Forest Preserve (New York) - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

's Forest Preserve is all the land owned by the state within the Adirondack and Catskill parks, managed by its Department of Environmental Conservation

New York State Department of Environmental Conservation

The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation is responsible for the conservation, improvement, and protection of natural resources within the U.S. state of New York. It was founded in 1970, replacing the previous Conservation Department...

. These properties are required to be kept "forever wild" by Article 14 of the state constitution, and thus enjoy the highest degree of protection of wild lands in any state. It is thus necessary to amend

Constitutional amendment

A constitutional amendment is a formal change to the text of the written constitution of a nation or state.Most constitutions require that amendments cannot be enacted unless they have passed a special procedure that is more stringent than that required of ordinary legislation...

the New York State Constitution in order to transfer any of these lands to another owner or lessee

Lease

A lease is a contractual arrangement calling for the lessee to pay the lessor for use of an asset. A rental agreement is a lease in which the asset is tangible property...

. Currently there are more than 2.6 million acres (10,400 km²) of Forest Preserve in the Adirondacks and 287,514 acres (1,150 km²) in the Catskills.

While today the Forest Preserve is valued largely as a conservation

Conservation biology

Conservation biology is the scientific study of the nature and status of Earth's biodiversity with the aim of protecting species, their habitats, and ecosystems from excessive rates of extinction...

measure, its establishment in the 19th century was motivated primarily by economic considerations. Gradually its inherent worth as a nature preserve came to be seen, as it became a draw for recreation

Recreation

Recreation is an activity of leisure, leisure being discretionary time. The "need to do something for recreation" is an essential element of human biology and psychology. Recreational activities are often done for enjoyment, amusement, or pleasure and are considered to be "fun"...

and tourism

Tourism

Tourism is travel for recreational, leisure or business purposes. The World Tourism Organization defines tourists as people "traveling to and staying in places outside their usual environment for not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business and other purposes".Tourism has become a...

. A later amendment to Article 14 also made the lands important parts of water supply network

Water supply network

A water supply system or water supply network is a system of engineered hydrologic and hydraulic components which provide water supply. A water supply system typically includes:# A drainage basin ;...

s in the state, particularly New York City's, by allowing 3% of the total lands to be flooded for the construction of reservoirs.

Adirondacks

During the years after the Civil War

American Civil War

The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...

, the state's business community began to fear that unchecked logging

Logging

Logging is the cutting, skidding, on-site processing, and loading of trees or logs onto trucks.In forestry, the term logging is sometimes used in a narrow sense concerning the logistics of moving wood from the stump to somewhere outside the forest, usually a sawmill or a lumber yard...

in the Adirondacks could, through erosion

Erosion

Erosion is when materials are removed from the surface and changed into something else. It only works by hydraulic actions and transport of solids in the natural environment, and leads to the deposition of these materials elsewhere...

, silt

Silt

Silt is granular material of a size somewhere between sand and clay whose mineral origin is quartz and feldspar. Silt may occur as a soil or as suspended sediment in a surface water body...

up the Erie Canal

Erie Canal

The Erie Canal is a waterway in New York that runs about from Albany, New York, on the Hudson River to Buffalo, New York, at Lake Erie, completing a navigable water route from the Atlantic Ocean to the Great Lakes. The canal contains 36 locks and encompasses a total elevation differential of...

and eliminate the state's major economic advantage. They were informed by George Perkins Marsh

George Perkins Marsh

George Perkins Marsh , an American diplomat and philologist, is considered by some to be America's first environmentalist, although "conservationist" would be more accurate...

's seminal 1865 book, Man and Nature
Man and Nature
Man and nature; or, Physical geography as modified by human action is a book written by George Perkins Marsh in 1864.It is one of the first works to document the effects of human action on the environment and it helped to launch the modern conservation movement. Marsh argued that ancient...

, which made the connection between deforestation

Deforestation

Deforestation is the removal of a forest or stand of trees where the land is thereafter converted to a nonforest use. Examples of deforestation include conversion of forestland to farms, ranches, or urban use....

and desertification

Desertification

Desertification is the degradation of land in drylands. Caused by a variety of factors, such as climate change and human activities, desertification is one of the most significant global environmental problems.-Definitions:...

Five years afterward, surveyor

Surveying

See Also: Public Land Survey SystemSurveying or land surveying is the technique, profession, and science of accurately determining the terrestrial or three-dimensional position of points and the distances and angles between them...

