News Release
June 23, 2005
Contact: Dave Gibson or Mike DiNunzio
518-377-1452 ext. 301
Adirondack Environmental Group Calls for Greater Protection of Rare Boreal Forest Threatened by Motorized Recreation
Niskayuna, NY — The Association for the Protection of the Adirondacks is urging the Adirondack Park Agency to protect relatively new State holdings in Madawaska Bog, Quebec Book, the region east of Carry Falls Reservoir, and sections of the St. Regis, East Branch St. Regis, and Deer Rivers from public motorized access that would threaten these rare, environmentally fragile lands.
These lands, referred to as low-elevation boreal forests, lie at the heart of one of the most rare and sensitive natural areas in the State. Now part of the "forever wild" Adirondack Forest Preserve, the lands were acquired from Champion International Corporation and other owners in the 1990s and will be classified by the APA according to "their characteristics and capacity to withstand use." The Agency is receiving public comment through Friday, June 24, and it is under great pressure to open the boreal tracts to snowmobiles, ATVs, and other motorized uses.
"Biological considerations are one of several very important factors in these classification decisions," says the Association's Mike DiNunzio. "These remote, boreal river systems, boggy wetlands, and forests of spruce and fir contain features that are of regional and global significance and that exist only in a few other places in the Northeast. Their unique, irreplaceable features have been well studied and documented since 1972. We believe that the APA should provide strict protection for those portions of the boreal ecosystem that lie within the Forest Preserve by prohibiting motorized uses there. Since permanent roads and deeded private land rights exist in this region, we believe that the Agency must classify them as Primitive." Primitive areas include those State Lands in the Adirondacks which may not qualify for strict Wilderness designation, but which contain fragile resources that require wilderness-type management.
The spruce grouse, one of New York's most threatened species, lives in these lowland boreal areas, along with other rare, threatened, and unusual wildlife such as the white-winged crossbill, boreal chickadee, gray jay, and Lincoln's sparrow. "Boreal ecosystems and the special wildlife that live in them are vulnerable to the physical damage, noise, and pollution that accompany motorized recreation," DiNunzio continued. "A Primitive classification would respect the property rights of private landowners, while providing the level of protection these fragile public lands require."
"All of the high elevation boreal areas in the Adirondack Forest Preserve above 4000 feet have been designated Wilderness," says the Association's Dave Gibson. "The low-elevation boreal areas of the Adirondacks also deserve our concern and the highest possible degree of stewardship. We have an ethical as well as a legal obligation to perpetuate these bogs and meandering rivers and the plants and animals that live within them. In essence, we all own these rare environments in common, and they are truly special on a state and national scale. We now have the opportunity to appropriately distinguish and protect them for future generations. Let's seize that opportunity."
Mike DiNunzio is a landscape ecologist and the Association's Director of Special Projects. He spent several years investigating the Adirondacks' low-elevation boreal areas for the Adirondack Nature Conservancy and as a member of a special advisory group formed by Champion International. The Association for the Protection of the Adirondacks is a non-profit, member-supported organization founded in 1901 to protect the Forest Preserve and defend the "forever wild" clause of the NYS Constitution. The Association's Advocates for Wilderness Stewardship program seeks to raise the standards of excellence for the stewardship of the NYS Forest Preserve. Its Center for the Forest Preserve in Niskayuna serves as an Adirondack library and learning center.