LAKE LILA - Critics of the state regulations limiting motorized vehicles in the Forest Preserve have chosen to target state Adirondack Park Agency Chairman Curt Stiles recently.
Stiles made a mistake, in some people's opinion, this spring on the Lake Lila public access road. He unlocked the main gate to the 5.6-mile dirt road - when it was closed to public motorized traffic - and then drove down it. The road, a public easement through private property, was closed to the public for early season maintenance.
It's the type of action that would have gone overlooked by the public if it had not been made by someone of Stile's status, but the fact that the APA chairman did this has drawn some attention, especially from those who feel the gate to motorized access has been, or will be closed to places they want to go, and they don't have the key to open it.
One of those is Steve Piatt, who wrote a column in the New York Outdoor News about it. Piatt pointed out that Stiles was the only in-Park APA commissioner to vote last October against the DEC's proposals to allow floatplane access into Lows Lake for 10 more years under a permit system.
"Consider: a guy who plays a lead role in deciding who goes where and how within remote areas of the Park, who has time and time again taken firm stances against motorized access, 'finds' a key to a gate, helps himself and then drives into an area which at the time - the gate is opened later in the year - was closed to motorized access," Steve Piatt wrote in the New York Outdoor News. "This is a guy who should be taking the parking spot furthest away from any trailhead, who should be following park regulations to a T and, when in doubt, erring on the side of caution."
Lake Placid Snowmobile President Jim McCulley called Piatt's writing a "brilliant analysis of elitist behavior" in a blog entry called "APA hypocrisy" on the Enterprise's Web site.
When questioned whether Stiles broke the law, the DEC and APA responded that he hadn't.
"DEC has determined that because the Lake Lila Road is a private road, on which the state holds the right for public access, that there is no violation of environmental conservation law or regulation," DEC spokesman Dave Winchell said in an e-mail.
According to Stiles and APA spokesman Keith McKeever, Stiles and three other people had their sights set on a camping trip on Lake Lila. When they arrived at the public-access road, they found the road gated. After that, Stiles said he tried to find a ranger. Stiles called him twice, he said. When that failed, he decided to search for a key, ultimately finding one under a rock near the gate, he said. According to the DEC and APA, the key was owned by a private landowner whom Stiles didn't know.
"I don't know whose key it was, but it certainly fit the lock," Stiles said. "I went in and registered like you should - didn't trespass. Somebody may have said, 'you probably shouldn't have gone through the gate,' but I certainly didn't get a ticket or anything else."
McKeever said the fact that Stiles called the ranger and signed the register indicate that "he did everything on the up and up."
"When he got to the gate, there was nothing on the gate indicating it was closed other than it was locked," McKeever said. "There was no sign saying it was closed or not opened for the season or anything like that."
Some say APA critics are blowing this out of proportion because Stiles is chairman of the APA board, for which some focus their animosity toward no matter what the circumstances or facts. Some say the attacks are of a personal nature and only serve to polarize the outdoors and Park community in a way that hinders the decision-making processes on Parkwide issues.
"It's an unfortunate thing but not something we're going to lose a lot of sleep over," said John Sheehan, spokesman for the environmental advocacy group the Adirondack Council.
Even Bob Brown, Franklin County representative for the Federation of Fish and Game Clubs, said a recent attack of Stiles about the incident by a speaker at a public hearing in Long Lake was out of line.
"He pulled an amateur stage move which was not appropriate," Brown said about the speaker. "That was a bush league move."
Brown has issues with some aspects of the APA and has made statements that it oversteps its bounds. Right now, though, he'd prefer to stay focused on larger issues.
One thing that does seem to be clear about this incident is that the road was closed to public motorized access at the time.
For instance, when the DEC was questioned whether people are allowed to walk down the public easement road to Lake Lila when the gate is closed, Winchell responded that, "Yes, it is only closed to public motorized traffic."
Still, the APA and DEC said Stiles didn't violate any of their regulations.