Verplanck Colvin

Verplanck Colvin was a lawyer, author, illustrator and topographical engineer whose understanding and appreciation for the environment of the Adirondack Mountains led to the creation of New York's Forest Preserve and the Adirondack Park....

beheld the Adirondacks from the summit of Seward Mountain

Seward Mountain (New York)

Seward Mountain is a mountain located in Franklin County, New York, of which it is the highest point.Seward Mtn. is named after William H. Seward , Governor of New York , and United States Secretary of State ....

during his mission to map the region. The idea of preserving the lands in some sort of park occurred to him then and there, and after he returned he wrote to his superiors in Albany

Albany, New York

Albany is the capital city of the U.S. state of New York, the seat of Albany County, and the central city of New York's Capital District. Roughly north of New York City, Albany sits on the west bank of the Hudson River, about south of its confluence with the Mohawk River...

that action needed to be taken to prevent that kind of despoliation. They appointed him to a committee

Committee

A committee is a type of small deliberative assembly that is usually intended to remain subordinate to another, larger deliberative assembly—which when organized so that action on committee requires a vote by all its entitled members, is called the "Committee of the Whole"...

to study the problem.

In 1882, the businessmen began lobbying the legislature

New York Legislature

The New York State Legislature is the term often used to refer to the two houses that act as the state legislature of the U.S. state of New York. The New York Constitution does not designate an official term for the two houses together...

in earnest, and were rewarded three years later with the passage of the Forest Preserve Act, which provided that no logging would be allowed on state-owned land.

Catskills

Later that year, Ulster County

Ulster County, New York

Ulster County is a county located in the state of New York, USA. It sits in the state's Mid-Hudson Region of the Hudson Valley. As of the 2010 census, the population was 182,493. Recent population estimates completed by the United States Census Bureau for the 12-month period ending July 1 are at...

's representatives in the Assembly were trying to get the county out of a crushing property tax

Property tax

A property tax is an ad valorem levy on the value of property that the owner is required to pay. The tax is levied by the governing authority of the jurisdiction in which the property is located; it may be paid to a national government, a federated state or a municipality...

debt a court had ruled they owed the state. Their solution was to convey some of the land on which they owed the taxes, mostly around Slide Mountain to the state.

The Catskills had actually been considered when the Forest Preserve legislation was first passed, but Harvard

Harvard University

Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...

botanist Charles Sprague Sargent

Charles Sprague Sargent

Charles Sprague Sargent was an American botanist. He was the first director of the Arnold Arboretum at Harvard University in Boston, Massachusetts and the standard botanical author abbreviation Sarg. is applied to plants he described.-Biography:Sargent was the second son of Henrietta and...

had visited them and reported back to the legislature that it was not worth the effort as its streams did not appreciably affect the state's navigable waterway

Waterway

A waterway is any navigable body of water. Waterways can include rivers, lakes, seas, oceans, and canals. In order for a waterway to be navigable, it must meet several criteria:...

s. However, an amended version of the bill was passed, after many deals and compromises among members, that added lands in Ulster, Sullivan

Sullivan County, New York

Sullivan County is a county located in the U.S. state of New York. As of the 2010 census, the population was 77,547. The county seat is Monticello. The name is in honor of Major General John Sullivan, who was a hero in the American Revolutionary War...

and Greene

Greene County, New York

Greene County is a county located in the U.S. state of New York. Its name is in honor of the American Revolutionary War general Nathanael Greene. Its county seat is Catskill...

counties to those eligible for Forest Preserve status.

One side effect of this deal is that the state pays all local and county property tax

Property tax

es on the Forest Preserve as if it were a commercial landowner. This has helped many local governments remain solvent as they have very little economic assets other than forest resources.

Article 14

To manage the land, the state had created a Forest Commission, making New York second only to California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

in having a state-level forestry

Forestry

Forestry is the interdisciplinary profession embracing the science, art, and craft of creating, managing, using, and conserving forests and associated resources in a sustainable manner to meet desired goals, needs, and values for human benefit. Forestry is practiced in plantations and natural stands...

agency. Most of its members were either openly or covertly connected to timber

Timber

Timber may refer to:* Timber, a term common in the United Kingdom and Australia for wood materials * Timber, Oregon, an unincorporated community in the U.S...

interests, however, and routinely approved dodges around the legislation to make sure logging would continue. In 1893 the legislature retroactively approved many of these practices by giving the commission the right to sell timber from the lands and trade them as it saw fit.

It seemed the Forest Preserve now existed only on paper. But the following year New York held a constitutional convention

Constitutional convention (political meeting)

A constitutional convention is now a gathering for the purpose of writing a new constitution or revising an existing constitution. A general constitutional convention is called to create the first constitution of a political unit or to entirely replace an existing constitution...

, and the language of the law was written into the new state constitution with added words to close every loophole the Forest Commission had found.

This section, Article 14 of the 1894 constitution and every one since, is often referred to as the "forever wild" section even though those two words do not appear next to each other in the text.
Since amending

Constitutional amendment

New York's constitution is a deliberately cumbersome process that requires the approval of both Assembly and Senate in successive sessions of the legislature, followed by public approval at the next general election

General election

In a parliamentary political system, a general election is an election in which all or most members of a given political body are chosen. The term is usually used to refer to elections held for a nation's primary legislative body, as distinguished from by-elections and local elections.The term...

