The pending classification of the 20,000-acre Boreas Ponds tract has drawn a lot of attention from Adirondack green groups. So much so that there are now two more groups that have formed to lobby for what they would like the state to do with the most recent Adirondack land purchase.

Access the Adirondacks and Adirondack Wilderness Advocates have recently formed to bring their visions for the tract more into the public eye. And while the two groups were created in the past two months, their visions for the acreage couldn’t be more different.

Access the Adirondacks is a coalition of the Five Towns of Minerva, Indian Lake, Long Lake, Newcomb and North Hudson. The group hopes to convince the state that more access for bikers, snowmobilers and others can be obtained by garnering a classification of wild forest for the lands, which would carry less restrictions than the wilderness classification many other groups are hoping for.

Access’ plan calls for bicycling and snowmobiling around Boreas Pond to White Lily Pond. The plan also calls for development of groomed cross-country ski trails and the development of a hut-to-hut system along with numerous campsites in various locations.

Beyond that, Access would like to see seasonal motor vehicle access for hunting and fishing, and calls for the state to allow electric motors on Boreas Pond.

Representatives for Access could not immediately be reached for comment, but the plan can be seen in full at www.accessadk.com.

Meanwhile, Adirondack Wilderness Advocates was formed by Bill Ingersol, Brendan Wiltse and Pete Nelson. Nelson and Ingersol are frequent contributors to the Adirondack Almanack, and Wiltse is a landscape photographer and limnologist who studies the impact of road salt on Adirondack waterways.

This group is calling on the state to expand the wilderness designation to most of the tract, noting that adding the Boreas Tract, along with adjacent conservation easement lands, would make the eastern High Peaks Wilderness more than 300,000 acres.

Advocates would like to see Gulf Brook Road closed to motor vehicles, and instead have it used as a multi-use trail for hiking, skiing and horse-back riding. They are also calling on the state to protect the ponds from motorized use, instead hoping that the ponds get developed for use by hikers and paddlers. Their plan calls for two lean-tos to be built on the shore of Boreas.

Advocates would also like to see ski trails developed and motorized camping access limited to an area near The Branch, east of Ragged Mountain. Advocates would also like to see the construction of a visitor center in North Hudson.

Advocates published a map of what they would like to see, and the map was based off of one created by the Be Wild NY campaign, which is a coalition of other green groups including the Adirondack Mountain Club, Adirondack Council and Adirondack Wild, as well as several national groups like the Wilderness Society and the Natural Resources Defense Council.

Be Wild is calling for a mix of uses, and the two new groups sort of represent opposite ends of the Be Wild campaign, with Advocates calling for stricter controls while Access is calling for more uses of the land.

Ingersol said in an email that Boreas was the catalyst for the formation of Advocates, but that the group may continue on if they gather enough support.

“Boreas Ponds was the ‘critical’ situation that got our attention and inspired us to come together, because each of us was dissatisfied with the quality of the wilderness advocacy that was being performed by other groups,” he said in an email. “We saw a need for someone to stand up and make the case why this land needs to be protected, and took that as an opportunity.”

Ingersol said the group understands that access for everyone is key, but that other plans fall short of keeping the area “wild.”

“The goal for park planning is accommodate the various recreation uses where such uses are appropriate. Someone who seeks motorized access is by definition not interested in remoteness, therefore it would be flatly inappropriate to open a road into a remote area, where it disrupts the ability of other people to have a wilderness experience,” he said.

“There are opportunities for enhanced access here that wouldn’t intrude on the wilderness characteristics of the interior. For instance, there is a road to the east of Ragged Mountain that might accommodate car camping and hunting access in a secluded part of the property, with access to The Branch. The state should establish better canoe access points to Sanford Lake and the Hudson River.

“But Boreas Ponds is the one place that currently exhibits an outstanding sense of remoteness. If we cannot preserve the remoteness of this one place, then wilderness proponents will have gotten very little out of the Finch Pruyn deal other than some bulk acreage here and there.”

To read the Advocates’ plan, visit www.adirondackwilderness.org.