SARANAC LAKE — The state Department of Environmental Conservation wants to hear what residents think should be included in a wilderness management plan currently in the works for the High Peaks.

Over the last few years, the DEC has placed a heavy focus on what the department calls “visitor use management.” As the number of hikers and other recreationists visiting the High Peaks in continues to rise, so has the amount of trail use, traffic and safety concerns. To address these concerns, the DEC has deployed a barrage of mitigation efforts, largely starting with creating the High Peaks Advisory Group — or HPAG — which came up with a list of management recommendations in January 2021 that have informed the creation of management systems like the state Route 73 hiker shuttle and the reservation-based parking system at the Adirondack Mountain Reserve, the latter of which is kicking off its third pilot year on May 1.

Now, the DEC is following through with another of HPAG’s recommendations — hiring a third-party group to develop what HPAG called a “Wilderness Management Plan” for the High Peaks.

In March, the DEC awarded Otak, Inc. — a Portland, Oregon-based research, planning and design firm — a two-year contract to develop a management plan for both the High Peaks and the Catskills, now dubbed the Visitor Use Management, or VUM, project. The first step in the planning process, the DEC announced Monday, is to hold public feedback sessions to gather locals’ thoughts on best practices for sustainable recreation.

Otak will facilitate the first round of public meetings in the Adirondacks at the Harrietstown Town Hall auditorium in Saranac Lake from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. on Tuesday, May 9. The DEC and Otak plan to hold a second round of public meetings in 2024 to present drafted management recommendations. Otak is also fielding comments throughout the two-year planning process via email at vum-facilitators@rossstrategic.com.

“DEC’s sustainable use initiatives require public participation to be successful,” DEC Commissioner Basil Seggos said in a statement Monday. “Listening to public and stakeholder perspectives about the High Peaks and Kaaterskill Clove project areas will provide DEC with the important data to support successful strategies for balancing conservation and public access in these popular Forest Preserve destinations.”

At the public meeting on May 9, Otak first plans to present its goals and timelines for the project. The VUM planning process will look at “experiential” and social elements of visitor use in the High Peaks alongside public safety elements, according to the DEC’s release. At the public meeting, the firm will also introduce how the VUM framework might be applied to the High Peaks and Kaaterskill Clove areas. Then, Otak plans to invite the public to interactively discuss their interests and concerns.

“The outcome of this initial phase will include a summary report of the process, recommended management strategies, and a monitoring plan,” the DEC’s release states.

John Sheehan, the director of communications for the Adirondack Council, an Elizabethtown-based environmental advocacy group, said the council is hoping to see discussions about trails that they believe need to be redesigned, rerouted or rebuilt — especially those that were never really designed as formal trails in the first place, like herd paths that go straight upslope. The council also wants to see Otak spread awareness of the Route 73 hiker shuttle, which has seen low ridership since its inception in 2021, as well as the expansion of AMR’s hiker reservation system to other lots in the Adirondacks.

“Parking reservations can help cure the problems of overflowing state-owned lots as well, as has happened already in the Catskill Park,” Sheehan wrote in an email to the Enterprise on Tuesday. “We can all enjoy the Adirondacks. We want everyone to feel welcome here, always. But we can’t all enjoy the same place at the same time.”