, this put a severe damper on any efforts by the Forest Commission to placate the loggers while still claiming to be honoring the law.

Nonetheless, they would try. The new provision barely survived an attempt to gut it two years later when they again prevailed upon the legislature to approve an amendment requiring the state to "manage the land in accordance with sound timber management principles." Voters resoundingly rejected it, however, and the principle of a "forever wild" Forest Preserve has remained inviolate in New York State to this day.

Since then, over 2,000 amendments to Article 14 have been introduced in the legislature. Of those, only 28 have made it to the ballot, and only 20 have passed. Many of those have been otherwise routine land transfers that enabled the construction or expansion of public cemeteries

Cemetery

A cemetery is a place in which dead bodies and cremated remains are buried. The term "cemetery" implies that the land is specifically designated as a burying ground. Cemeteries in the Western world are where the final ceremonies of death are observed...

or airport

Airport

An airport is a location where aircraft such as fixed-wing aircraft, helicopters, and blimps take off and land. Aircraft may be stored or maintained at an airport...

s. Others have allowed for the construction and continued maintenance of reservoirs and highways. The most significant change was a pair of amendments that created the ski centers

Alpine skiing

Alpine skiing is the sport of sliding down snow-covered hills on skis with fixed-heel bindings. Alpine skiing can be contrasted with skiing using free-heel bindings: Ski mountaineering and nordic skiing – such as cross-country; ski jumping; and Telemark. In competitive alpine skiing races four...

at Belleayre in the Catskills and Gore

Gore Mountain (ski resort)

Gore Mountain is an alpine ski resort on Gore Mountain in the Adirondack Mountains, located in North Creek, New York. The mountain is a popular winter destination, attracting skiers from all over the east. It is the closest large mountain in New York to the Capital District metro area...

and Whiteface

Whiteface Mountain

Whiteface Mountain is the fifth-highest mountain in New York State, and one of the High Peaks of the Adirondack Mountains. Set apart from most of the other High Peaks, the summit offers a 360-degree view featuring the Adirondacks and perhaps on a clear day glimpses of Vermont and even Canada. The...

in the Adirondacks. The latter includes a toll road

Toll road

A toll road is a privately or publicly built road for which a driver pays a toll for use. Structures for which tolls are charged include toll bridges and toll tunnels. Non-toll roads are financed using other sources of revenue, most typically fuel tax or general tax funds...

to the summit as well.

Subsections were later added to allow the construction of reservoirs and make certain that use of the land remained free to the public beyond any reasonable fee the state could charge for a particular activity.

Blue Line

In 1902, when Article 14 was more a matter of settled law, the legislature realized it had to delimit where Forest Preserve would be acquired. Accordingly, that year the Adirondack Park was defined in terms of the counties and towns within it.

Two years later, the Catskill Park was defined. Instead of just declaring certain towns to be within the park, however, the legislature also used old survey

Surveying

tract

Lot (real estate)

In real estate, a lot or plot is a tract or parcel of land owned or meant to be owned by some owner. A lot is essentially considered a parcel of real property in some countries or immovable property in other countries...

boundaries, streams and railroad rights-of-way

Right-of-way (railroad)

A right-of-way is a strip of land that is granted, through an easement or other mechanism, for transportation purposes, such as for a trail, driveway, rail line or highway. A right-of-way is reserved for the purposes of maintenance or expansion of existing services with the right-of-way...

to clarify where it would be seeking land in the future.

The park boundaries became known as the Blue Line since they were drawn, as they have been ever since, in blue ink on state maps.

Methods of land acquisition

While many of the original holdings came from tax foreclosure

Foreclosure

Foreclosure is the legal process by which a mortgage lender , or other lien holder, obtains a termination of a mortgage borrower 's equitable right of redemption, either by court order or by operation of law...

s, over time the state bought huge tracts, aided by bond

Bond (finance)

In finance, a bond is a debt security, in which the authorized issuer owes the holders a debt and, depending on the terms of the bond, is obliged to pay interest to use and/or to repay the principal at a later date, termed maturity...

issues approved by the public. One in the late 1920s proved to be of particular value as the state was able to acquire a great deal of property at minimal prices due to the Great Depression

Great Depression

The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...

. At that time the state's Parks Council bought the land and left management to the then-Conservation Commission.

The state could also theoretically use its power of eminent domain

Eminent domain

Eminent domain , compulsory purchase , resumption/compulsory acquisition , or expropriation is an action of the state to seize a citizen's private property, expropriate property, or seize a citizen's rights in property with due monetary compensation, but without the owner's consent...

to acquire Forest Preserve, but in practice it has rarely resorted to this.

For the time being, the state is not seeking to expand the Forest Preserve as actively as it has in past years, since many of the most desired properties have been acquired. However, it remains publicly committed to working with any willing seller.

