The push to reopen the Moose River Plains to motor vehicles continued Tuesday as Hamilton County supervisors met in Albany with top state Department of Environmental Conservation officials, laying the groundwork for a plan that could lead to the gates opening in upcoming weeks.
Inlet Supervisor John Frey said towns are applying for a temporary, revocable permit for repairing and maintaining the more than 40 miles of dirt roads. The parties also discussed potential solutions for patrolling the 140 primitive campsites and 50,000 acres accessible by this road system.
"The final outcome of the meeting is that, if we can work together with some resolve toward some shared services, if we can come up with a plan and put it on paper by Friday, maybe the Plains could be open," said Frey, whose town has only about 400 residents. "I'm the eternal optimist."
The meeting was attended by three top DEC officials: Commissioner Pete Grannis, Director of Lands and Forests Rob Davies and Assistant Commissioner of Natural Resources Christopher Amato. Three elected state legislators were also there: state Sen. Betty Little, R-Queensbury; Assemblywoman Teresa Sayward, R-Willsboro; and Assemblyman Marc Butler, R-Newport. Also in attendance were Morehouse town Supervisor Bill Farber, who chairs the Hamilton County board, and Indian Lake town Supervisor Barry Hutchins, whose town of 1,200 people is reliant on the Plains for drawing tourists.
The two gates to the Moose River Plains near Inlet and Indian Lake are closed indefinitely because the current fiscal crisis has reduced the DEC's fund for maintaining roads and caused them to cut its assistant forest ranger program. The gates keep out motorized vehicles, but hikers are allowed in the Plains. It is miles to reach most campsites from main roads.
Many things would have to fall into place for the gates to open by this weekend. An opening date of early to mid-June is more realistic if the parties can reach a final agreement, according to those interviewed for this article.
"Road maintenance seems to be the easy one," Frey said. "Barry (Hutchins) and I have committed our highway departments to what minor road repairs need to be done for the season. I've offered fuel. I've got gas pumps that are less than 2 miles from the gate. If EnCon needs to go back and patrol, within reason, let's figure out their fuel."
The difficult part may be coming up with personnel to patrol the Plains. Farber and Butler suggested that someone like an assistant forest ranger be brought back as a mentor to a youth group that could patrol the Plains and do tasks such as clean the campsites. The group could include teenagers from Hamilton and Herkimer county youth programs, Frey said. Groups are working together to find funding for such a program.
"We could conceivably wind up with more staff in there and maybe more productive this year than they have been able to do the last couple of years because of the budget constraints they've been under," Frey said.
Hamilton County Youth Board Chairman Bob Kleppang, told by the Enterprise of the proposal to use the youth, said he was in favor of it. The Plains is important to him as a local resident and to his youth group, which uses it as a base for some activities.
"I think we certainly would be (willing to work with the DEC)," Kleppang said. "We have worked with groups in the past to do trail work. It's great opportunity, and it kind of reinforces responsibility with doing something in your own backyard."
Reopening the Plains gates has received strong support since it was announced they would be closed. The state's largest sportsmen's organization, the New York Conservation Council, is planning a rally for all state parks and recreation areas near the Inlet gate on Saturday. A petition being circulated by Mitch Lee, whose father Gary Lee was the forest ranger in the Plains for decades, has garnered more than a 1,000 signatures. A Facebook page called "Keep New York State Moose River Plains Open" had garnered almost 850 fans as of this morning.
The Plains is popular because it is a destination that serves a variety of users. It is used by birders, mountain bikers, hikers, trout fishermen, paddlers and hunters. The road has also become a destination for a "moose viewing drive" because of a growing moose population there. These visitors provide Inlet and Indian Lake with revenue by spending money in their stores, restaurants and lodging facilities.
The Plains also hosts the Black Fly Challenge mountain bike race, is one of the locations for backcountry trips during the Hamilton County Birding Festival and is home to the New York State Muzzle Loaders Primitive Rendezvous.
One of the reasons the town supervisors think the gates will reopen is that there is already a precedent for towns and the state working together to reopen a recreation area. The town of Caroga and the DEC worked out a deal a few weeks ago to open the Caroga Lake state campground after the DEC announced it didn't have the funds to do so.
Butler, who helped work a deal between the town of Caroga and the DEC, thinks those involved with this situation are also close to reaching a resolution.
"There was a couple of tense moments, but there's a general attitude from all sides that we have a problem here that needs to be resolved," Butler said. "I thought Commissioner Grannis, who attended, was very good. He emphasized the budgetary problems they face is not something they are doing with any delight at all. He re-emphasized their backs are against the wall, too, and it's difficult all the way around. I think once we all came to that understanding, it moved very well, very smoothly, and the dialogue was very positive."
The DEC press office in Albany didn't return a phone call Tuesday, but spokesman Yancey Roy wrote in an e-mail that there was a "productive dialogue" on "short-term and long-term possibilities." He cautioned, however, that there are still "hurdles" to overcome.
If the groups are able to come to a workable final plan to open the gates, the towns think the word will spread quickly because of all the involved parties.
"I, for one, will be shouting it from the rooftops," Hutchins said.