2016 Adirondack Park State Land Master Plan
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STATE OF NEW YORK ADIRONDACK PARK STATE LAND MASTER PLAN APPROVED December 2016 STATE OF NEW YORK Andrew M. Cuomo, Governor ADIRONDACK PARK AGENCY Sherman Craig, Chairman Terry Martino, Executive Director DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL CONSERVATION Basil Seggos, Commissioner ADIRONDACK PARK AGENCY P.O. BOX 99, RAY BROOK, NEW YORK 12977 518-891-4050 www.apa.ny.gov MEMBERS OF THE ADIRONDACK PARK AGENCY As of December 2016 CHAIRMAN Sherman Craig St. Lawrence County Arthur Lussi, Essex County William H. Thomas, Warren County Karen Feldman, Columbia County Daniel Wilt, Hamilton County Chad P. Dawson, Onondaga County John L. Ernst, New York County Barbara Rice, Franklin Country EX-OFFICIO Basil Seggos, Commissioner Department of Environmental Conservation Robert Stegemann, Designee Rossana Rosado Howard A. Zemsky, Commissioner Secretary of State Department of Economic Development Sandi Allen, Designee Bradley Austin, Designee Executive Director Terry Martino CONTENTS I. Introduction ...............................................................................................1 Legislative Mandate ....................................................................................1 State Ownerships .......................................................................................2 Private Ownerships ....................................................................................3 Public Concern for the Adirondack Park ................................................................ 4 Acquisition Policy Recommendations .........................................................6 Land Exchange ...........................................................................................8 Plan Revision and Review ..........................................................................9 Unit Management Plan Development ....................................................... 10 Invasive Species ....................................................................................... 12 Special Historic Area Unit Management Plans ......................................... 13 Interpretation and Application of the Master Plan ..................................... 13 II. Classification System and Guidelines .................................................. 14 Basis and Purpose of the Classification ................................................... 14 Definitions ................................................................................................. 17 Wilderness ................................................................................................ 22 Primitive .................................................................................................... 28 Canoe ....................................................................................................... 32 Wild Forest ............................................................................................... 35 Intensive Use ............................................................................................ 42 Historic ..................................................................................................... 46 State Administrative .................................................................................. 48 Wild, Scenic and Recreational Rivers ....................................................... 49 Travel Corridors ........................................................................................ 52 Special Management guidelines ............................................................... 55 II. Area Descriptions and Delineations ..................................................... 57 Wilderness Areas ..................................................................................... 57 Primitive Areas ......................................................................................... 84 Canoe Area ............................................................................................ 101 Wild Forest Areas ................................................................................... 103 Intensive Use Areas ............................................................................... 117 Historic Areas ......................................................................................... 119 State Administrative Areas ..................................................................... 121 Wild, Scenic and Recreational Rivers System ........................................ 123 Travel Corridors ...................................................................................... 125 Scenic Vistas .......................................................................................... 126 Special Management Areas.................................................................... 128 APPENDIX I: Section 816 Master Plan for Management of State Lands ..................... 130 APPENDIX II: State-held Conservation Easements Within the Adirondack Park .......... 132 “As a man tramps the woods to the lake he knows he will find pines and lilies, blue herons and golden shiners, shadows on the rocks and the glint of light on the wavelets, just as they were in the summer of 1354, as they will be in 2054 and beyond. He can stand on a rock by the shore and be in a past he could not have known, in a future he will never see. He can be a part of time that was and time yet to come.” from Adirondack Country by William Chapman White I. INTRODUCTION THIS DOCUMENT SETS FORTH aspects are not degraded. This theme is the master plan for all state lands within drawn not only from the Adirondack the Adirondack Park. The classification Park Agency Act (Article 27 of the system and guidelines set forth in Executive Law - "The Act") and its Chapter II and the attached map are legislative history, but also from a designed to guide the preservation, century of the public's demonstrated management and use of these lands by attitude toward the forest preserve and all interested state agencies in the the Adirondack Park. Fortunately the future. Insofar as forest preserve lands amount and variety of land and water protected by the "forever wild" within the Adirondack Park provide provisions of Article XIV, §l of the today and will provide in the future, with Constitution are concerned, the careful planning and management, a provisions of the master plan are wide spectrum of outdoor recreational intended to be constitutionally neutral. and educational pursuits in a wild forest While obviously no structure, im- setting unparalleled in the eastern half provement or use held to be of this country. unconstitutional is permitted by this Master Plan, no inference as to the constitutional appropriateness or LEGISLATIVE MANDATE inappropriateness of any given structure, improvement or use should be The legislative mandate of the drawn from whether it is allowed or Agency regarding this master plan for prohibited in a particular land classifica- state lands was originally contained in tion. This master plan is not intended to then Section 807 of the Act which is set make constitutional determinations forth in Appendix I. regarding unresolved issues under Article XIV, which are properly a matter In June 1972, following the statutory for the Attorney General and ultimately procedures and after extensive public the courts. The guidelines set forth in hearings around the state, the Agency Chapter II allow certain structures, approved and submitted to Governor improvements and uses in some land Rockefeller the master plan for classifications and prohibit certain of management of state lands which was them in other classifications. duly approved by him in July of that year. In 1973 the legislature If there is a unifying theme to the renumbered and then amended Section master plan, it is that the protection and 807 to Section 816, the text of which is preservation of the natural resources of also set forth in Appendix I. the state lands within the Park must be paramount. Human use and enjoyment of those lands should be permitted and encouraged, so long as the resources in their physical and biological context as well as their social or psychological 1 STATE OWNERSHIPS -- certain historic areas; While the Act does not define the term "state lands," the Agency has inter- -- certain lands acquired under preted it to mean land held in the name the l960 and l962 Park and Recreation of, owned by or under long-term lease to Land Acquisition Bond Act and other the State of New York or a state agency. lands which have been administratively In addition, due to the extensive State classified by the Department as control in the form of a permanent non-forest preserve lands. easement over the North Elba Park District lands on Mt. Van Hoevenberg, Nothing in this master plan should these lands have also been considered be interpreted as supporting the State lands for the purposes of the Plan. constitutionality of such legislative or Applying this definition, the following administrative classifications of land as inventory of state lands exists within the non-forest preserve. Adirondack Park: Lands under the jurisdiction of the Lands under the jurisdiction of the Department of Transportation: Department of Environmental Conservation: These consist primarily of the rights- of-way for state and interstate highways Substantially all of the within the Park, including administrative approximately 2.6 million acres of land headquarters, storage areas and main- administered by the Department of tenance facilities. Some 1,100 miles of Environmental