APA wants to keep fire towers
By CHRIS KNIGHT, Enterprise Senior Staff WriterArticle Photos
RAY BROOK - While no final decision was made, the state Adirondack Park Agency reached a consensus Thursday to explore the legal steps necessary to keep the fire towers on Hurricane and St. Regis mountains in place.
"There's general sentiment to finding a path that allows both towers to remain," said Commissioner James Townsend, chairman of the agency's State Land Committee. "Degradation and removal are not options."
After conducting a recent study of Adirondack fire towers, the state Department of Environmental Conservation proposed removing the towers to comply with a mandate that's been in the Adirondack Park State Land Master Plan since it was written in 1972. The plan requires removal of the two towers to bring the areas where they are located - the Hurricane Mountain Primitive Area and the St. Regis Canoe Area - into compliance with wilderness guidelines.
But that proposal has met with stiff public opposition, which APA staff and officials acknowledged Thursday.
"It's a very complicated issue and one that is very close to the hearts of many people," said APA Senior Natural Resources Planner Kevin Prickett, who outlined the agency's options Thursday. "Many people have come to see the towers as historic resources and want them preserved in their historic setting."
While the two towers are in disrepair and are no longer open to the public, both are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The agency waded into the issue after receiving a resolution from the Adirondack Park Local Government Review Board that asked for an amendment to the master plan to let the fire towers remain. The Review Board requested APA and DEC reclassify the footprint of the lands around the towers and any associated structures as "historic areas" in the master plan.
Prickett gave the agency five options, each of which had its pros and cons when it came to compliance with the master plan.
Reclassifying the areas around the fire towers as historic would preserve the structures' historic resources, but "the quality of the wilderness or wilderness-type lands surrounding the fire towers would continue to be severely impacted," Prickett noted. If the towers were designated historic, they would have to be maintained and have their own unit management plans.
The second option, removing and relocating the towers, would satisfy the master plan's mandate, but the towers would be removed from their historical setting.
The third alternative is to do nothing and allow the fire towers to degrade. Prickett said that would lead to the loss of the towers' structural integrity and create safety hazards for the public, but improve each area's "naturalness."
The fourth option is to create a smaller primitive area for the Hurricane fire tower's footprint, classifying the surrounding area as wilderness, and reclassifying the St. Regis fire tower footprint as primitive. Prickett said that would allow the towers to remain, but the wilderness quality of surrounding state lands would be impacted.
Option five, revising the State Land Master Plan to allow fire towers in primitive and canoe areas, would preserve the fire towers and not conflict with the master plan, but it's the most complicated alternative. It would require four amendment actions, each of which would have to go through the State Environmental Quality Review process and public hearings, potentially taking years.
Commissioner Arthur Lussi said the agency should do what it can to keep the fire towers.
"I'm a person who has enjoyed taking my children up Hurricane, talking with them about the history of fire towers," he said. "We need to find a way to preserve them."
Commissioner Lani Ulrich questioned whether allowing the fire towers to remain would really impact someone's wilderness experience, although she said she didn't want to get into a "values debate."
Commissioner Richard Booth said he was "split" on the issue.
"A big part of me says this is a decision that was made decades ago when the State Land Master Plan was crafted and we'd be doing what's been left undone for a long time," he said. "But a part of me also says the towers are there, they're historic, and while they have an impact on the wilderness character, it's certainly a bearable impact."
If the towers remain, Booth added, the state shouldn't pay to maintain them since they're no longer necessary.
Agency Chairman Curt Stiles also said he was divided about the fate of the fire towers but pressed the board to go through the proper process and make a decision.
"The fact that this has gone on for as long as it has is what's part of the problem with what we do, and with what our friends in DEC do," he said. "We've been messing with this issue, deferring it and putting our head in the sand for a long time."
After listening to all the comments, Townsend asked agency staff to work with DEC officials and come back with a recommendation for an option that would allow the towers to stay. APA and DEC staff will also look into the cost of maintaining the towers.
The APA board could make a decision at its May meeting.