Land classifications within the Forest Preserve

Ecological

Ecology

Ecology is the scientific study of the relations that living organisms have with respect to each other and their natural environment. Variables of interest to ecologists include the composition, distribution, amount , number, and changing states of organisms within and among ecosystems...

and environmental

Environmentalism

Environmentalism is a broad philosophy, ideology and social movement regarding concerns for environmental conservation and improvement of the health of the environment, particularly as the measure for this health seeks to incorporate the concerns of non-human elements...

awareness grew in the later years of the 20th century. Recreational use of the Forest Preserve began to rise to new levels, and newer methods of outdoor recreation became popular. These two factors led to a widespread realization that it was no long enough to simply rely on the language of Article 14 and the state's Conservation Law (as it was called at the time) and the court decisions

Case law

In law, case law is the set of reported judicial decisions of selected appellate courts and other courts of first instance which make new interpretations of the law and, therefore, can be cited as precedents in a process known as stare decisis...

and administrative opinions that relied on them.

The Conservation Department became DEC in 1970. One of its new tasks was to implement more contemporary land management practices. But administration of the state land in both parks was (and still is) split between different regional offices, and it was hard to get them both following the same principles since they did not communicate much.

There was also no serious planning involved. New trails were created, or allowed to be created by outside parties, with little thought to their environmental impact or regional role. Camping was permitted anywhere, and some of the sensitive alpine environments

Alpine climate

Alpine climate is the average weather for a region above the tree line. This climate is also referred to as mountain climate or highland climate....

in the Adirondack High Peaks were showing the effects.

Two temporary state commissions set up to consider the future course of the Adirondacks and Catskills in the early 1970s both strongly recommended that master plans be created for state lands in both parks. They also called for classifying the large tracts of state land as either wilderness or "wild forest," depending on the degree of previous human impact and the level of recreational use they could sustain. Both of these were ultimately adopted, along with an "intensive use" and "administrative use" designations for smaller parcels.

In the Adirondacks, several additional classifications exist due to the more diverse character of lands in the extensive area of the park: "primitive area," "canoe

Canoe

A canoe or Canadian canoe is a small narrow boat, typically human-powered, though it may also be powered by sails or small electric or gas motors. Canoes are usually pointed at both bow and stern and are normally open on top, but can be decked over A canoe (North American English) or Canadian...

," "travel corridor," "wild, scenic and recreational river," and "historic."

Wilderness

New York state's wilderness areas are managed in a way essentially similar to their federal counterparts. Wilderness areas are those judged to have been far more affected by nature than humanity, to the extent that the latter is practically unnoticeable. As a result, the Forest Preserve's wildernesses boast extensive stands of virgin forest.

No powered vehicles are allowed in wilderness areas. Recreation is limited to passive activities such as hiking

Hiking

Hiking is an outdoor activity which consists of walking in natural environments, often in mountainous or other scenic terrain. People often hike on hiking trails. It is such a popular activity that there are numerous hiking organizations worldwide. The health benefits of different types of hiking...

, camping

Camping

Camping is an outdoor recreational activity. The participants leave urban areas, their home region, or civilization and enjoy nature while spending one or several nights outdoors, usually at a campsite. Camping may involve the use of a tent, caravan, motorhome, cabin, a primitive structure, or no...

, hunting

Hunting

Hunting is the practice of pursuing any living thing, usually wildlife, for food, recreation, or trade. In present-day use, the term refers to lawful hunting, as distinguished from poaching, which is the killing, trapping or capture of the hunted species contrary to applicable law...

, birding

Birdwatching

Birdwatching or birding is the observation of birds as a recreational activity. It can be done with the naked eye, through a visual enhancement device like binoculars and telescopes, or by listening for bird sounds. Birding often involves a significant auditory component, as many bird species are...

and angling

Angling

Angling is a method of fishing by means of an "angle" . The hook is usually attached to a fishing line and the line is often attached to a fishing rod. Fishing rods are usually fitted with a fishing reel that functions as a mechanism for storing, retrieving and paying out the line. The hook itself...

which are themselves subject to some further restrictions to ensure that they leave no trace

Leave No Trace

Leave No Trace is both a set of principles, and an organization that promotes those principles. The principles are designed to assist outdoor enthusiasts with their decisions about how to reduce their impacts when they hike, camp, picnic, snowshoe, run, bike, hunt, paddle, ride horses, fish, ski or...

for later recreationists. Special restrictions were recently imposed to limit impact on the largest and most popular wilderness area, the High Peaks Wilderness Complex

High Peaks Wilderness Area

The High Peaks Wilderness Area, the largest Forest Preserve unit in New York, is located in three counties and six towns in the Adirondack Park: Harrietstown in Franklin County, North Elba, Keene, North Hudson and Newcomb in Essex County and Long Lake in Hamilton County.-Geography:It is roughly...

in the Adirondacks.

