A judge from the Appellate Division of the New York state court system has halted tree cutting on a snowmobile trail by the Department of Environmental Conservation until Aug. 29 at least.

The community connector trail, part of a larger snowmobile network, runs 6.5 miles between Newcomb and Minerva in the central Adirondacks. It varies from 9 to 12 feet in width.

Protect the Adirondacks had filed a lawsuit against the DEC for cutting trees on the trail, arguing that it violated state law. A decision in mid July halted it for about a month, but on Aug. 9, a state Supreme Court judge lifted that prohibition of cutting on the trail.

Protect had argued that the DEC would cut more than 7,000 trees during the course of the work and claimed this constituted a significant take of lumber from the state Forest Preserve. However, Protect had hired its own consultant to count the trees that would be cut. The DEC says only trunks 3 inches in diameter or greater should be counted as trees and therefore claimed far fewer trees would be cut than Protect had estimated.

Friday’s decision prohibits any further tree cutting for at least 10 days, when the Appellate court decides whether to issue a preliminary injunction against the state.