The organization cited an increased level of participation and engagement by its members who expressed concerns about changes to the Adirondack Park State Land Master Plan that could weaken wilderness protection and limit the APA’s own authority within the Park. In response to an electronic action alert, hundreds of comments were submitted to the APA before the comment period ended on Monday, Dec. 2.

“The basic purpose of the Master Plan is to protect the natural resources of Adirondack Forest Preserve. When that is called into question, the Council and its membership will take the action needed to help safeguard the Park’s public lands,” said Raul J. Aguirre, Executive Director of the Adirondack Council. “For over 50 years, the Master Plan has – for the better – guided state land management and recreation, which has helped define the Adirondacks as an iconic landscape; for both its globally significant ecological wildlands and world-class recreational opportunities.”

“As climate pressures continue to impact wild spaces, we must find ways to protect and support them. Attempts to weaken protections in rare, wilderness-like settings must be avoided,” said Aguirre. “Our members recognize this and want the state agencies to prioritize the protection of the Park’s irreplaceable natural resources, as the law demands.”

With only four major revisions having been made to the Master Plan since its adoption over 50 years ago, it is important that proposed amendments be reviewed closely and carefully to assess their consistency with the science and law, Aguirre said. Proposed changes that may appear benign now – and in today’s contexts – could look very different in 10 years when technology, climate change and other conditions have shifted, he noted.

“So, changes to the Master Plan need to be relevant to the conditions today as well as to the complexities and challenges of the Forest Preserve of tomorrow,” Aguirre said. “Changes should not weaken the health of the Forest Preserve. They should uphold the Master Plan’s guiding: natural resource protection must remain paramount.”

Aguirre said the organization’s written comments on the APA’s proposed amendments to the master plan for management of the Forest Preserve included:

— Natural Resources Paramount: The existing master plan sets as the highest priority “protection and preservation of the natural resources of the State lands within the Park,” and that should not change.

— Maintaining Agency Oversight: The APA serves as a critical counterbalance to the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) by upholding the integrity of the master plan.

— Scientific Support: Science should support any amendment as enhancing the current and future protection of the natural resources of the state lands and waters. Any proposed wildlife management structures, such as loon nesting rafts, should be made based on science that reasonably confirms that the net results will enhance, or not significantly degrade or impair, any natural resources.

— No Net Expansion of Motorized Access: Proposed changes must secure improved public land management that prevents the degradation of natural resources from intensive human uses.

— Improved Transparency for Accessibility: Powered wheelchairs and other devices designed specifically for both indoor and outdoor use by persons with disabilities are allowed anywhere on the Forest Preserve that a hiking boot may go.

— Guidance on Climate: To comply with the state Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act, the APA should develop guidance documents describing how landowners can achieve maximum nature-based greenhouse gas sequestration and storage, and climate resiliency.