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Contact Chris Knight at 891-2600 ext. 24 or cknight@adirondackdailyenterprise.com.
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billstarr
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04-19-10 12:50 PM
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Walker, we're going to keep running into these problems as lang as a certain ideology continues to rule the roost in Ray Brook and Albany.
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Walker
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04-19-10 9:44 AM
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Bill, I wish you were right about the protection afforded by National Register of Historic Places listing. But that didn't help the Harriman Cottage which Paul Smiths College tore town a while back, it didn't help the Wawbeek, and it didn't help the Crown Point Bridge. What needs to happen is that the State Land Master Plan needs to be modified to allow historic structure to remain in areas classified as wilderness. Until that happens, we're going to keep running into these problems.
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billstarr
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04-17-10 8:10 AM
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There really is nothing complicated at all about this issue. Both fire towers are listed on the National Register of Historic Places and the State Register of Historic Places. As such historic preservation laws mandate that every alternative of retaining and restoring each fire tower must be exhausted before the state may even think about removing them. This will come as a shock to some people, but the SLMP does not supersede other state and Federal laws. If the APA staff still refuses to comply with the instructions made by the State Land Committee and proceeds down the road to remove these fire towers they will run head-on into Federal law.
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Adkpiney
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04-16-10 11:30 PM
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Good job protecting well known landmarks...
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graymare47
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04-16-10 11:05 PM
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An excellent decision on the part of the APA!! I believe this is what they should be doing to protect the Park!!..not worrying about the size of someone's boat house!! Next, could they do some studies on amphibians in the Park??? Like are being done in Vermont???
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LoonLaker
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04-16-10 6:17 PM
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The problem is that the State Land Master Plan, which was formulated by one man, Peter Paine, is viewed by the "Greenies" as some sort of Bible. The SLMP, as it is popularly known, desperately needs to be revised to bring IT into the 21st Century. The firetower situation as well as the snowmoblile/ATV debacle needs to be addressed in a manner that recognizes that the local economy is more important than the wishes of the 'crazies' that inhabit the 'Big Apple'.
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snakepliskin
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04-16-10 6:05 PM
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Finally the apa has done something right! It has only taken 37 years, but they did it. I hate to say it, but, good job to James Townsend for once! Shame on you adirondack council and the rest of you radical greenies!
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poolman137
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04-16-10 5:24 PM
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Cell towers are another issue but This issue is historical. The cell towers are surely needed but the enviros don't like the visual ( what about those frankenpines?)... maybe if they get stranded like people in the past, they would change their mind.......
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LoveTheCold
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04-16-10 1:25 PM
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If they can stay cell towers should be built
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ADKrealist
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04-16-10 12:56 PM
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I like the towers and the history that goes with them
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phahn50
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04-16-10 12:24 PM
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a wise and sensible decision
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poolman137
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04-16-10 12:23 PM
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f111crew, This is not just "scrap metal" ... To you it may be but to many of us and others from this state and country, no and never...... I am very glad that the APA has listened to "the people" and not just the enviros.....
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poolman137
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04-16-10 12:20 PM
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This would be very honorable of the APA for all of the grief it gets.... Thank you!
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f111crew
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04-16-10 12:08 PM
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Still all warm and emotional about a bunch of scrap metal......
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canoer
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04-16-10 12:06 PM
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I would think that the enviros would want Whiteface cleaned up as well. Glad to see that the APA listened to input. Lot of things are disappearing from the ADKs.....leantos, decent trails, etc.
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bgkk75s
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04-16-10 11:50 AM
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Put the cell equipment on them so they can expand the coverage area.
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JohnAndersonnnn
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04-16-10 10:58 AM
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Keep the fire towers, I remember being a young child and loving to try and spot them out on top of mountains as I drove around the Adirondacks. Especially true with the one on top of Mt. Morris also known as Big Tupper. It would be a shame to get rid of them and its definatly awesome to climb up them after reaching the peak of a mountain. You get some of the best views of nature from them that can be found anywhere in the world!
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