Powered equipment, such as chainsaw

Chainsaw

A chainsaw is a portable mechanical saw, powered by electricity, compressed air, hydraulic power, or most commonly a two-stroke engine...

s, may be necessary to keep trails open but such use is permitted only with the express written authorization of the DEC commissioner

Commissioner

Commissioner is in principle the title given to a member of a commission or to an individual who has been given a commission ....

.

Structure

Structure

Structure is a fundamental, tangible or intangible notion referring to the recognition, observation, nature, and permanence of patterns and relationships of entities. This notion may itself be an object, such as a built structure, or an attribute, such as the structure of society...

s other than those that facilitate recreational use, such as bridge

Bridge

A bridge is a structure built to span physical obstacles such as a body of water, valley, or road, for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle...

s and lean-to

Lean-to

A lean-to is a term used to describe a roof with a single slope. The term also applies to a variety of structures that are built using a lean-to roof....

s, are generally not allowed, either.

The only significant difference between New York's wilderness policy and the federal government's is that the former limits the classification to contiguous parcels of at least 10,000 acres (40 km²), instead of 5,000 (20 km²).

Currently, approximately 1.1 million acres (4,400 km²) of the Forest Preserve is designated as wilderness.

Wild Forest

While retaining an essentially wild character, Wild Forests are those areas which have seen higher human impact and can thus withstand a higher level of recreational use. Often these are lands which were logged

Logging

heavily in the recent past (sometimes right before being transferred to the state).

They might best be described as wildernesses where, within limits, powered vehicles are allowed. The wide roads left behind by logging operations make excellent trails not only for foot travel but for horses

Equestrianism

Equestrianism more often known as riding, horseback riding or horse riding refers to the skill of riding, driving, or vaulting with horses...

, snowmobile

Snowmobile

A snowmobile, also known in some places as a snowmachine, or sled,is a land vehicle for winter travel on snow. Designed to be operated on snow and ice, they require no road or trail. Design variations enable some machines to operate in deep snow or forests; most are used on open terrain, including...

s, and cross-country skiing

Cross-country skiing

Cross-country skiing is a winter sport in which participants propel themselves across snow-covered terrain using skis and poles...

as well. Hunters prefer to seek game in wild forests because they can use cars or trucks to transport their kills out.

Not all vehicle use is permitted, however. Mountain bikers

Mountain biking

Mountain biking is a sport which consists of riding bicycles off-road, often over rough terrain, using specially adapted mountain bikes. Mountain bikes share similarities with other bikes, but incorporate features designed to enhance durability and performance in rough terrain.Mountain biking can...

and all-terrain vehicle

All-terrain vehicle

An all-terrain vehicle , also known as a quad, quad bike, three wheeler, or four wheeler, is defined by the American National Standards Institute as a vehicle that travels on low pressure tires, with a seat that is straddled by the operator, along with handlebars for steering control...

enthusiasts have been lobbying DEC to allow them use of some Wild Forest trails in recent years. it appears that the former may be allowed to use some trails, particularly the old roads that lead to fire towers

Fire lookout

A fire lookout is a person assigned the duty to look for fire from atop a building known as a fire lookout tower. These towers are used in remote areas, normally on mountain tops with high elevation and a good view of the surrounding terrain, to spot smoke caused by a wildfire.Once a possible fire...

in both parks, DEC and most other users feel that even Wild Forest trails could not absorb the impact of ATVs.

Powered equipment may be used to maintain trails and roads within Wild Forests.

In the Catskills, it has long been informal DEC policy to treat all Wild Forest lands above 3,100 feet (944.8 m) in elevation as de facto wilderness. A proposed update to the master plan for the park would not only make this formal but extend the limit to 2,700 feet (822.9 m).

Intensive Use

Intensive Use areas are places like state campgrounds or "day use" areas (more like a small public park) without camping. There may be designated campsite

Campsite

A campsite or camping pitch is a place used for overnight stay in the outdoors. In British English a campsite is an area, usually divided into a number of pitches, where people can camp overnight using tents or camper vans or caravans; this British English use of the word is synonymous with the...

s, picnic

Picnic

In contemporary usage, a picnic can be defined simply as a pleasure excursion at which a meal is eaten outdoors , ideally taking place in a beautiful landscape such as a park, beside a lake or with an interesting view and possibly at a public event such as before an open air theatre performance,...

tables, charcoal

Charcoal

Charcoal is the dark grey residue consisting of carbon, and any remaining ash, obtained by removing water and other volatile constituents from animal and vegetation substances. Charcoal is usually produced by slow pyrolysis, the heating of wood or other substances in the absence of oxygen...

grills, public restrooms and shower

Shower

A shower is an area in which one bathes underneath a spray of water.- History :...

facilities and swimming areas with lifeguard

Lifeguard

A lifeguard supervises the safety and rescue of swimmers, surfers, and other water sports participants such as in a swimming pool, water park, or beach. Lifeguards are strong swimmers and trained in first aid, certified in water rescue using a variety of aids and equipment depending on...

s. A fee is charged between May 1 and October 1 for most of these activities, and sometimes just for entering the area. DEC manages 45 campgrounds in the Adirondacks and 7 in the Catskills, for a total of 52 (public campgrounds elsewhere in New York are under the authority of the state parks

New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation

The New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation operates :*168 state parks*35 state historic sites*76 developed beaches*53 water recreational facilities*27 golf courses*39 full service cottages*818 cabins...

