New York State Department of Environmental Conservation Blue Ridge Wilderness and Wakely Mountain Primitive Area Unit Management Plan Towns of Indian Lake, Lake Pleasant, Arietta, and Long Lake and the Village of Speculator in Hamilton County, New York September, 2006 GEORGE E. PATAKI DENISE M. SHEEHAN Governor Commissioner For further information contact: Supervising Forester Richard Fenton New York State Department of Environmental Conservation 701 South Main Street, P.O. Box 1316 Northville, NY 12134 (518) 863-4545 [email protected] THIS PAGE INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK MEMORANDUM TO: The Record FROM: Denise M. Sheehan SUBJECT: Blue Ridge Wilderness Area The Final UMP for the Blue Ridge Wilderness Area Final Unit Management Plan (Final UMP) has been completed. The Final UMP is consistent with the guidelines and criteria of the Adirondack Park State Land Master Plan, the State Constitution, Environmental Conservation Law, and Department rules, regulations and policies. The Final UMP includes management objectives and a five year budget and is hereby approved and adopted. THIS PAGE INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK RESOLUTION ADOPTED BY THE ADIRONDACK PARK AGENCY WITH RESPECT TO BLUE RIDGE WILDERNESS AND WAKELY MOUNTAIN PRIMITIVE AREA UNIT MANAGEMENT PLAN August 11, 2006 WHEREAS, Section 816 of the Adirondack Park Agency Act directs the Department of Environmental Conservation to develop, in consultation with the Adirondack Park Agency, individual management plans for units of land classified in the Master Plan for Management of State Lands and requires such management plans to conform to the general guidelines and criteria of the Master Plan; and WHEREAS, in addition to such guidelines and criteria, the Adirondack Park State Land Master Plan prescribes the contents of unit management plans and provides that the Adirondack Park Agency will determine whether a proposed individual unit management plan complies with such general guidelines and criteria; and WHEREAS, the Department of Environmental Conservation has prepared a unit management plan for the Blue Ridge Wilderness and Wakely Mountain Primitive Area dated June, 2006; and WHEREAS, this action is a Type 1 action for which the Department of Environmental Conservation is the lead agency as provided for by implementing regulations of the State Environmental Quality Review Act, 6 NYCRR Parts 617 and 618; and WHEREAS, the Department has provided the Agency with a Negative Declaration for the SEQR determination of significance; and WHEREAS, the Adirondack Park Agency is an involved agency whose staff have been consulted in the preparation of the proposed plan; and WHEREAS, the Agency is requested to determine whether the final Blue Ridge Wilderness and Wakely Mountain Primitive Area Unit Management Plan, dated June, 2006, is consistent with the Standards and Guidelines of the Adirondack Park State Land Master Plan; and P.O. Box 99 • NYS Route 86 • Ray Brook, NY 12977 • 518 891-4050 • 518 891-3938 fax • www.apa.state.ny.us Blue Ridge Wilderness and Wakely Mountain Primitive Area Unit Management Plan August 11, 2006 Page 2 of 5 WHEREAS, the Adirondack Park Agency has reviewed the proposed Blue Ridge Wilderness and Wakely Mountain Primitive Area Unit Management Plan; and WHEREAS, the plan explicitly recognizes the primary value of the Blue Ridge Wilderness is the rare opportunity it provides the recreating public to experience a high degree of solitude; and WHEREAS, the plan proposes future maintenance of an existing vista via brushing and pruning along the trail near the summit of Sawyer Mountain; and WHEREAS, the plan calls for investigation of a new trail to the open summit of Ledge Mountain in the Blue Mountain Wild Forest and discontinuing maintenance of the Sawyer Mountain trail and vista if a suitable opportunity for an alternate naturally occurring vista can be identified; and WHEREAS, the approval of this unit management plan is not a specific endorsement by the Agency of vista maintenance either as a general practice in a Wilderness area or as proposed for Sawyer Mountain in this unit management plan; and WHEREAS, the Department has agreed to revise the text of the Blue Ridge Plan to state that no formal determination has been made by the Adirondack Park Agency regarding State Land Master Plan compliance of the portion of the Department’s trail maintenance policy which allows the maintenance of views in Wilderness areas; and WHEREAS, the Department and the Agency are committed to the continued discussion and examination of the overall concept of vista management as a general practice in Wilderness or as a proposal for Sawyer Mountain within the guidelines and criteria of the State Land Master Plan; and WHEREAS, vista maintenance should