Posts Tagged ‘Hut to hut’

Thursday, April 12, 2018

Buildings on the Forest Preserve: Public Lodging Facilities

Buildings on the Forest Preserve are limited by state laws, regulations and policies to administrative and historic preservation purposes. The biggest looming threat to the Forest Preserve is the proposal to expand allowable buildings to include public lodging structures through some kind of formal hut-to-hut system.

The final report issued by Adirondack Community-based Trails and Lodging recommends four instances where Forest Preserve lands were included for “hut” locations as necessary stops for one of their proposed 59 hut-to-hut trips. » Continue Reading.


Saturday, March 17, 2018

Adirondack Hut-to-Hut: Trails and Lodging Report Released

Photo by Phil Brown 2016. View of Gothics from Boreas Ponds.The final report on the three-year study to develop an Adirondack Community-based Trails and Lodging System plan to enhance recreation-based tourism and help revitalize hamlet centers has been released to the public.

The report lays out regional hut-to-hut networks throughout the Adirondack Park, which could be linked together into a park-wide system.

» Continue Reading.


Tuesday, December 12, 2017

Hut-to-Hut Project Reschedules Public Meeting

The Adirondack Community-based Trails and Lodging System (ACTLS) has rescheduled their public meeting at the Lake Pleasant Central School’s gymnasium in Speculator. » Continue Reading.


Sunday, July 16, 2017

DEC Commissioner Eyes Major Changes to Forest Preserve

Hamlet to Hut demonstration project in Long LakeEarlier this year I wrote two articles in the Adirondack Almanack (here and here) about how state agencies had switched their focus from a classification of the Boreas Ponds with various Wilderness-Wild Forest options to a new option that included some form of public lodging facilities. My purpose in writing these pieces was to convey the fears of many at the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) and state government who were alarmed at these ideas cooked up by Governor Andrew Cuomo and DEC Commissioner Basil Seggos. These articles in the Almanack triggered a round of press scrutiny and helped to inform the public about how state leaders had changed their focus on the Boreas classification (see some here, here, and here). These press reports also authenticated what I had written.

Last week, we saw an op-ed published in the Adirondack Daily Enterprise by Commissioner Seggos making the case for building some kind of rental cabins, lodges, huts, or glamping-style tent platforms in the Forest Preserve. The op-ed talked about the possibility of “full service” and “self service” buildings. It was premised on the idea that the Forest Preserve needs to add a new and different type recreational amenity to facilitate broader public use. The Commissioner promoted the ideas of the hut-to-hut initiative from the Hamlets to Huts organization and listed the ways in which some kind of cabin on the Forest Preserve could provide different opportunities for public use. » Continue Reading.


Thursday, June 22, 2017

Jack Drury Responds To Boreas Ponds Hut-to-Hut Concerns

Photo by Phil Brown 2016. View of Gothics from Boreas Ponds.Governor Andrew Cuomo, in his State of the State Message in January, indicated that the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) “…will construct infrastructure at Boreas Ponds in the Adirondacks and build trails as part of the ‘hut-to-hut’ system that links state lands to community amenities.

DEC is committed to expanding recreational opportunities for hikers, bikers, skiers, paddlers, horseback riders, hunters, anglers and others. Outdoor enthusiasts of all skills and abilities will be able to enjoy, for the first time, the most significant addition in the history of the Adirondack Forest Preserve,” according to the statement.

» Continue Reading.


Wednesday, June 7, 2017

Advisory Meeting for Adirondack Trails and Lodging System

Trails and Lodging System Community WorkshopThe Adirondack Community-based Trails and Lodging System (ACTLS) has scheduled a Project Advisory Committee meeting for June 13 at 10 am. The ACTLS is developing a conceptual plan for potential trail networks and key locations for potential lodging facilities within the Adirondack Park.

The Project Advisory Committee is made up of a variety of local government, nonprofit, economic development, recreation, and other stakeholders. The committee is expected to oversee the project and provide input on local and regional issues. The public is welcome to attend.

Topics for discussion include a project update, review of the community workshops held last fall, updates on the project and the identification of priorities.

» Continue Reading.


Sunday, June 4, 2017

First Adirondack Hut-To-Hut Route Slated For 2018

Rafting would be part of the North Creek to Indian Lake hut-to-hut routeAlthough most of the Adirondack hut-to-hut discussion lately has focused on Boreas Ponds as the state considers the classification of the Forest Preserve land, another route is much closer to becoming reality: the North Creek-Indian Lake traverse with a Hudson Gorge rafting trip.

Jack Drury of Leading E.D.G.E, who with Joe Dadey and Duane Gould prepared the 2015 hut-to-hut plan for the five towns of Long Lake, Newcomb, Indian Lake, Minerva, and North Hudson for the Department of Environmental Conservation, called it the low-hanging fruit of the report and believes it will be ready by summer 2018. » Continue Reading.


Monday, January 23, 2017

Infrastructure Construction at Boreas Ponds?

Governor Cuomo’s proposed new public-private initiative to revitalize Northway Exit 29 in the Adirondack Park, the former Frontiertown theme park, and to create a new visitor center and “gateway” there to benefit not just the town of North Hudson, but Essex County and the entire Adirondack Park is a good proposal.

After the Governor spent public funds to acquire the nearby Boreas Ponds for the Forest Preserve as a kind of gateway to the High Peaks and Dix Mountain Wilderness, this well-traveled sector of Essex County so close to I-87 deserves a gateway information and interpretive center that helps attract, orient, inform and inspire curious travelers – whether or not those visitors intend an outdoor adventure at Boreas Ponds.

What concerns me is one sentence buried in that same State of the State report (on page 271): “Specifically, DEC will construct infrastructure at Boreas Ponds in the Adirondacks and build trails as part of the “Hut-to-Hut” system that links State lands to community amenities.” » Continue Reading.


Monday, July 25, 2016

Loon And Trails Center Opens In Saranac Lake

LoonHHCenterTwo Adirondack organizations have come together to form the Adirondack Loon and Trails Center in Saranac Lake.

The center is combined effort between Biodiversity Research Institute’s Adirondack Center for Loon Conservation and Adirondack Hamlet to Huts, the new initiative to connect trail systems to lodging in communities. The organizations recently had a ribbon-cutting ceremony to announce the center’s opening.

The loon program has been in existence for years under director Nina Schoch, who has operated out of her home in Ray Brook. The program has conducted extensive research projects on mercury and led educational campaigns to protect loons from the dangers of lead fishing tackle, among other things. » Continue Reading.



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