forest.
Although this road remains open to auto_mobiles, I park a quarter‑mile before the pond to spare my muffler. When I walk to the water's edge, I find a fire ring, empty beer cans and broken glass. And tire tracks‑others, apparently, do manage to drive this far.
Lily Pond is supposed to be the end of the road, but it's not. East of here are trails leading to Round Pond, Duck Pond and Buttermilk Pond. Once town roads, they are now overgrown and full of rocks and puddles. Unsuitable for the family sedan, perhaps, but no problem for all‑terrain vehicles.
"ATVs have been using these woods since there have been ATVs," Horicon Supervisor Ralph Bentley tells me after my hike to the four ponds. "Nobody had a problem with it until a couple of years ago."
That was when the state Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) start_ed ticketing the ATV riders for trespassing in the "forever wild" Forest Preserve. Under state law, ATVs are not allowed on Forest Preserve trails. That would seem to cinch the matter, except Bentley does not accept the premise that these are only trails. He contends that they are still town roads. And so last year the Town Board voted 5‑0 to open up these and several other routes to ATVs‑eight routes in all, including one in the Pharaoh Lake Wilder_ness, where all motorized use is supposed to be prohibited.
The state has filed suit in Warren County to challenge the new law. Preservationists warn that if the law is allowed to stand, the Forest Preserve's wild character will be at risk, given that there may be hundreds of such old roads around the Adirondack Park. "This could lead to ATVs operating all over the Preserve," said Neil Wood_worth, lawyer for the Adirondack Moun_tain Club (ADK).
Under the Park's State Land Master Plan, ATVs are allowed only on existing roads that are designated as open to off_road vehicles, but four‑wheelers would like to be able to ride on trails through the woods. Opponents say the machines have no place in the Preserve, arguing that they tear up trails and vegetation, shatter the natural tranquility and create pollution.
Many Adirondack politicians side with the four‑wheelers. They regard ATV riding as a potential source of tourist dollars. Most likely, other towns would follow Horicon's lead if the local law is upheld.
In neighboring Schroon, Councilman Donald Sage said he'd like to see his town open old roads in the Pharaoh Lake Wilder_ness to ATVs and snowmobiles. One of them is now a DEC trail that leads to Pharaoh Lake from Horicon‑it is, in fact, an extension of a route that Horicon has declared open to ATVs.
"I'd like to see it open so you can drive right up to the lake," Sage said. "It was once a nice place to put your rowboat in and do a little fishing. I'd like people to be able to do that again."
John Haskall, supervisor of Thurman in Warren County, said many residents of his town own ATVs but have few places to ride them. He likes the idea of opening old woods roads to the machines. "That would solve a big problem," he said, "and it would boost tourism if there were a legal trail sys_tem here. "
Likewise, Altamont Deputy Supervisor Greg LaFrance said ATVers lack places to go in the Tupper Lake region. "There are a lot of people who are interested in an ATV trail system," he said. "It's a major tourist industry."
Neither Haskall nor LaFrance knew if there were former town roads in the Forest Preserve in their communities, but both said they would research the matter if Hori_con wins its court case.
This is a very interesting issue worth keeping an eye on particularly if you have interest in OHV recreation in NY’s Adirondack region.
Alex Ernst
www.nysorva.org
Adirondack Explorer, January/February 2003, Vol. 5 No. 3
http://www.adirondackexplorer.org, 888-888-4970, print by paid subscription.
Town fights state over access
By Phil Brown, Explorer Staff
The more I climb, the rockier and muddier the way gets, and I begin to doubt whether I can make it to the end. No, this isn't the trail up Marcy. I'm in my car on the road to Lily Pond near Brant Lake in the Lake George Wild Forest.
Although this road remains open to auto_mobiles, I park a quarter‑mile before the pond to spare my muffler. When I walk to the water's edge, I find a fire ring, empty beer cans and broken glass. And tire tracks‑others, apparently, do manage to drive this far.
Lily Pond is supposed to be the end of the road, but it's not. East of here are trails leading to Round Pond, Duck Pond and Buttermilk Pond. Once town roads, they are now overgrown and full of rocks and puddles. Unsuitable for the family sedan, perhaps, but no problem for all‑terrain vehicles.
"ATVs have been using these woods since there have been ATVs," Horicon Supervisor Ralph Bentley tells me after my hike to the four ponds. "Nobody had a problem with it until a couple of years ago."
That was when the state Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) start_ed ticketing the ATV riders for trespassing in the "forever wild" Forest Preserve. Under state law, ATVs are not allowed on Forest Preserve trails. That would seem to cinch the matter, except Bentley does not accept the premise that these are only trails. He contends that they are still town roads. And so last year the Town Board voted 5‑0 to open up these and several other routes to ATVs‑eight routes in all, including one in the Pharaoh Lake Wilder_ness, where all motorized use is supposed to be prohibited.
The state has filed suit in Warren County to challenge the new law. Preservationists warn that if the law is allowed to stand, the Forest Preserve's wild character will be at risk, given that there may be hundreds of such old roads around the Adirondack Park. "This could lead to ATVs operating all over the Preserve," said Neil Wood_worth, lawyer for the Adirondack Moun_tain Club (ADK).
Under the Park's State Land Master Plan, ATVs are allowed only on existing roads that are designated as open to off_road vehicles, but four‑wheelers would like to be able to ride on trails through the woods. Opponents say the machines have no place in the Preserve, arguing that they tear up trails and vegetation, shatter the natural tranquility and create pollution.
Many Adirondack politicians side with the four‑wheelers. They regard ATV riding as a potential source of tourist dollars. Most likely, other towns would follow Horicon's lead if the local law is upheld.
In neighboring Schroon, Councilman Donald Sage said he'd like to see his town open old roads in the Pharaoh Lake Wilder_ness to ATVs and snowmobiles. One of them is now a DEC trail that leads to Pharaoh Lake from Horicon‑it is, in fact, an extension of a route that Horicon has declared open to ATVs.
"I'd like to see it open so you can drive right up to the lake," Sage said. "It was once a nice place to put your rowboat in and do a little fishing. I'd like people to be able to do that again."
John Haskall, supervisor of Thurman in Warren County, said many residents of his town own ATVs but have few places to ride them. He likes the idea of opening old woods roads to the machines. "That would solve a big problem," he said, "and it would boost tourism if there were a legal trail sys_tem here. "
Likewise, Altamont Deputy Supervisor Greg LaFrance said ATVers lack places to go in the Tupper Lake region. "There are a lot of people who are interested in an ATV trail system," he said. "It's a major tourist industry."
Neither Haskall nor LaFrance knew if there were former town roads in the Forest Preserve in their communities, but both said they would research the matter if Hori_con wins its court case.