Index to Alerts

• Ban ORVs from parks 1/6/2000
• More action on LWCF needed 9/30/99
• Adirondacks - Whitney, Lake Lila area 9/16/99
• Support acquiring the rest of Sterling Forest 8/3/99
• Land and Water Conservation Fund  
• Comment on the Delaware Water Gap NRA draft trail plan 8/16/99 modified 9/8/99
• Support the Appalachian Trail Conference's drive to protect Saddleback Mountain in Maine. (The New York - New Jersey Trail Conference is an AT maintaining club)  8/3/99
• Motorized Trail bill introduced in NJ -- NYNJTC strongly opposes  5/3/99
• Sterling Forest Scoping Meetings 4/13/99

More action on LWCF needed

Congress has made some progress. It is time to remind your Congressional Delegation and specifically New York Members of the House Interior Appropriations and Resources Committees. Congressman Maurice Hinchey is a member of the House Interior Appropriations Subcommittee and Congressman Joseph Crowley is a member of the House Resources Committee. Click to see more information and a sample letter prepared by the National Audubon Society. See also below for much more information about LWCF in general or look at a large database of existing LWCF projects. Taking your representative on a tour of sites you are involved with or familiar with is one of the strongest lobbying tools.

Adirondacks - Whitney, Lake Lila areas

The Future of the Whitney Area and Lake Lila

APA Plans Classification Hearings

Paddlers and wild land enthusiasts, take note: The Adirondack Park Agency has scheduled land classification hearings for late September and early October at six sites in the state, -- three in Adirondack Park and three more in key locations outside the Park. These lands, along with two other parcels, will be considered for one of the following classifications: Wilderness, Primitive, Canoe, or Wild Forest. 

Besides the Whitney and Lake Lila areas, APA will also take testimony regarding the Watson's East Triangle/Lassiter area (sandwiched between the Five Ponds and Pepperbox Wildernesses) and Alice Brook, a small 2000-acre piece in the Star Lake - Wanakena vicinity. ADK is likely to recommend a Wilderness or Canoe classification for a combined Whitney Park - Lake Lila parcel to preclude the intrusion of floatplanes, motorboats, jetcraft, snowmobiles and all terrain vehicles.

The stakes are high in these determinations. Will our canoeing and skiing visits be tranquil wild experiences, or will the whine of motors make us wish we were back in the relative serenity of our homes?

Talk to ADK for more specific information.

Feel free to ring the Albany Office, 518-449-3870, to get last minute information from Neil Woodworth or legislative associate, Meg Carr.

Go to one of the following hearings and make your views known!

Wed., Sept. 22, 7 pm Wanakena Ranger School, 257 Ranger School Rd., Wanakena, NY (Northern Ad'ks)

Thurs., Sept. 23, 7 pm Rochester Museum & Science Center, Gannett School Classroom, 657 East Avenue

Mon., Sept. 27, 7 pm North Creek, Gore Mountain Ski Center (Southern Ad'ks)

Tues., Sept. 28, 7 pm Long Lake Town Hall, Route 30 (Central Ad'ks)

Wed., Sept. 29, 7 pm Albany Law School, East Wing, 80 New Scotland Ave.

Mon., Oct. 4, 6 pm Manhattan: Arthur Levitt State Office Bldg., Room 818, 8th Floor, 270 Broadway, NYC

Acquire the rest of Sterling Forest

After a 13-year struggle to protect the New York portion of Sterling Forest, a major success was accomplished with 15,000 acres becoming state park land. Now we face the destiny of the remaining acres that will shape the gateway of this important public land. Sterling Forest Corporation has filed an application to develop the 2,834 acres of land it retained after the sale that created Sterling Forest State Park last year. The proposed community includes 1,318 residential units, with 1000 of them being part of an age-restricted gated community. The plan also calls for a nine-hole golf course and 467,500 square feet of retail and office space dispersed over the wooded mountainous section south of Route 17A. Further south, along Route 84, another community of large homes would be built around a 18-hole golf course. Many residences and much of the commercial space would border Sterling Forest State Park.

This plan is currently going through the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) process. In May the Town of Tuxedo, which is the lead agency to make final decisions on the development plan, held a public meeting on the "scope" of the DEIS that the Corporation will be required to prepare for this new development. Many of the same issues were raised at the meeting that aired during the Corporation's initial development plan prior to the making of a state park. There remains the problem of inadequacy of the water supply and drawdown from Sterling Lake and Blue Lake, sewage effluent into the Ramapo and Ringwood rivers, air quality, and the impact of infrastructure on adjacent forest and water habitats. Trail Conference executive director, JoAnn Dolan delivered oral and written scoping comments, requesting among other things that the DEIS include a detailed study of the visual and noise impact of development on the Appalachian Trail and the trails system in Harriman State Park. Conference volunteer, Walt Daniels, raised the issue of illegal motorized vehicle use within fragile sections of Sterling Forest that will inevitable take place if homes adjoin parkland.