).

The state's three ski areas — Belleayre Mountain in the Catskills and Gore

Gore Mountain (ski resort)

and Whiteface

Whiteface Mountain

in the Adirondacks — also fall under this classification as well.

There are five day-use areas in the Adirondacks and one (so far) in the Catskills.

Administrative Use

This classification applies to a limited number of DEC-owned lands that are managed for other than Forest Preserve purposes. It covers a number of facilities devoted to research

Research

Research can be defined as the scientific search for knowledge, or as any systematic investigation, to establish novel facts, solve new or existing problems, prove new ideas, or develop new theories, usually using a scientific method...

, some prison

Prison

A prison is a place in which people are physically confined and, usually, deprived of a range of personal freedoms. Imprisonment or incarceration is a legal penalty that may be imposed by the state for the commission of a crime...

s, and state fish hatcheries

Hatchery

A hatchery is a facility where eggs are hatched under artificial conditions, especially those of fish or poultry. It may be used for ex-situ conservation purposes, i.e. to breed rare or endangered species under controlled conditions; alternatively, it may be for economic reasons A hatchery is a...

in both parks.

Most Administrative Use areas are located close to public roads and are generally in fairly developed areas of their respective parks.

Land classifications specific to Adirondack Forest Preserve lands

The categories below are currently not used in the Catskills.

Primitive Area

A Primitive Area is one that has much the same characteristics as wilderness area, but has some significant obstacles to receiving that status. It may have structures that cannot easily be removed within a given timeframe, or some other existing use that would complicate a wilderness designation. The designation is also applied to areas of less than the minimum area that have environments sensitive enough to require wilderness-level protection.

For most practical purposes, then, there is no difference between a primitive area and a wilderness area.

Canoe Area

Canoe

Areas are lands with a wilderness character that have enough streams, lakes and ponds to provide ample opportunities for water-based recreation.

Since they are relatively flat, and the severity of a typical Adirondack winter ensures that most bodies of water will freeze over, they are excellent places to snowshoe and cross-country ski in that season as well.

Currently, the Saint Regis Canoe Area

Saint Regis Canoe Area

The Saint Regis Canoe Area is a 19,000 acre area of the Adirondack Park in southern Franklin County, New York about 18 miles northeast of Tupper Lake and southwest of Paul Smiths....

is the only such designated area in the park.

Wild, Scenic and Recreational Rivers

This is actually three separate levels of classification for Forest Preserve lands around streams depending on their levels of impoundment and public access.

Wild rivers, or sections of rivers, are relatively inaccessible except by foot or horse, have no impoundments and are generally undeveloped except for foot bridges.

Scenic rivers, or sections of rivers, may have limited road access, some low-impact human use and can be impounded by log jams.

Recreational rivers, or sections of rivers, are readily accessible by road or rail and may be or have been at some point in the past developed or impounded by artificial means
Dam
A dam is a barrier that impounds water or underground streams. Dams generally serve the primary purpose of retaining water, while other structures such as floodgates or levees are used to manage or prevent water flow into specific land regions. Hydropower and pumped-storage hydroelectricity are...

.

Historic Area

These are the sites of buildings owned by the state that are significant to the history

History

History is the discovery, collection, organization, and presentation of information about past events. History can also mean the period of time after writing was invented. Scholars who write about history are called historians...

, architecture

Architecture

Architecture is both the process and product of planning, designing and construction. Architectural works, in the material form of buildings, are often perceived as cultural and political symbols and as works of art...

, archaeology

Archaeology

Archaeology, or archeology , is the study of human society, primarily through the recovery and analysis of the material culture and environmental data that they have left behind, which includes artifacts, architecture, biofacts and cultural landscapes...

or culture of the Adirondacks, those on the National Register of Historic Places

National Register of Historic Places

The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...

or carrying or recommended for a similar state-level designation.

Travel Corridor

This classification refers primarily to lands not really considered for recreational use but for those sections of the Forest Preserve constituting the right-of-way

Easement

An easement is a certain right to use the real property of another without possessing it.Easements are helpful for providing pathways across two or more pieces of property or allowing an individual to fish in a privately owned pond...

and roadbed for sections of the Adirondack Northway

Interstate 87

Interstate 87 is a Interstate Highway located entirely within New York State in the United States of America. I-87 is the longest intrastate Interstate highway in the Interstate Highway System. Its southern end is at the Bronx approaches of the Robert F. Kennedy Bridge in New York City...

