The State of New York Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) convened a High Peaks Strategic Planning Advisory Group (HPAG), to address the problems and challenges in the High Peaks.

Our primary concern is to protect the Pepperbox against unnecessary development. Demand for recreational access has traditionally been limited, especially after the interior ponds succumbed to the ravages of acid rain decades ago. A few marked hiking trails do exist, but use has always been light. A proposal to install a lean-to at Gregg Lake in 2015 drew mostly opposition, leading the state to scrap the idea.

If we are to achieve our goal of significantly expanding the Silver Lake Wilderness, it will mean participating in several key steps: first by working with Hamilton County and other stakeholders to achieve a voter-approved land exchange that meets the needs of local government while resulting in a net benefit to the Forest Preserve, and then by initiating a post-exchange conversation about the status of the Silver Lake Wilderness.

The Conservancy’s purchase of Follensby Pond coincided with its much more ambitious effort to acquire and preserve the former lands of the Finch Pruyn logging company, which became the organization’s main priority for a decade. Now the time has come to consider Follensby’s future – but unfortunately, full acquisition for the forever-wild Forest Preserve might not be an option.

DEC’s normal practice is to remove any cabins that may still exist within three years of the purchase, if not immediately. However, Adirondack Wilderness Advocates (AWA) has been tracking the status of three cabins that still remain on Forest Preserve parcels acquired in the 1970s and 1980s.

In the interest of encouraging best management practices in the stewardship of our public lands, Adirondack Wilderness Advocates has been closely following a proposal by the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation to rehabilitate a section of the Big Otter Trail in the Ha-de-ron-dah Wilderness near Old Forge.

Join us as we advocate for a major expansion of the High Peaks Wilderness. The Boreas Ponds, McIntyre East, and McIntyre West tracts acquired recently in the foothills of the mountains should be designated Wilderness to protect natural resources and promote new opportunities for primitive recreation.