{"id":911,"date":"2009-07-22T08:41:00","date_gmt":"2009-07-22T12:41:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/2009\/07\/22\/dec-vs-apa-and-what-does-it-mean-for-lowes-lake\/"},"modified":"2009-07-22T08:41:00","modified_gmt":"2009-07-22T12:41:00","slug":"dec-vs-apa-and-what-does-it-mean-for-lowes-lake","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/2009\/07\/22\/dec-vs-apa-and-what-does-it-mean-for-lowes-lake\/","title":{"rendered":"DEC vs. APA? And what does it mean for Lowes Lake?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Researching my article for the Adirondack Explorer<\/a> about the lingering tensions over the State Land Master Plan was a fascinating journey.<\/p>\n

But telling that kind of tale is tough. For one thing, it’s wonky. <\/p>\n

Everybody understands a debate over where and when someone can ride their snowmobile or land their floatplane in the Park.<\/p>\n

But digging into a 40-year-old bureaucratic debate over a set of regulations commonly known as “The Slump”?<\/p>\n

Hardly the stuff of which dramatic stories are made.<\/p>\n

But in this case I found that there were some compelling themes. <\/p>\n

A massive and still controversial philosophical shift in the state’s approach to the Adirondack Park.<\/p>\n

Lingering resentment over the lines of authority and decision-making inside the blue line. <\/p>\n

And a deep cultural tension between the Department of Environmental Conservation — which has historically recruited its people locally — and the Adirondack Park Agency, which has tended to bring in outsiders.<\/p>\n

One other aspect of this story that’s tough: People don’t like to speak publicly about conflicts like this.<\/p>\n

What broke the story was a series of former state officials, from APA board member Peter Paine to former DEC staffers who wanted to recount their experience.<\/p>\n

Finally, a thought about ‘what it means’. <\/p>\n

My research left me convinced that the DEC has some legitimate concerns about the State Land Master Plan.<\/p>\n

Rather than try to work around those concerns, maybe it’s time for state officials to say clearly that they think the SLMP needs reform in Albany.<\/p>\n

A case in point is Lowes Lake. Some DEC officials clearly think that Lowes isn’t good material for a wilderness classification.<\/p>\n

For one thing, the lake is man-made. It has a massive dam, roads, homes on the shore, a Boy Scout camp, motorboats…<\/p>\n

But the SLMP designation established decades ago is unambigious: Lowes is meant to be managed as a primitive\/wilderness canoe destination.<\/p>\n

Rather than try to shoe-horn floatplane flights in for another few years, state officials should consider an open debate over the lake’s future. <\/p>\n

The time is ripe for this to happen. <\/p>\n

Hearings are underway over a final land designation for Lowes. <\/p>\n

Thanks to some political horsetrading between DEC and APA, state officials are leaning heavily toward a ‘wilderness’ classification.<\/p>\n

Do DEC officials really think that’s the right way to go? I’m not so sure.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Researching my article for the Adirondack Explorer about the lingering tensions over the State Land […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[],"tags":[22],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/911"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=911"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/911\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=911"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=911"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=911"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}