For Immediate Release
September 9, 2005
Contact:
Dave Gibson, 518-377-1452
Dan Plumley, 518-576-4430
Thousands of Trees on State Forest Preserve Cut along NYS Rt. 3;
Excessive DOT Tree Cutting Violates State Policy for the Adirondacks
Keene, NY — The Association for the Protection of the Adirondacks is filing a formal complaint with the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) and is demanding answers with respect to the recent widespread tree cutting and associated damage to natural resources and natural scenery on Adirondack Forest Preserve along State Route 3 in the Adirondacks between Lower Saranac Lake and Route 30. The tree cutting was authorized by the DEC and Department of Transportation (DOT) to remove hazardous trees from the highway right of way. However, the cutting resulted in flagrant violations of State policy for the Forest Preserve and an abuse of Article 14 of the State Constitution.
In a tour of the area, the Association estimates that approximately 4,000 or more trees were cut, including many large, living and healthy specimens, along both sides of the 11 mile section of highway. Furthermore, much of the tree cutting occurred far outside the highway right of way, as far as 50 to 75 feet into the Forest Preserve on both sides of the highway. The trees on the north side of Rt. 3 are in the Saranac Lakes Wild Forest. Trees on the south side are in the High Peaks Wilderness.
The Association was alerted to the tree-cutting by Clarence Petty, a resident of Corey's Road near Tupper Lake, who wrote: "Although some of the trees were dead, many more were live and cut in obvious violation of Article 14 (of the State Constitution). DEC must have been looking the other way." The State Constitution states that the Forest Preserve be kept "forever as wild forest lands…nor shall the timber thereon be sold, removed or destroyed." Within the significant constraints of Article 14, reasonable regulation of the Forest Preserve is the job of the State Department of Environmental Conservation.
"DOT's purpose was to cut hazard trees," says the Association's Dan Plumley who conducted the field work with Kevin Prickett. However, the actual practice went way beyond assurance of public health and safety along Rt. 3. If truly dead or dying trees were cut, we would be very supportive of that practice. However, hundreds, perhaps thousands of live trees on our "forever wild" Preserve were cut along with the dead or dying trees."
"In addition, damage to soils and, in some cases, wetland edges or wet soils occurred. Fallen trees merely pushed over into the remaining forest trees caused residual damage to live trees in the Forest Preserve and an unsightly mess. Multiple tree stems were bunched together with their butt ends sticking out in view from roadway. This practice detracts from the natural, wild scenic drive along State Route 3."
"The natural resource and aesthetic damage we saw today violates DOT's stated guidelines for the Adirondack Park, as well as DEC policy for the Forest Preserve and the APA's basic guidelines for Travel Corridors in the Adirondack Park State Land Master Plan. What was done detracts from the Adirondack Park's wild forest character along a major state highway," Plumley added. "Once again, if a private landowner trespassed and cut so many trees on the Forest Preserve there would be major penalties involved. The State of New York continues to practice a double-standard when it comes to its own practices in the Adirondacks."
"The Departments of Transportation (DOT) and Environmental Conservation (DEC) have written understandings and guidelines for hazard tree cutting on our publicly-owned Forest Preserve in order to practice routine maintenance of our state highways. We support these guidelines. However, they were not faithfully followed in this instance, resulting in a loss of visual and wild character along State Route 3. This is not acceptable practice for the Adirondack Park and for a major highway that has rightly earned widespread recognition for its wild forest character and scenery," says the Association's Executive Director David Gibson.
"Furthermore, DOT prides itself on following special Guidelines for the Adirondack Park, guidelines which we believe were violated," Gibson added. These DOT guidelines, established in 1994, state in part "the travel corridors in a very real way establish and verify the sense of Park. Equally important are the protection of the Park's resources…It is imperative that the Department's planning, scoping, design, construction, and maintenance activities be conducted in full recognition of the need to identify and protect these resources." Later, the document states: "the environment and landscape character of the Adirondack Park travel corridors will be protected."
DEC also failed in its duties for care, custody and control of the Forest Preserve. Plumley saw no painted or marked trees for cutting and the Association has reason to believe that there was no tree count established by the Department of Environmental Conservation prior to the cutting, which directly violates the letter and spirit of DEC policy LF-91-2 on Cutting and Removal of Trees in the Forest Preserve. The DEC policy states that "tree counts are advisable where more than an occasional live tree (no more than one danger or edge tree per 300 feet) must be cut..." Plumley estimates that between 5 and 10 trees of all kinds were cut for every fifty feet of highway.
"We find the process that led to the decision to cut these trees and the actual practice in the field deplorable," adds the Association's Advocate for Wilderness Stewardship Kevin Prickett. "There was no public notification about the tree cutting that we know about. There must be better, more public, and better coordinated interagency procedures and policies adopted if this flagrant example of mismanagement of our Forest Preserve and Travel Corridors is to be avoided elsewhere in the Adirondacks."
The Association has filed a notice of potential violation in the Forest Preserve with the DEC Region 5 in Ray Brook, and is asking DEC, DOT and APA officials to review what happened and why. The Association will propose reforms of DEC Lands and Forests policy and better implementation of DOT Guidelines for the Adirondack Park.
The Association for the Protection of the Adirondacks is a non-profit, member-supported organization founded in 1901 to employ public education, citizen action, public and private partnerships, and strong advocacy that permanently protects the region's wildlands, including the entire NYS Forest Preserve, ensures that the region's private forests and farms are managed to conserve their productivity and their natural, pastoral, and cultural character, and promotes the development of local communities and economies that can remain strong, diverse, and vibrant. The Association's Center for the Forest Preserve in Niskayuna serves as an Adirondack library and learning center.