be evaluated on a case-by-case basis within the context of each unit and within current DEC trail maintenance policy; and WHEREAS, the Department has identified the Wakely Mountain Fire Tower as a facility that is essential for the communications needs and has proposed an appropriate use within the guidelines and criteria of the State Land Master Plan; and WHEREAS, the Department has committed to a Park-wide assessment of fire towers which will address the most appropriate future use of individual towers and observers’ cabins for communications, fire Blue Ridge Wilderness and Wakely Mountain Primitive Area Unit Management Plan August 11, 2006 Page 3 of 5 control, education and information use, including specific information on the overnight use of the observers' cabins by volunteer groups; and WHEREAS, the Park-wide assessment will be completed prior to undertaking any use of the observer’s cabin; and WHEREAS, the Department will consult with Agency staff if any additional communications equipment will be needed on Wakely Mountain or if the proposed use of the helicopter landing platform is expanded beyond what is specifically described in this unit management plan in order to determine whether a plan amendment is needed; and WHEREAS, the Department has provided additional information in the plan’s text which clarifies the timing and use of motorized equipment in Bicknell’s Thrush habitat on Wakely Mountain; and WHEREAS, the Department has committed to scheduling the removal of debris from the Wakely Mountain summit as soon as possible; and WHEREAS, the plan commits to the implementation of strategies for prevention, targeted containment and/or eradication of invasive plant infestations; and WHEREAS, the plan proposes management intended to restore and perpetuate indigenous fish species, provide recreational angling as part of a larger wilderness experience, and maintain and perpetuate annual hunting and trapping activities as legitimate uses of the wildlife resources compatible with wilderness recreation; and WHEREAS, the Department has amended the plan to provide for the collection of additional biological and chemical sampling data from Slim Pond if determined to be necessary as part of the wetlands application process prior to initiating reclamation activities; and WHEREAS, the plan proposes management to monitor and afford protection to species which are endangered, threatened, or of special concern; and WHEREAS, the Department has committed to the development of indicators and standards for primitive tent sites in the area, as well as to continued consultation with the Agency regarding design criteria to ensure sites conform to the guidelines and criteria of the Master Plan and to close, restore and relocate tent sites that do not conform with Master Plan guidelines; and Blue Ridge Wilderness and Wakely Mountain Primitive Area Unit Management Plan August 11, 2006 Page 4 of 5 WHEREAS, the Department has amended the plan to emphasize the use of mineral soils rather than concrete slabs for the construction of fire rings at primitive tent sites located in fire-sensitive areas; and WHEREAS, the plan commits to the adoption of regulations limiting the maximum number of people per tent site to eight people, and limiting day use group sizes to fifteen in conformance with the Master Plan guideline to implement appropriate administrative and regulatory measures to control use within the physical, biological and social carrying capacity of the wilderness resource; and WHEREAS, the plan calls for the posting of Navigation Law requirements of a 5 mph speed limit from the shoreline which will apply to all motor boats and personal watercraft on the waters of South Inlet; and WHEREAS, the plan proposes to establish a Historic Great Camps Special Management Area for the Forest Preserve lands in the vicinity of the historic Camp Sagamore and Camp Uncas properties; and WHEREAS, the purpose of this designation is to recognize the importance of the Great Camps as cultural resources of State and national significance, to coordinate with educational programs offered at Camp Sagamore and to support the long-term preservation of the Great Camps as educational and cultural resources; and WHEREAS, the Department has amended the plan to list structures at the beginning of the entrance road to Camp Kill Kare but on Forest Preserve lands as non-conforming and in need of a legal determination regarding whether there is an underlying property right for their continuance at the current location; and WHEREAS, the Department has proposed appropriate facilities to enhance access for the disabled, including improved access and facilities at Mohegan Lake in the Historic Great Camp Special Area Plan, in accordance with guidelines pursuant to the Americans with Disabilities