Snowmobile Trail Mileage Cap Letter

 

March 3, 2008
 
Curt Stiles, Chairman
Adirondack Park Agency
P.O. Box 99
Ray Brook, New York 12977
 
RE:  "No Material Increase" Provisions, Master Plan Wild Forest Guideline 4
 
Dear Chairman Stiles and Agency Members:
 
The Adirondack Mountain Club (ADK) respectfully submits these comments on the Adirondack Park Agency's (the Agency) proposed action of establishing a mileage cap on snowmobile trails within the Adirondack Forest Preserve at 848.88 miles and calling for trail mileage above that number to be considered as a "material increase" inconsistent with the provisions of the Adirondack Park State Land Master Plan (APSLMP), specifically Wild Forest Basic Guideline #4 (APSLMP, 33). We disagree with this approach as more specifically set forth herein.
 
ADK concurs that Guideline #3 for Wild Forest "Roads, jeep trails and state truck trails" (APSLMP, 35), and Wild Forest Basic Guideline #4 make it clear that the "No Material Increase" Guideline is to be applied on a Park-wide basis and that the APSLMP requires that designated snowmobile trails on any past, present and future acquisitions classified as Wild Forest are subject to the total Park-wide mileage calculation of 740 miles.
 
ADK commends the staff of the Agency and the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) for their hard work and effort in recent research to ascertain the most accurate and verifiable number for the miles of snowmobile trails on Wild Forest lands of the Forest Preserve in 1972.  ADK supports the Agency/DEC agreed upon, revised estimate of 740 miles of snowmobile trail mileage that existed on Forest Preserve lands classified as Wild Forest in 1972.
 
It is ADK's position that the revised estimate of 740 miles takes the place of and supersedes the former estimate of 848.88 miles, the previous estimate. Accordingly, the figure of 848.88 no longer has any legal value for calculating what constitutes a prohibited "material increase" in new trails under Wild Forest Basic Guideline #4.
 
It is ADK's understanding that upon the completion and implementation of all Wild Forest Unit Management Plans (UMPs), the projected snowmobile trail mileage is expected to be approximately 766 miles, including designated trails and DEC roads open for snowmobiling on lands classified as Wild Forest.
 
ADK submits that the starting point for calculating the upper limit or ceiling for snowmobile trails on Wild Forest lands must be 740 miles. ADK agrees with DEC and the Agency that the proposed Wild Forest build-out to 766 miles, an additional 26 miles does not represent a material increase over the historic trail mileage estimate of 740 miles of snowmobile trails that existed in 1972 (approximately a 3.5 percent increase). 
 
ADK submits that the proposed 848.88 miles as a suggested upper limit or ceiling represents a 15 percent increase above the now agreed upon 1972 mileage figure of 740 miles, an increase that is clearly "material" by any legal yardstick.  The concept of "no material increase" was intended to enforce the legal premise of Basic Guideline #4 that "public use of motor vehicles will not be encouraged."
 
The proposition that an additional 108 miles is "not material" can not be reconciled with the clear language and command of the APSLMP that "public use of motor vehicles will not be encouraged."
 
ADK submits that the Agency and DEC should establish the cap or ceiling on snowmobile mileage at 766 miles on Forest Preserve within the Adirondack Park, with any mileage above 766 miles being determined to be a material increase as a matter of law.
 
Since the original 1972 mileage estimate of 848.88 has been replaced and superseded by the newly researched and substantiated figure of 740 miles, there is no longer any legal basis for using that number for any "material increase" calculation under Basis Guideline #4 or for any other legal interpretation of the APSLMP.
 
While an additional 26 miles may be consistent with being "immaterial", the same cannot be said for 108 miles which is almost four times that number, especially given the clear command of the APSLMP that "public use of motor vehicles will not be encouraged."
 
Thank you for the opportunity to share ADK's views with you.
 
Sincerely,
 
  
Neil F. Woodworth
Executive Director
 
cc:
P. Grannis, DEC Commissioner
R. Davies
K. Richards
E. Lowe
T. Martin
D. Smith
Agency Members
J. Connolly
R. Weber
W. Linck