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The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) announced that Otak, Inc., is facilitating the first round of public meetings in the Adirondack High Peaks and Catskills for the Visitor Use Management (VUM) project. Public and stakeholder input will play a key role in helping DEC and Otak develop appropriate sustainable management strategies for the High Peaks and Kaaterskill Clove areas.
“DEC’s sustainable use initiatives require public participation to be successful,” said DEC Commissioner Basil Seggos. “Listening to public and stakeholder perspectives about the High Peaks and Kaaterskill Clove project areas will provide DEC with the important data to support successful strategies for balancing conservation and public access in these popular Forest Preserve destinations.”
The VUM planning process focuses on the experiential, social, and public safety elements of visitor use in both areas. The public meetings will begin with a foundation-setting presentation that highlights the project purpose, goals, and timeline, and introduces the VUM Framework and how it will be applied in the Adirondack High Peaks and Kaaterskill Clove in the Catskills project areas. Rather than a formal comment opportunity, interactive discussion groups will follow the presentation to gain an understanding of public interests and concerns and solicit public feedback. The outcome of this initial phase will include a summary report of the process, recommended management strategies, and a monitoring plan.
VUM meeting details include:
- High Peaks Project Area in the Adirondacks: May 9, 2023, 5:30 – 8:30 p.m. at the Harrietstown Town Hall Auditorium, 39 Main Street, Saranac Lake 12983
- Kaaterskill Clove Project Area in the Catskills: May 10, 2023, 5:30 – 8:30 p.m. at Coppertree Restaurant, Hunter Mountain Base Lodge, 64 Klein Avenue, Hunter 12442
DEC and Otak will hold a second round of public meetings in 2024 to present draft management recommendations.
A two-year contract was awarded to Otak, Inc., a research, planning, and design firm awarded the VUM planning contract following a competitive Request for Proposals process, supported by the State’s Environmental Protection Fund (EPF). The 2023-24 Executive Budget sustains the EPF at a historic $400 million. The EPF provides funding for critical environ mental programs such as land acquisition, farmland protection, invasive species prevention and eradication, enhanced recreational access, water quality improvement, and an aggressive environmental justice agenda.
Otak has more than two decades of experience conducting visitor use planning and research on wilderness and other recreation lands managed by the National Park Service, U.S. Forest Service, and other agencies. Their team includes experts in recreation planning, meeting facilitation, stakeholder engagement, and data analysis.
Comments are welcome throughout the process and will be used to inform next steps in the planning process and overall project. To submit comments, or for additional information about the public meeting, contact Otak’s public participation team at vum-facilitators@
Photo of hikers on Cascade Mountain by Dan Plumley
General inquiries about the Adirondack Almanack should be directed to editor
Ha! Perfect way to choose who can participate. Make your meeting on a Tuesday evening in May in Saranac Lake. The vast majority of actual hikers will not be represented at this meeting. This seems to be an effort to guarantee who will show up and be able to comment.
1. Because of limited time and distance for face-to-face meetings, a bunch of Zoom meetings should be scheduled.
2. Written comments both open ended and responses to structured questions should be encouraged
3, Contract team members from their “leaders” to secretaries and ALL related staff should be out in the field HIKING the trails under their survey topic. The credibility of the planning documents will become seriously considered using as a preamble SHOWING the that contractor team has walked the walk — and has not just compiled an armchair ladened dust collector “report.”
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4. Example of written input:
Alternatives to High Peak trails should be encouraged. TWO examples: Northville-Placid Trail and the Long Path of New York. The Long Path featured a 358 mile blazed trail from NYC-Catskills-Helderbergs and WILL extend north to Whiteface Mtn through a 15 mile hiking corridor (Capital District counties to the Adirondacks and Whiteface Mtn) with “80+ Landmarks” (or destination day hikes) as a strategy. The 200+ mile Long Path North currently under construction will have an interactive, hiker-friendly website with downloadable maps for each of some 80 identified Landmarks. Both NPT and LP have been designed since 1931 to have low environmental impacts. Both avoid the High Peaks by skirting them to the west (NPT) and east (LPN).
Other challenge hikes in the Chestertown area, Fire Tower hike challenges are examples of ideas to capture hikers imagination away from the High Peaks. They are equally interesting and require effort to complete with hiking patches as rewards if the hiker wishes.
And so forth.
And, the historical perspective must be included. It is a fact that most High Peaks trails and every summit are in vastly better condition than they were 10-50 years ago.
That isn’t setting the bar very high, is it?
The sad part is that the DEC is actively trying to discourage use on the NPT by their proposed bear-can regs in the “outer high peaks zone”. Nobody is going to be able to get 8-10 days of food into a bear can so even fewer people will hike the NPT than do now. A weekend in the high peaks? Sure no problem. A week-plus thru hike? No way.
I hear ya. I guess multiple cans or caches are the only answer until they come out with the Bear Barrel.
You don’t need to carry 8 to 10 days of food on the NPT. Just 2 to 3 days. Then you mail your food to the Long Lake and Piseco Post Offices as general delivery and pick it up on your way through.
The whole point of the NPT is you don’t need to resupply. If I want to do resupplies I’ll go hike the LT or AT. The NPT is where I go to not see anybody for 7-8 days. It’s also used by future AT thru hikers as practice for the 100 mile wilderness in Maine where there are no resupplies. Resupplying on the NPT makes about as much sense as camping overnight to do Cascade.
