INLET - Close to 100 people from all over the state showed up at the Inlet Town Hall Monday night for a public hearing on proposed changes to the Moose River Plains.
Of those, 26 people spoke, and two major themes continuously showed up throughout the night: access and maintenance.
"For 40 years we've had a great stewardship in there," said Mitch Lee, who works for the Inlet Visitor's Information Center and whose father, Gary, was the Moose River Plains forest ranger for 33 years until 1999. "Everyone who has gone in there to fish, to hunt, to camp, to bird-watch as of late, to mountain bike in a race, to sled-dog in the New York state championships, have used that with utmost right to be on that property and have left it just the way they found it. I'd like it to happen for the next 50 years. The plan that they brought us is a good plan. With a little tweaking, I think there's a little something in there for everybody."
The state Department of Environmental Conservation and Adirondack Park Agency are proposing several major changes to the area. Those changes include reconfiguring campsites to create the 3,000-acre Moose River Plains Intensive Use Area along the Limekiln Lake-Cedar River Road, where many of the campsites exist.
The plans also propose to close the dirt road to little Indian Lake and the Otter Brook Truck Trail. They would also create a snowmobile trail that would connect the towns of Indian Lake, Inlet and Long Lake in a separate area and reclassify 15,000 acres of wild forest land as wilderness.
Many of the speakers asked that the road to little Indian Lake remain open to motorized vehicles so recreation users, including fishermen, could access those water bodies.
"It's probably the best hunting and fishing area in the Moose River Plains," said former Forest Ranger Gary Lee.
The state is planning to close the road and create the 3,600-acre Beaver Lake Special Management Area. The proposal would allow floatplanes to continue using the water bodies, which include Indian Lake, Squaw Lake and Beaver Lake, but would close the road and waters to other motorized uses. The wild forest land is located next to the West Canada Lakes Wilderness, including the 15,000 acres that is proposed as part of this plan.
Jim Payne, owner of Payne's Seaplanes in Inlet, spoke against the proposal to close the road and waters to motorized use and is worried that his time of flying to those three water bodies is limited.
"What concerns me is that I can see the (writing) on the wall here," he said. "In two to three years, they are going to say you can't operate there, that's a wilderness area. I don't think you should close them roads either just because I can fly in there. They should be maintained as they always have been."
Inlet Supervisor John Frey, who noted he could endorse the plan with a few changes, said he was concerned that the state would start to eliminate campsites before it opened up others.
"If you take away any campsites, there's no way to pinpoint when they are going to be returned," Frey said.
The plan would leave 108 of the current 174 campsites in place after the first round of changes. Eighty-three of the 116 campsites in the new camping area would remain while the surrounding wild forest area would retain 25 where there are currently 58.
However, if it is deemed necessary, the DEC would have the option of having up to 150 campsites in the intensive camping area.
Several speakers questioned where the state would come up with money to make the proposed changes to the Moose River Plains. They suggested that the area is fine in its current state and that changes are unnecessary.
"The State Land Master Plan should be brought in compliance with the Moose River Plains, not the other way around," Frey said. "The Plains and its layout has served for over 40 years as a model for what works, not what needs fixing."
---
Contact Mike Lynch at 891-2600 ext. 28 or mlynch@adirondackdailyenterprise.com.
