RAY BROOK – The state Adirondack Park Agency voted to approve a Department of Environmental Conservation plan to reroute two trails at Mount Van Hoevenberg at the agency’s regular meeting Friday morning. The two agencies will now go to the public with a simultaneous comment period on the plan.

The plan calls for the DEC to move two trails at the cross-country ski area off of private land and onto adjacent state land. The trails currently cross two parcels of private property, but one of the land owners has notified the state Olympic Regional Development Authority, which operates the facilities at Van Ho, that he no longer wants the trails to cross the private land.

The DEC is in talks with the other land owner to come to a long-term solution that would let that section of trail remain in place.

The two trails connect the Porter Mountain trail network to the rest of the Van Ho complex, and they are an integral part of several ski loops that are sanctioned for international competition. The trails are one-way, which is important for safety during competitive races.

The DEC’s proposed amendment to the Van Ho unit management plan would have the state cut trees, remove stumps and perform light grading on the new sections of trail. The DEC would also build two bridges over North Brook. Two bridges that currently exist on the private parcel will be removed.

The rerouted trail section will be about 1,200 feet long and affect less than 2 acres of land. Three-hundred-and-sixty-seven trees would be cut in the process, most of which are less than 6 inches in diameter.

Art Lussi, an APA board member who was recently nominated to represent the town of North Elba on the ORDA board, notified the rest of the APA board that although he had been nominated, no action had been taken on that nomination, and therefore he would not recuse himself from this vote.

DEC’s Kris Alberga gave a presentation to the APA board on the proposed changes.

The APA’s State Land Committee passed the motion to approve unanimously, and the full board passed it at the end of the meeting.

Public comments will be accepted until Aug. 26 and can be mailed to Kris Alberga, NYS DEC, P.O. Box 296, Ray Brook, NY 12977, or emailed to r5.ump@dec.ny.gov. Comments can also be sent to Kathy Reagan, NYS APA, P.O. Box 99, Ray Brook, NY 12977, or emailed to slmp_comments@apa.ny.gov.

The amendment is available to read at www.dec.ny.gov/lands/107185.html.