New York State Department of Environmental Conservation Commissioner Basil Seggos holds up a framed photo of the Adirondack Great Range given to him by the Adirondack Council. (Provided photo — Adirondack Council)

ALBANY — The Adirondack Council presented state Department of Environmental Conservation Commissioner Basil Seggos with a framed photograph of the Adirondack Great Range on May 19 as a token of its appreciation for the commissioner’s efforts to improve the management of visitors to and sustain the success of the High Peaks Wilderness Area and other popular destinations in the Adirondack Park.

Adirondack Council Executive Director William C. Janeway said in a press release.

Seggos said in the release.

Janeway noted that visitors to the Adirondacks increased by 25% over the decade preceding the COVID-19 outbreak, starting at about 10 million per year and rising above 12.4 million by 2018. During the pandemic, the number of visitors and new residents coming to the Adirondacks increased dramatically.

According to the Council, hotels in Lake Placid reported they were busier than they were during the 1980 Olympic Winter Games last summer. Real estate prices escalated as homes were purchased unseen by the buyer, often for cash. All of this occurred as the Canadian border remained closed to visitors. Canadians often comprise 30% or more of Adirondack Park visitors, according to local surveys. Adirondack communities are also embracing the idea of appealing to a broader audience of potential visitors by seeking greater equity, inclusion, diversity and social justice.

Janeway said.

Janeway noted that under Seggos’s leadership, DEC has started constructing new, sustainable trails, while also adjusting parking, adding new signage and offering better information to potential visitors before they arrived. It has added portable restrooms and halted unsafe and illegal parking in several locations. It is helping to fund additional front country trailhead stewards. It has been announced that DEC plans to implement several actions approved in earlier unit management plans, including improved parking and better protections for natural resources and communities. The state has also provided funding to Essex County for hiker shuttles, and advocates are still hopefully that those will operate this summer. Earlier this year, as recommended by the state’s High Peaks Overuse Working Group, the DEC announced a partnership with the Adirondack Mountain Reserve to pilot hiker parking reservations to address safety and other issues. This week, it began a Leave No Trace media and social media campaign aimed at visitor and hiker education based on LNT’s widely accepted standards for ethical behavior in the outdoors.

Janeway said.

The state released a draft 98-page wildlands monitoring plan earlier in May. The Adirondack Council applauded the drafting and release of this as another important step towards improved visitor use management, as forest rangers, land management experts, and the diverse membership of the State’s Wilderness Overuse Working Group recommended.

Ultimately a Visitor Use Management Framework would provide a systematic method for determining which areas of the park need new trails, parking, sanitary facilities, planners, land managers, forest rangers, educational programs and limits on use for the most heavily damaged locations, in order to give them a rest, he said.

Independent surveys of New Yorkers and hikers have found that most, but not all, support prioritizing wilderness protection over free and unlimited access, as required in the Adirondack Park. For example, 79% said in a 2019 survey that they would rather see a trail closed to them than have it damaged due to erosion or poor conditions.

said Janeway.

In presenting the award to Seggos the Adirondack Council also reiterated its thanks to the Commissioner and the state for helping the Adirondacks with new clean water infrastructure funding, the 2022 environmental bond act proposal, the $300 million Environmental Protection Fund, the hard work of the dedicated state professionals, and investments in building more vibrant sustainable climate-smart communities.