Enviro groups argue legality of snowmobile trail guidelines
By MIKE LYNCH, Enterprise Outdoors WriterRAY BROOK - Environmental organizations are questioning the legality of snowmobile trail guidelines that are scheduled to be voted on by the state Adirondack Park Agency today, while the New York State Snowmobile Association wants them to pass.
The guidelines would be used for locating, constructing and maintaining trails. Released to the public in early September, the proposed guidelines build off of the 2006 Snowmobile Plan for the Adirondack Park. A major component of the plan is to move snowmobile trails from the interior of wild forest areas (were motorized recreation is allowed, unlike in wilderness areas) and move them closer to public roads. Trails must have the character of foot trails.
Leaders from all three of the Park's environmental advocacy groups - Adirondack Mountain Club, Protect the Adirondacks! and the Adirondack Council - said that this current plan isn't consistent with the State Land Master Plan, making it subject to a legal challenge, though none of the leaders from the organizations said outright that they would file a lawsuit.
"The agency has to buckle down and go through the amendment process," said Dave Gibson, executive director of Protect the Adirondacks! "Otherwise they are subject to legal challenge."
One of the contentions mentioned by the environmental organizations is that community connector trails need
to be defined in the State Land Master Plan. The community connector trails (also known as Class II trails) would be up to nine feet wide in straightaways and 12 on turns, and located on the outskirts of wild forest areas. Environmental leaders also said the SLMP doesn't allow for tracked groomers on connector trails, like these guidelines do.
Leaders from all three environmental organizations made the comments to the Enterprise Thursday following a presentation by APA staff on the snowmobile trail guidelines. After the presentation, the APA State Lands Committee voted 4-1 in favor of them. APA Commissioner Dick Booth cast the lone dissenting vote, saying the SLMP should be amended prior to their adoption. Booth did state he thought snowmobiling was a proper use of the state Forest Preserve.
"If we are going to allow tracked grooming on Class II trails, you should do it with an amendment to the State Land Master Plan," said Neil Woodworth, executive director of the Adirondack Mountain Club. "I think we would be supportive of an amendment. I just don't think they are going about it the right way, and I don't think what they are doing is legal, for that reason."
Despite the criticism, the environmentalist leaders did say they supported the majority of the plan.
"There is a lot we can support," Gibson said. "A lot of the prescriptive work on the trail, a lot of the interagency work to keep the trails sinuous, snaky, natural contours, it's really good work. We applaud that. We applaud the overall guidance to keep these trails near the public roads and highways and other motorized routes and to reconfigure the trail system. I think that's very positive, but Dick Booth has it right."
But others want the plan to be approved today.
Dave Perkins, New York State Snowmobile Association trails coordinator, told the Enterprise Wednesday that he spent several days in the field with APA and DEC staff and worked out ways to limit the environmental impact of trails while also making them safe.
"There were any number of instances where one case, one solution would work and in another case it would be a different solution, but there always seemed to be a way to resolve the problem, and I find a lot of those solutions are in the guidelines," Perkins said.
Perkins also said that tracked groomers are beneficial to the process of maintaining the trails because they can do a better job than groomers dragged behind snowmobiles.
"One factor in tracked grooming that gets overlooked is that tracked grooming makes trails safer," Perkins said. "When you have the nature of the trail and Forest Preserve that meanders through the woods with a lot of turns, what happens is that, over time, these turns get banked and so snowmobiles can go faster, and they do. It's like Daytona.
"A snowmobile pulling a drag, it's much more difficult to get that snow off the high side and get it into the low side where it would flatten a trail out, but a tracked groomer with a blade can do that. So it brings the speed down."
Fred Monroe, executive director of the Local Government Review Board, often criticizes the APA, but he was in favor of the majority of the snowmobile trail plan.
"It was a good process," Monroe said. "It was DEC, APA staff and the snowmobile association trying to find practical solutions that satisfy both environmental concerns, compliance with the SLMP and the practical needs of the snowmobilers, which is I think is definitely the right approach to take."
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Outlaw63446
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11-15-09 1:28 PM
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Thank you northcountrynell for confirming just what I have suspected all along - that all hikers are pimply assed! I understand that this is a manifestation of their liberal attitudes - Like, pimples are ok because they are natural, etc. etc. I'm also told that it is due to a lack of the application of soap to their bodies. Thanks for the confirmation!
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grizzlyadam
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11-13-09 10:20 PM
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Mommieparrot: You dpn't mean "we the people", you mean "we the few" right wing trash. We the people are left, right and center; we tolerate opposing views. if you can't, you're the one who need to find a new county where everyone has to agree with the party line
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northcountrynell
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11-13-09 8:51 PM
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The snowmobilers pay $100 for every sled they register in NYS unless they join a snowmobile club...then the reg. fee is reduced...but the extra money goes to the club to promote the sport and keep it self sustaining. How about we charge eery weekend warrior hiker that Craps in the woods on the hiking trail $100 for every time they relieve themselves....Id rather come across a group of sledders in the Adks...as opposed to a pimply assed hiker contributing to the nitrate cycle on the side of a trail...the sight and smell of the sleds are far better than the alternative.