New Jersey Governor Christie Whitman has received over 4,000 letters recently from citizens irate over the continued threat of Sterling Forest development degrading the Ramapo River and the quality of drinking water in New Jersey. Keep sending letters!

To date, New York Governor George Pataki has heard very little from the public. If you want to see the remaining Sterling Forest land protected, now is a critical time to write or e-mail Governor Pataki and strongly urge him to fulfill his commitment to protect all of Sterling Forest. For either mode of communication, include your full name and mailing address to: The Honorable George E. Pataki, Executive Chamber, State Capitol, Albany NY 12224 or A sample letter can be found here. See also Sterling Forest Partnership.

Land and Water Conservation Fund

1. Call to action
   • New Jersey Land & Water Fund Conservation Summit 6/11/99
   • Upcoming Trail Walker article by Neil Woodworth
   • Hiking community reactions to the LWCF bills
   • Empire State Task Force for Land and Water Conservation (Bernadette Castro)
2. Who to respond to
3. How to support the LWCF.  See sample letter in Trail Walker article above but rewrite it in your own words using the ideas in the call to action above or better yet personal experiences. Multiple copies of form letters are not effective.
4. Comment to the Trail Conference on your opinions or responses you get from Congresspersons.
5. Other sources of more information (that most people will not want to wade through)
   • Background on the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF)
   • Pending bills in Congress and Clinton's proposals to amend the LWCF. Click here to go to Thomas to see the text of the four bills. Type HR701, S25, HR798, or S446 into the search box on that screen. The House and Senate bills are very similar, but the Democrat and Republican bills differ in important ways.
     • HR701/S25 Young/Landrieu (Republican) "Conservation and Reinvestment Act"
     • HR798/S446 Miller/Boxer (Democrat) "Resources 2000 Act"
     • Administration proposal
   • The political climate on the bills

Ban ORVs from parks

MSNBC is currently hosting a poll asking the question of whether YOU think there should be more restrictions on the use of ORVs (motorized off road vehicles) on our public lands.

Currently 81% of the respondents saying there should be no more restrictions and only 19% are saying there should be. We suspect you have an opinion on this subject!!!

If you have internet access, please vote at:

http://www.msnbc.com/news/325936.asp#survey

Conservation & Advocacy Committee
New York-New Jersey Trail Conference
232 Madison Avenue #802
New York NY 10016-2901
info@nynjtc.org

Comment on Delaware Water Gap draft trail plan

The Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area has release a draft Trail Plan which is intended to guide the park's management of its developing trail system for the next 10 to 15 years. The draft plan presents three action alternatives. 

• Alternative A - no action
• Alternative B - double total trail miles, maximum linkages between areas
• Alternative C - smaller localized networks with less linkage

Alternative B is the National Park Service's preferred action plan.

The NPS is required to have public participation in developing their trail plan, and the NY-NJ Trail Conference urges you to make your comments about the proposals contained in the draft trail plan to the Recreation Area's superintendent.

Superintendent
Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area
1 River Road
Bushkill, PA 18324.

Or: dewa_superintendent@nps.gov

Another public workshop to explain the plan and get input from the public has been scheduled for September 22, 1999 at 7PM at the Bushkill Visitor Center on Route 209 in Bushkill, PA. The response has been extended to October 5, 1999 .

The Trail Conference has prepared a draft response whose main points are listed below. You may use this as a starting point in writing your response or work entirely from the plan. The Trail Conference plays two roles: we are the cooperating managing partner for the Appalachian National Scenic Trail and we maintain many of the existing trails in the Water Gap. We play no role in the PA parts of the Recreation Area (but you may comment on those also if you have concerns). The Trail Conference opposes Alternate B. Other endorsements are still be studied. (Alternate A is the status quo.)