, other public highways in the Park, the Remsen

Remsen (village), New York

Remsen is a village in Oneida County, New York, USA. The population was 531 at the 2000 census.The Village of Remsen is in the southwest part of the Town of Remsen....

-to-Lake Placid

Lake Placid, New York

Lake Placid is a village in the Adirondack Mountains in Essex County, New York, United States. As of the 2000 census, the village had a population of 2,638....

Adirondack Scenic Railroad

The Adirondack Scenic Railroad is a tourist railway located in Adirondack Park that runs during the summer months from Utica to Thendara, and from Saranac Lake to Lake Placid...

right-of-way and lands immediately adjacent to and visible from them. It results from a mid-1960s amendment to Article 14 that allowed such road construction and maintenance, primarily to complete the Northway.

Forest Preserve lands outside the parks

State law also allows DEC to classify land it acquires outside the Blue Lines, but in counties partially within the parks, as Forest Preserve. These have usually been small detached parcels rarely organized into larger, named units. Article 14's prohibition on further sale or transfer still applies, although the state may allow the timber on these lands to be harvested.

Controversies

While no one talks seriously of rescinding Article 14 anymore, that hasn't stopped some residents of the state from publicly chafing at its strictures. This is particularly common in the Adirondacks, since the many vast tracts of land under Forest Preserve protection limit economic opportunities in a region where it has always been a struggle to earn a living. Melvil Dewey

Melvil Dewey

Melville Louis Kossuth Dewey was an American librarian and educator, inventor of the Dewey Decimal system of library classification, and a founder of the Lake Placid Club....

sounded a common theme in the early 20th century when, advocating another constitutional amendment to open up more land to logging, he complained that the current situation only benefited "the bugs," referring to the blackfly

Black fly

A black fly is any member of the family Simuliidae of the Culicomorpha infraorder. They are related to the Ceratopogonidae, Chironomidae, and Thaumaleidae. There are over 1,800 known species of black flies . Most species belong to the immense genus Simulium...

infestations that keep many residents indoors during daylight hours in the early summer.

By contrast, in the Catskills, it is often complained that the state neglects the region to concentrate on the Adirondacks. As a common saying in the region has it, the DEC Commissioner's chair faces north. (Albany, the Capital of New York State, is between the two parks).

Adirondack Park Agency

Discontent was most pronounced in the early years of the Adirondack Park Agency

Adirondack Park Agency

The Adirondack Park Agency was created in 1971 by New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller as a governmental agency that performs long-range planning for the future of the Adirondack Park. It oversees development plans of private land-owners as well as activities within the Adirondack Forest Preserve...

, established in 1971 at the temporary commission's recommendation to provide comprehensive zoning

Zoning

Zoning is a device of land use planning used by local governments in most developed countries. The word is derived from the practice of designating permitted uses of land based on mapped zones which separate one set of land uses from another...

for the park. Its heavy hand in enforcing regulations already regarded as too strict led to a severe backlash. But in 1972, when a large out of state developer purchased 24000 acres (97.1 km²) within the park and announced plans to build 10,000 new homes, along with golf courses, and ski areas, the Park Agency's Land Use Plan began to be seen in a more favorable light by many who had opposed it.

Nevertheless, when governor Mario Cuomo

Mario Cuomo

Mario Matthew Cuomo served as the 52nd Governor of New York from 1983 to 1994, and is the father of Andrew Cuomo, the current governor of New York.-Early life:...

announced plans for another temporary commission in the late 1980s, several town boards passed resolutions of intent to secede

Secession

Secession is the act of withdrawing from an organization, union, or especially a political entity. Threats of secession also can be a strategy for achieving more limited goals.-Secession theory:...

from New York and join Vermont

Vermont

Vermont is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. The state ranks 43rd in land area, , and 45th in total area. Its population according to the 2010 census, 630,337, is the second smallest in the country, larger only than Wyoming. It is the only New England...

, and protesters blocked the Northway until Cuomo backed down.

The APA was characterized as overly strict when it refused to let loggers haul downed wood off Forest Preserve land in an effort to help the woods regenerate after the 1998 ice storm

North American ice storm of 1998

The North American ice storm of 1998 was a massive combination of five smaller successive ice storms which combined to strike a relatively narrow swath of land from eastern Ontario to southern Quebec to Nova Scotia in Canada, and bordering areas from northern New York to central Maine in the...

Fire towers

In the late 1990s a DEC forester writing a management plan for the Balsam Lake Wild Forest in the Catskills recommended that the fire tower

Fire lookout

on top of the similarly named mountain

Balsam Lake Mountain

Balsam Lake Mountain is one of the Catskill Mountains, located in the Town of Hardenburgh, New York, United States. It is the westernmost of the range's 35 High Peaks...

be removed and dismantled as nonconforming. He did this in the hope that someone would step forward to save not only this but the other four fire towers on state land in the Catskill Park. At that time the towers had not been used for fire control for years, and some were no longer safe to climb.

