ATV trail hangs on three issues

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December 27, 2009

By DENISE A. RAYMO The Press Republican Sun Dec 27, 2009, 10:28 PM EST

MALONE — A local committee is moving steadily toward a recommendation on whether a recreational-trail system could work in Franklin County.

But the effort could be for nothing if the State Department of Conservation does not fulfill a promise made to voters who approved huge land purchases with the understanding the public would have greater access.

State traffic laws and land restrictions are also playing roles in the final outcome of ATV-trail plans.

SNAG
The Franklin County ATV Recreation Advisory Committee is learning from all sides what concerns, obstacles and support is out there for such a trail system that would allow all-terrain vehicles to be used on public and private lands across the county.

The idea is to gradually join existing trail systems in Clinton and Lewis counties and stretch west to Oswego County and south to the Tug Hill region in Oneida County.

Lewis County developed a successful system that has significantly increased tourism, as well as the region's profile and bank accounts.

Officials there estimate recreational usage brings in $32 million a year and predict the same could happen in Franklin County.

"But we have something Lewis County doesn't have: Forest Preserve land," said County Legislator Timothy Burpoe (D-Saranac Lake), who sits on the Advisory Committee.

LAND PURCHASES
Using funds from the $1.75 billion Clean Water/Clean Air of 1996, the state bought 144,300 acres from Champion International in 1999. Then, in 2005, Lyme Timber made the state's third-largest land acquisition when it purchased property in the Adirondacks from Domtar.

The Nature Conservancy later bought 16,000 acres of the tract from Lyme Timber to be set aside for inclusion in the existing Adirondack Forest Preserve.

State-forest land is property outside the Forest Preserve that includes parcels acquired under bond acts.

About 100,000 acres is classified as multiple use, which is defined under State Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation law as "land owned by the state acquired for outdoor recreation, including public camping, fishing, hunting, boating and winter sports."

EASEMENTS
State Environmental Law says conservation easements can be granted that limit or restrict development on certain lands.

But there are also some public-recreation rights on the lands, where foot travel, horses, mountain bikes and snowmobiles are allowed.

Large-tract land owners have been included in the Advisory Committee's discussions, as have State Department of Environmental Conservation representatives whose job it is to determine how state-owned lands and Forest Preserve tracts are made available for public use.

ATV RESTRICTIONS
Committee members learned state vehicle-and-traffic laws prohibit ATVs from using public highways unless the drive is a specific, short length that only allows a rider to get from one designated-recreation trail to another.

"The biggest question is whether or not the DEC is going to call the roads within the easement lands public highways or not," said Legislator Burpoe.

"If they are designated public highways, then that kills (the committee's work) because ATVs are not allowed on public highways. And that shelves the entire infrastructure for the use of easement lands."

'INTERNAL FIGHT'
That leaves the committee and Franklin County with three major hurdles: Forest Preserve land, vehicle-and-traffic laws and DEC not making a decision on the road designation.

"In my estimation, the public acquiesced to the acquisition of lands and the (promised) open access with the understanding it would eventually be opened up for ATV use," Burpoe said.

"Somewhere along the line, there was a policy change. And it has become an internal fight between the forest rangers and Environmental Conservation officers and the forest and land staff about what's going to happen with the land.

"The judge and jury are still out on that. I'm one of the land managers for one of those large forest-easement lands, and I don't see how they think they can authorize them as public highways and not give the public access."

DELAYS
Burpoe thinks it has taken way too much time for a designation decision to be made by the DEC.

"(Gov. George) Pataki was in office for 12 years. Couldn't they get together in something during all that time?

"It's not brain surgery here. Everyone knows what the intent was. It specifically states what the land would be used in the public's interest," Burpoe said.

"There is someone trying to influence the process."

DEC WORKING ON IT
David Winchell of the DEC Public Affairs Office said the agency is working with local ATV advocates to resolve long-standing concerns that will still allow residents to use the state lands within reason.

"DEC is providing technical assistance associated with state land and easement issues to the Franklin County Trails Committee in their efforts to establish a viable, environmentally sustainable ATV trail system in Franklin County.

"While DEC does not administer an ATV-riding program per se, it recognizes the challenge in planning the ATV corridor and the potential interface with state lands and easements.

"The DEC has taken a position against the use of ATVs on state lands but recognizes that, in certain appropriate and carefully regulated circumstances, ATV use on easement lands may be permissible," Winchell said.

Those conditions could include "accessing certain recreational opportunities the DEC administers on easement lands in certain limited circumstances," he said.

"But final decisions regarding public ATV activity on conservation-easement lands would need to go through a public-review process."

E-mail Denise A. Raymo at: draymo@pressrepublican.com