Low's Lake - Proposed Land reclassification to Wilderness

Last Monday, July 13th, I stated my views at a public hearing held by the Adirondack Park Agency at Long Lake regarding the proposed reclassification of several thousand acres of land on Low's Lake to Wilderness Area . These lands were a combination of lands newly acquired by the State of New York and nearby lands previously classified as Primitive. A classification as Primitive means that it is pending future classification as Wilderness. It seems that, with the acquisition of the new lands, the time was ripe to visit the matter of the status of the lands contiguous to Five Ponds Wilderness classified as Primitive. Classification of the lands as Wilderness adds additional protections designed to keep the lands and waters remote and free from motorized use - essentially to preserve and/or generate wilderness conditions. Many local people oppose any and all new more restrictive classifications fearing that it will interfere with their easy motorized access and also harm their local business interests. Essentially, they view the matter as 'locking up' the forest so that the tourists who enjoy the outdoors with motorized assistance - ATVs, Motorboats, Float Planes, etc. - no longer come to the area and make purchases, seek overnight accommodations, eat and drink at local establishments, etc. Of course they forget that Wilderness oriented recreationists also seek similar types of services.

Here is the Adirondack Park Agency's website discussing their proposal for the reclassification. Included are very good maps of the area indicating the scope of the proposed changes.

http://www.apa.state.ny.us/State_Land/index.html

I have included my complete remarks below:

My name is Joe Mahay. Thank you for the opportunity to express my opinion here tonight. As a resident of the Adirondack Park since 1971 who has worked, owned land, and operated several small businesses here, I wish to express my support for the reclassification of the state lands and the new state land classifications proposed by the Department and the Adirondack Park Agency.

This area is one of the greatest recreational resources in the United States, as described in the April 2009 edition of the National Geographic Adventure Magazine. It ranks the flat water canoeing in this portion of the Adirondacks as #5 in its list of the 50 best American Adventures.

I suppose it should be unnecessary to point out that by far the vast majority of the flat waters in the Adirondacks are open to use by motor boats and anyone who wants to jet ski or cruise, fish, or water ski with a motor boat can do so - often with access provided by a New York State boat launch site. And anyone who wants to canoe or kayak in these conditions is also free to do so - and many do.

What is in scarce supply are flat waters where one can canoe or kayak in quiet remote wilderness conditions without the whir and whine and wake of engine driven craft. That is the prize, the unique recreational opportunity that these classifications will help to preserve. That is what results in national recognition of the area as a recreational resource for America.

I suppose it should be unnecessary, also, to point out as one irony of life that when we use a motor to access wilderness, we soon no longer have a wilderness. In the Adirondack Park there are literally hundreds of miles of paved and gravel roads through wild forest and along the edges of wilderness and hundreds of miles of shorelines classified as wilderness or wild forest with motorized access on the lakes and ponds making up those shorelines - motorized access is not a problem nor a scarce commodity. Yet one of the ironies of all of this motorized access is that, once we have the access, the remoteness and quiet of a wilderness experience is gone as most everyone attests. It is self defeating to try and provide motorized access to remoteness. Unless a line is drawn somewhere, the somewhere we desire no longer exists.

For these reasons, I strongly support the proposed reclassifications from primitive area to wilderness and the new classifications as wilderness and the classification of the state owned lands under the water bodies as wilderness as a guarantor of this unique recreational resource for future generations.