Someone did, and after a matching challenge to raise the money, DEC was not only able to exempt them from removal on the grounds that they contributed to the public's understanding of the Forest Preserve, but repaired all of them as well. In 1997 they were added to the National Register of Historic Places

National Register of Historic Places

The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...

. All five and their accompanying cabin

Log cabin

A log cabin is a house built from logs. It is a fairly simple type of log house. A distinction should be drawn between the traditional meanings of "log cabin" and "log house." Historically most "Log cabins" were a simple one- or 1½-story structures, somewhat impermanent, and less finished or less...

s have been or will be converted into small interpretive centers, with displays identifying nearby peaks.

Similar campaigns were undertaken in the Adirondacks, and hikers can now even receive a patch for their backpacks by visiting all the Forest Preserve firetowers. DEC even built a new trail to the tower on Red Hill in the Catskills, as the road to it crosses private land whose owner will not permit the public to cross it.

The only fire tower still a subject of dispute is on Hurricane Mountain

Hurricane Mountain

Hurricane Mountain is a mountain near Keene in the north of the High Peaks region of the Adirondacks in New York, USA. It has some of the most impressive views of any of the lesser peaks; this is due to its prominence, and the fact that its summit was cleared by Verplanck Colvin in the course of...

in the Adirondacks, since unlike the others it is within a Primitive Area classified by the DEC as the Hurricane Mountain Primitive Area. There has been speculation that the DEC would like to reclassify this 13,449 acre (54 km²) parcel into a Wilderness Area. Wilderness Areas are considered "untouched by man" and a firetower is viewed as a non-conforming structure. As such, the DEC wants it removed for this reason. However, residents of the area have been fighting to keep it since not only is it a popular and relatively easy hike, it is the only fire tower in the High Peaks region. The Hurricane Mountain fire tower is also the insignia of the Adirondack Mountain Club

Adirondack Mountain Club

The Adirondack Mountain Club is a nonprofit organization founded in 1922. It has approximately 35,000 members. The ADK is dedicated to the protection and responsible recreational use of the New York State Forest Preserve, parks, wild lands, and waters; it conducts extensive conservation, and...

Hurricane Mountain Chapter.

Canisters

Also in the late 1990s, DEC, in its long-delayed management plan for the High Peaks Wilderness Complex, called for the removal of the canisters

Summit register

A summit book is a record of visitors to the summit of a mountain, usually one without a maintained trail. It is usually enclosed in a weatherproof, animalproof metal canister. Some books are maintained in an informal manner by an individual or small group, while others are maintained by a club...

at the summits of the 20 High Peaks that lacked official trails but were nevertheless climbed frequently by the growing number of hikers seeking membership in the Adirondack Forty-Sixers

Adirondack Forty-Sixers

The Adirondack Forty-Sixers are an organization of hikers who have climbed all forty-six of the traditionally recognized High Peaks of the Adirondack Mountains. They are often referred to just as 46ers.- Origins :...

.

Many members felt these were an integral part of the club's identity and wanted to keep them. But in summer 2000, the 46ers' board decided to remove them as they did not feel it would be worth pursuing a lawsuit

Lawsuit

A lawsuit or "suit in law" is a civil action brought in a court of law in which a plaintiff, a party who claims to have incurred loss as a result of a defendant's actions, demands a legal or equitable remedy. The defendant is required to respond to the plaintiff's complaint...

to keep them, especially with little law on their side. Some members are still bitter about this decision since it was taken without consulting the group as a whole.

At the same time in the Catskills, however, the situation played out differently. The 1998 draft update to the Unit Management Plan for the Slide Mountain Wilderness Area

Slide Mountain Wilderness Area

The Slide Mountain Wilderness Area is, at 47,500 acres , the largest tract of state-owned Forest Preserve in New York's Catskill Park, and the largest area under any kind of wilderness area protection between the Adirondacks and the southern Appalachians...

, the Catskills' counterpart to the HPWC, similarly called for the removal of four canisters from that area.

Public comment, mostly from members of the Catskill Mountain 3500 Club

Catskill Mountain 3500 Club

The Catskill Mountain 3500 Club, incorporated as the Catskill 3500 Club and often just referred to as the 3500 Club, is a peakbagging organization for hikers in the Catskill Mountains of New York...

, which maintains those canisters, persuaded DEC to compromise, accepting ownership of them and some design changes in exchange for keeping them as, like the fire towers, structures that enhanced understanding of the Forest Preserve. This change was later written into the 2003 draft update to the Catskill State Land Master Plan.

The different outcome is largely because the Catskills' more open forests mean that its trailless peaks actually are trailless, whereas it has been hard to say that of the Adirondack trailless peaks for some time now.

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