1. The Planning Process
   • The public comment period is too short.
   • Under Alternative A, the current park management can't address the need for more signs and public information (to direct visitors to less-used sections of the Recreation Area) without developing a comprehensive trails plan/amendment to the General Management Plan. NYNJTC believes that signing and public information are baseline park management. An implied lack of this information is not an appropriate rationale for preferring Alternative B.
2. Resource Impacts
   • Lack of critical/sensitive area and endangered species habitat surveys
     This work should have been done prior to developing a trail plan and picking an alternative or if done its role in selecting alternatives should have been covered in the draft plan.
   • Proposed trails through sensitive areas
     The proximity of the Silver Spray Trail to the Mountain Road Trail (multiple-use) makes it a likely place for illegal usage.
   • 12-foot wide trails
     This width is at conflict with "minimum resource impact", one of the plan goals.
   • Heavy machinery planned to construct trails with multiple-use trails constructed of gravel. It is not clear that less extreme construction methods and materials have been considered.
   • Insufficient personnel to manage the current trails
     Both Alternate B and C are major increases in the total trail mileage as well as introducing potential user conflicts and illegal usage. It may be a case of build it and they will come, which will eventually lead to increased budgets for personnel. Meanwhile the trails and users will suffer. Perhaps introducing new trails on an announced trial basis would mitigate these problems.
3. Inadequate AT Protection in Alternate B The AT is foot-use only by Congressional mandate. The trail plan introduces new multiple use trails which have easy access to the AT and will present management problems in controlling illegal usage of the AT.
   • The proposed Woods Road Trail has four trail connections from multiple-use trails to the AT: the orange trail from Hemlock Pond to the AT; the upper section of the Buttermilk Falls Trail; an unmarked woods road just south of the swampy area to the southwest of Rattlesnake Mountain (not shown on the maps in the draft trails plan); and the unmarked connection from the Woods Road Trail to the summit of Bird Mountain.
   • The proposed Farmers Trace Trail has one trail connection between a multiple-use trail and the AT: an unmarked woods road extension leading directly to the AT a bit north of the Bird Mountain summit.

If you have any questions or want to be informed by e-mail of changes related to responding to the draft trail plan, send mail to info@nynjtc.org.

Protect Saddleback Mountain

The view from the summit of Saddleback across the saddle toward the Horn. The large green area in the picture could contain ski trails in some of the alternatives. See ATC site for more pictures.

The Trail Conference is a maintaining club of the Appalachian Trail Conference. We maintain the AT in NY and NJ. The ATC Board of Managers has asked maintaining clubs to urge strong protection of the AT on Saddleback Mountain in Maine. They strongly supported the Trail Conference in our quest for acquisition of Sterling Forest. 

See background information below:

• Appalachian Trail Conference Help Protect Saddleback Mountain
• Saddleback Environmental Assessment NPS
• Saddleback Letter Dan "Wingfoot" Bruce's Trailplace pages (over 500 thruhikers have already sent in letters via his automated process)
• Appalachian Long Distance Hikers Association (ALDHA)

Motorized Trail bill introduced in NJ -- NYNJTC strongly opposes    5/3/99 updated 5/7/99

5/7/99
The motorcycle "trail" bill in the NJ State Assembly was pulled back at the Committee level. The opposition we mounted at yesterday's Trenton hearing  --- and the support of our NJ Sierra Club partnership -- was effective and successful. However, we are not sure they won't come back for a second try. A very special thanks to Jill Arbuckle for attending and speaking on our behalf.  Neil Zimmerman

NJ State Assembly Bill A-3019 has just been introduced by members Scott Garrett (973/579-7583) and Guy Greg (973/584-5422) both of Sussex County. The bill REQUIRES the NJ Dept. of Environmental Protection to establish a program of off-road motorcycle trails in NJ state parks and forests. The New York-New Jersey Trail Conference adamantly opposes any motorized trail use of public land in our region.

The Assembly's Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee will hold a public hearing this Thursday, May 6th at 10am -- Committee Room 9 (3rd Floor) of the State House Annex, West State Street, Trenton. Please go if you can. Even if you can't go, you can and should let your assembly members know how you feel about A-3019.

Members of the Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee are:

Barbara Buono (Middlesex) 732/287-5609
Larry Chatzidakis (Burlington, Atlantic) 609-234-8080
Herb Conaway (Burlington) 609/461-3997
Claire Farragher (Monmouth) 732/462-9009
Jack Gibson (Cape May) 609-624-1222
Connie Myers (Hunterdon, Warren, Mercer) 908/835-1202

Keep checking here and the website of the NJ Sierra Club (http://members.aol.com/sierraact/home.htm) for updates. Thank you.

Sterling Forest Scoping Meetings 4/13/99

Draft Scope for the Draft Master Plan and Draft Environmental Impact Statement Sterling Forest State Park  (Cover letter)  Map    PDF version 4/28/99

Sterling Forest Corporation Plans   4/22/99

* Introduction to Scoping - Pre-scoping meetings will be held to provide information to the public about the scoping process for the Park Master Plan and about the new proposed development by the Sterling Forest Corp. If you would like to know more about these issues before you go to put in your 2 cents, come to one of the above meetings sponsored by the Sterling Forest Partnership.