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MommiePatriot
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11-13-09 8:30 PM
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Glad to see "We the People", standing up for what we want! Go Away Liberal Left Wing Socialist Groups! Our Best interest will not be watched out for by E L F or A L F like groups. Take yourselves to a country that doesn't allow Snowmobiles and Stop fighting us, "The Hard Working Taxpayer"!
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AdkBuddy
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11-13-09 8:15 PM
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A week of good snowmobiling in Canada costs $1000.00. NY should be trying to bring that money into the Adirondacks instead of sending it out of the country.
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AdkBuddy
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11-13-09 8:13 PM
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As a non drinking snowmobiler I take offense to twinrivers comments. My thoughts on environment is that it is where you live, not how you get outside. It should have more to do with clean air and clean water, but that concept has been hijacked by the extremists. To them it's about stopping cell towers and telling you what color you can paint your house. The fact is, the extremists are opposed to any economic growth in this area. That's why they oppose cell towers, snowmobile trails, second home projects, and originally the power line. The enviro groups only got behind the power line when they saw it was going to happen anyway and got a huge donation from Wilber Cowett who told them to support the line and keep it off his land. Part of the APA mission is to promote the economy and some knot head who got booted thought snow shoeing should be promoted instead of snowmobiling. That's not where the money is. To be continued.
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contrary1
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11-13-09 5:22 PM
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I grew up in a "Do as I say not as I do" environment. Parents can act in an arbitrary and capricious manner too, but it usually results in a drastic loss of credibility and unruly children. It's gonna be a long uphill climb if enviros ever hope to win the hearts and minds of local citizens. I voted against the amendment for exactly that reason. When it means money in their pockets, environmentalism becomes a secondary issue. When it comes time to stop the recreational activities of lower caste cockroaches, everything is on the table. I don't understand how the creation of 100 more Fawn Ridge McMansions is appreciating the environment either, but you got your new power lines didn't you? Let'em ride.
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askier
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11-13-09 4:56 PM
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I agree the n word is offencive but so is saying snowmobilers all drive from bar to bar drinking it's just not true. I ride and don't drink as do many others. I do stop in some of the "bars" because they have great food. But I guess we all have our prejudices and stereotypes
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twinrivers
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11-13-09 4:18 PM
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Jack, can you stop using the word n*zi. It's really offensive. Enjoying the environment on a snowmobile is beyond my comprehension I admit. Isn't the environment fresh air, quiet, beauty? Snowmobilers that need more grooming to go faster between the bars? Hardly seems that enjoyment of the environment is the goal. Still I wouldn't suggest throwing the snowmobiles out. That would be unreasonable and extreme. The APA may have wanted to compromise the integrity of the SLMP figuring the "proof in the pudding" will come later with individual trail planning. This vote was a cave to snowmobile lobby. The constitutional amendment was a backwards process for sure. There was just no arguing that the benefits were worth the compromise all around. Not so in this case.
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Walker
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11-13-09 12:57 PM
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Contrary, environmental groups are private entities-- they're allowed to be arbitrary and capricious. It is state agencies that are supposed to apply the law equitably. Jack, it's the STATE land master use plan: all 19 million of us state residents are "local" when it comes to state land.
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contrary1
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11-13-09 12:21 PM
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Ex post facto legislation has been used extensively by Congress. Once was to create the Military Commissions Act. This legislation allowed the many members of Congress who knew we were breaking our own torture laws, a free pass for not reporting it as a crime. They are obligated to protect and defend the Constitution, and when confronted with evidence that institutionalized torture was happening, allowed it to continue uncontested. So they tossed the Geneva Convention, wrote laws that redefined torture retroactively, and called it the Military Commissions Act. What they witnessed was no longer a crime. With that ex post facto precedent in mind, it should be easy to change the State Master Plan later. Especially if all sides agree. It isn't like they want to waterboard the APA, they just want to appreciate the environment...on a snowmobile.
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contrary1
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11-13-09 12:00 PM
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These same enviro-groups allowed the new transmission lines feeding LP to be installed without dissenting, even though the guidelines said they needed have state voters approve it first. Can you say arbitrary and capricious use of legal semantics? Why is it OK for them to ignore legal process when it suits their purpose, then use the same process like a club when Average Joe gets a bone thrown to him? It must be nice to have your cake and eat it too.
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FishCric
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11-13-09 11:06 AM
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People will spend to ride nice trails. The only critter that minds snowmachines is liberal humans...... bah...think blizzard's
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jackkk
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11-13-09 10:59 AM
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We the people should rise up and throw these environmental nazi groups out of the park along with the APA. The first step would be to dissolve the state master use plan and re-write it with local people, not these environmental extremists.
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ADKpaddler
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11-13-09 10:45 AM
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So, I read that all parties are pretty much in agreement with the method of planning and the plan. The environmental groups see legal process questions and are likely correct, the SLMP should be amended first to create the legal allowance of the groomers.
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