Have you tried to mail anything lately, or received any packages via USPS? My wife’s contact lenses were received by the local post office but not delivered until she called them, and they told her they didn’t have enough people to deliver the mail but she could pick the package up way over on the other side of town. We sometimes go days with no mail delivery. First Class mail routinely takes over a week to travel just a few miles. Other times, the mail just disappears. At other post offices I have heard the tellers explain to people that general delivery mail may or may not be available after a week or so, and to come back on another day. Not a reliable service these days.
I’ve thru hiked the NPT five times. Never once have I seen the Piseco Post Office open when passing by. If you start your hike on a Friday evening or Saturday morning you will pass by it on a Sunday. I’ve never resupplied either. One of the great things about the NPT is not having to worry about logistics except for your ride home.
A Tuesday evening and it’s Harrietstown. I’m sure this will be a balanced discussion and the interests of all the hikers from the Capital region will have a full voice
(Sarcasm)
If people from other parts of the region can come up to hike, they can also find a way to come up for a public meeting if they feel strongly enough. Written comments will also be accepted.
Sure, if you routinely go for hikes on Tuesday nights in May in the High Peaks even though you live two hours away you should be able to make this meeting! The Adirondack Park is owned by all the people of New York, and we all pay for its management with our tax dollars. True public input would mean meetings in all parts of the state, a robust online comment system, and Zoom participation for those that can’t go in person. Plus, this statement means they want to control whatever does come of the few people who can participate in this one meeting: “Rather than a formal comment opportunity, interactive discussion groups will follow the presentation to gain an understanding of public interests and concerns and solicit public feedback.”
If it helps:
“To submit comments, or for additional information about the public meeting, contact Otak’s public participation team at vum-facilitators@rossstrategic.com.”
“The Adirondack Park is owned by all the people of New York”. No it’s not. More than half is private land.
What exactly entails an “aggressive environmental justice agenda”?
Please clarify.
Whatever they define it as, I’ll bet the word ‘equity’ is in there prominently and often.
Whatever they dislike, your the target of their lawyers.
Why do these discussions always come down to what we Humans want. Maybe we should think more about Mother Earth, rather than how much we can abuse her?
Dude they were hired to help create a visitor managent and recreation plan.
Correct and the majority of the comments are basically dont take access away from us
Not one single comment says don’t take away access, but it is interesting that you see the process as intending to do that. Instead I see people noting that this is an entirely inadequate process for creating new visitor use management regulations.
Robert,
“Why do these discussions always come down to what we Humans want.”
Because “intelligence” does not necessarily come with common sense and the ability to see the big picture. Civilization, although important to humans, has never been a central tenet of Nature. Some of us can see why.
Sounding a lot like CharlieS there Boreas.
I try…
ADKresident says: “What exactly entails an “aggressive environmental justice agenda”? Please clarify.”
It implies a preparation for war ADK; war against the economic and corporate machine which is rabid in its quest for all things money at the expense of, including but not limited to, the air we breathe, the water we drink and all things sacred.
Charlie, this is an article on how to best manage the high peaks wilderness. “War”?
Robert DiMarco says: “Why do these discussions always come down to what we Humans want.”
It’s called Narcissistic personality disorder Robert!
” Civilization, although important to humans, has never been a central tenet of Nature. Some of us can see why.”
Nature talks to us Boreas, oftentimes it screams. Homo-sapiens have an habitual devotion to all things self. Total hearing loss is more prevalent than one may think!
I would accept this over all “public comments” anytime. “Otak has more than two decades of experience conducting visitor use planning and research on wilderness and other recreation lands managed by the National Park Service, U.S. Forest Service, and other agencies. Their team includes experts in recreation planning, meeting facilitation, stakeholder engagement, and data analysis”. Then you have this opportunity to comment, “Comments are welcome throughout the process and will be used to inform next steps in the planning process and overall project. To submit comments, or for additional information about the public meeting, contact Otak’s public participation team at vum-facilitators@rossstrategic.com.” But instead of reading the entire article the” public” complains about a non-existent issue.
Providing an email address for comments is not a scientific way to gather public input from a wide range of perspectives. Who knows what they’ll do with the emails. Holding one public meeting (in a remote location on a weeknight in May) and then announcing new management rules at a second meeting is simply inadequate. FYI: I submitted several comments and suggestions before I even commented here.
How much is Otak charging NYS taxpayers? Why can’t a company from NY handle this? Does basil have a beneficial relationship with them?
Otak gets $600,000. https://www.adirondackexplorer.org/stories/dec-awards-contract-for-visitor-management
Good grief, 600k DEI specialists.
“Providing an email address for comments is not a scientific way to gather public input from a wide range of perspectives. Who knows what they’ll do with the emails.”
Regards a conveyance via electronic media, Emails are one of the best forms of communication in my book Josh. They’re better than tweets, texting, Facebook rants, and whatever other thoughtless medium we favor. You can write as much as you want in emails, and you can do so at a rapid pace while at the same time going along at your own pace which enables you to think things out, edit, revise, etc.
So far as “Who knows what they’ll do with the emails!” Who cares! You’ll have your copy as documented proof! Plus you can always make a copy of your copy and mail it in to the source. Most places, especially government facilities, want nothing to do with emails as they don’t like the track record it presents I suppose……is maybe why you hardly get replies from any of them. If you do stir them to respond, you’ll never get much out of them. They’re not good communicators our leaders, not by way of the written word anyway. Like it was in them good old days when they wrote, wrote, wrote. I’ve got letters to prove this, some of them my dad’s who was often writing letters to politicians, including ‘Ike’ and other notables. We don’t write anymore. We’re an ‘image-oriented’ society as Terry Teachout once said.
Why did the DEC give this to an out-of-state firm? We have capable firms here in NYS? Send 600K to Oregon or wherever they are out there?
Why doesn’t the DEC do this? What are all these people doing?