Forest Preserve (New York)
In the years that followed, New York's business community began to fear that erosion from unchecked logging in the Adirondacks could silt up the Erie Canal and eliminate the state's economic advantage.
The Catskills had actually been considered when the Forest Preserve legislation was first passed, but Harvard botanist Charles Sprague Sargent had visited them and reported back to the legislature that it was not worth the effort as its streams did not appreciably affect the state's navigable waterways.
However, an amended version of the bill was passed, after many deals and compromises among members, that added lands in Ulster, Sullivan and Greene counties to those eligible for Forest Preserve status.
One side effect of this deal is that the state pays all local and county property taxes on the Forest Preserve as if it were a commercial landowner.
To manage the land, the state had created a Forest Commission, making New York second only to California in having a state-level forestry agency.
Most of its members were either openly or covertly connected to timber interests, however, and routinely approved dodges around the legislation to make sure logging would continue.
They shall not be leased, sold or exchanged, or be taken by any corporation, public or private, nor shall the timber thereon be sold, removed or destroyed.Since amending New York's constitution is a deliberately cumbersome process that requires the approval of both Assembly and Senate in successive sessions of the legislature, followed by public approval at the next general election, this put a severe damper on any efforts by the Forest Commission to placate the loggers while still claiming to be honoring the law.
Voters resoundingly rejected it, however, and the principle of a "forever wild" Forest Preserve has remained inviolate in New York State to this day.
The most significant change was a pair of amendments that created the ski centers at Belleayre in the Catskills and Gore and Whiteface in the Adirondacks.
Subsections were later added to allow the construction of reservoirs and make certain that use of the land remained free to the public beyond any reasonable fee the state could charge for a particular activity.
However, it was delineated not solely in terms of pre-existing political boundaries but instead through a combination of those and old survey lot lines, streams and railroad rights-of-way.
[3] That proved to be a more effective and politically viable method, and accordingly the Adirondack Park Blue Line was redrawn shortly afterwards following the Catskills' example.
While many of the original holdings came from tax foreclosures, over time the state bought huge tracts, aided by bond issues approved by the public.
For the time being, the state is not seeking to expand the Forest Preserve as actively as it has in past years, since many of the most desired properties have been acquired.
They also called for classifying the large tracts of state land as either wilderness areas or wild forest, depending on the degree of previous human impact and the level of recreational use they could sustain.
[4] But there is no corresponding agency for the Catskills (largely due to the rough start experienced by the APA) and as a rule the practical impact of living within Blue Line is minor.
Recreation is limited to passive activities such as hiking, camping, hunting, birding and angling which are themselves subject to some further restrictions to ensure that they leave no trace for later recreationists.
The wide roads left behind by logging operations make excellent trails not only for foot travel but for horses, snowmobiles, and cross-country skiing as well.
Mountain bikers and all-terrain vehicle enthusiasts have been lobbying DEC to allow them use of some Wild Forest trails in recent years.[when?]
There may be designated campsites, picnic tables, charcoal grills, public restrooms and shower facilities and swimming areas with lifeguards.
The towns of Altona and Dannemora are also excluded, despite being entirely or partially inside the Adirondack Blue Line, due to the large prison facilities located in them.
Canoe Areas are lands with a wilderness character that have enough streams, lakes and ponds to provide ample opportunities for water-based recreation.
Since they are relatively flat, and the severity of a typical Adirondack winter ensures that most bodies of water will freeze over, they are excellent places to snowshoe and cross-country ski in that season as well.
These are the sites of buildings owned by the state that are significant to the history, architecture, archaeology or culture of the Adirondacks, those on the National Register of Historic Places or carrying or recommended for a similar state-level designation.
State law also allows DEC to classify land it acquires outside the Blue Lines, but in counties partially within the parks, as Forest Preserve.
While no one talks seriously of rescinding Article XIV anymore, that hasn't stopped some residents of the state from publicly chafing at its strictures.
Someone did, and after a matching challenge to raise the money, DEC was not only able to exempt them from removal on the grounds that they contributed to the public's understanding of the Forest Preserve, but repaired all of them as well.
Similar campaigns were undertaken in the Adirondacks, and hikers can now even receive a patch for their backpacks by visiting all the Forest Preserve firetowers.
Public comment, mostly from members of the Catskill Mountain 3500 Club, which maintains those canisters, persuaded DEC to compromise, accepting ownership of them and some design changes in exchange for keeping them as, like the fire towers, structures that enhanced understanding of the Forest Preserve.
