Thanks in part to a strong grassroots effort around the State, the APA recently voted by a 6-4 margin to classify most of Lows Lake and all of Bog Lake as part of the Five Ponds Wilderness Area.

Protect the Adirondacks hailed the Adirondack Park Agency’s action to classify nearly 8000 acres of Lows Lake – over 11,000 acres in all - as designated Wilderness. APA’s decision represents an historic step forward for remote wilderness lakes and Adirondack Park policy. This is an historic decision by the APA which will help to finally create one of the longest wilderness waterways in the northeastern United States .

The APA classified Hitchins Pond and the Bog River as part of a new Eastern Five Ponds Primitive Access Area. Letters from our members and supporters proved very important as a source of information and inspiration to Agency members. Thank you to all who wrote the APA! Now, the Wilderness/Primitive classification decision goes to Governor David Paterson for his final approval. Your supportive letters will continue to be needed.

Please write a supportive letter to:
Governor David Paterson, Executive Chamber, State Capitol, Albany , NY 12224

• Please write to the Governor at the above address. A model letter is pasted below for you to use if you wish.

• Please telephone the Governor with your support for this proposal at 518-474-8390, or email the Governor by going to www.ny.gov and clicking on contact the Governor

Model Letter:

Dear Governor Paterson:

I strongly support the Wilderness and Primitive classification decisions made by the Adirondack Park Agency this month at Lows Lake , Bog Lake , Bog River and Hitchins Pond. Together, these constitute historically important, affirmative decisions for wilderness here in New York State , with ecological, recreational, spiritual and economic benefits for all New Yorkers. I write to ask that you approve of these amendments to the Adirondack Park State Land Master Plan in their entirety. Sincerely,

PROTECT responds:

“The wilderness designation for Lows lake lands and waters represents the

first time in the history of the Park that the APA has intentionally classified wild waters.  It is an important action to protect remote and wild Lows Lake and a vital precedent for the Adirondacks,” stated Dan Plumley, Director for Conservation Programs with Protect the Adirondacks !

“A commitment of the state since 1985 to preserve Lows Lake wilderness, its remoteness, solitude and wild character, has been made real by the Agency’s action,” Plumley, noted, adding, “This important action has taken a generation to effect, but it will benefit all future generations and New York citizens who appreciate securing the integrity of the last our wild lands and waters.”

The park agency’s State Land Master Plan recognizes specifically:  “A Wilderness area, in contrast with those areas where man and his own works dominate the landscape, is an area where the earth and its community of life are untrammeled by man – where man himself is a visitor who does not remain.  A wilderness area is further defined to mean an area of state land or water having a primeval character, without significant improvement or permanent human habitation, which is protected and managed so as to preserve, enhance and restore, where necessary, its natural conditions, and which (1) generally appears to have been affected primarily by the forces of nature, with the imprint of man’s work substantially unnoticiceable…”

“While we are disappointed that the Agency saw fit to designate the eastern reaches of Lows Lake , Bog River and Hitchins Pond at the primitive level of designation, we know that their decision makes clear that all of these lands and waters should at some future point become of wilderness character,” Plumley stated.  The region has long been advocated for special protection as part of a much larger wilderness complex by Protect the Adirondacks ! and a host of Adirondack conservation groups and interests.

Protect the Adirondacks ! asserts that the classification and management of the Lows Lake – Bog River wilderness canoe route, as the core part of an over 40-mile wilderness canoe circuit unparalleled in the Eastern United States, will be both critically important as wildlife habitat, wilderness and an economic benefit to gateway communities of Long Lake and Tupper Lake, as well as the Adirondack region.

For Additional Information Contact:

Dan Plumley, Director of Conservation Programs
or Dave Gibson, Executive Director
PROTECT THE ADIRONDACKS
Telephone: (518) 576-4430; 518-377-1452, Ext. 1
Email: ;

THANK YOU, AGAIN, FOR SUPPORTING WILDERNESS AND WILDERNESS WATERWAYS OF THE ADIRONDACK PARK . YOUR EFFORTS SUCCEEDED!