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The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) and the members of the newly launched High Peaks Strategic Planning Advisory Group are encouraging New Yorkers to share their input on the State’s efforts to help promote sustainable use in the High Peaks.
In addition, Advisory Group meeting summaries will be posted online for public review.
DEC announced the formation of the High Peaks Strategic Planning Advisory Group in November 2019, and tasked its members with making recommendations by the end of June 2020, including strategies, actions, and tactics to manage increased use in the High Peaks Region of the Adirondacks.
The High Peaks Strategic Planning Advisory Group webpage provides links to meeting summaries and is expected to be updated to include future meetings. DEC and the Advisory Group are also encouraging New Yorkers to share their concerns and questions with the group.
Public comments regarding issues related to managing use in the High Peaks Region, and what might be done to address these issues, can be submitted to Info.R5@dec.ny.gov. The public is encouraged to submit comments as soon as possible to ensure they are considered by the Advisory Group during their deliberations.
Photo of hikers on the summit of Cascade Mountain provided by Adirondack Council.
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The time has come for the NYS DEC to issue hikings permits anywhere in the Adirondacks.
The fees for these permits should be placed if you will in a lock box.
These lock box revenues dedicated to the enforcement effort to protect our Adirondack mountain trails on STATE lands
We who live here pay for registrations for our Boats, ATV and Snowmobiles and we pay to acquire hunting licenses eventhough we may hint on private lands
Also why not charge a registration fee for Canoes
My argument is logical without any doubt
It’s time those who play to pay to play as do almost all Adirondack residents do one way or another for our forms of play.
They need to simply do because it would generate multi millions of dollars at a time wshen our stste needs revenues without a d3
How about charging the outdoor users by weight!?
Those big folks sure do wear down those mountains…
… faster than us lightweights ?
Increase the draw to other areas of the Adirondacks.
Open up the views from Mountains that use to have firetower’s and that have no view without those firetower’s.
Increase wilderness campsites for backpackers and fisherpeoples in other areas of the ADK too.
Increase number of Backpacking trails and links between other existing trails.
Increase number of wilderness campsites for canoers and kayakers throughout the ADK region water ways.
The mention of fire towers is interesting since the big crowds are really after good views, but I don’t know how you’d “open up the views”.
I don’t think that diverting to other areas is a real solution. There are not a lot of areas left without trails (or planned trails) already, and the areas outside of the High Peaks are getting a good amount of use already…Usually it seems like more than they ever used to. I think aggressively promoting other places within the Park in this day and age will just create similar issues in those places, if they don’t already have them. The only reason the ADKs are so nice is not because they are a vast, remote wilderness, but because government has managed them heavily to protect “wilderness character”, reacting to new threats to that end as they arise.
Spend resources building solid infrastructure in the heavily used areas of the High Peaks to handle the visitor load if you ask me.