From the New York daily News, by Michael Virtanen
More than a year after Gov. George Pataki and International Paper Co. announced a deal to open 257,000 Adirondack acres to more public recreation, the contracts haven't been signed and four towns have passed resolutions blocking the deal.
"Until we get what we want for our people, this thing is vetoed," said Steve Bory, town supervisor in Hopkington, which has 17,033 IP acres in the northern Adirondacks. "We don't want to stop this or block this, but we need something to come from this for our people."
The boards in the adjoining St. Lawrence County towns of Colton, Parishville and Piercefield adopted similar measures. Officials point to a state conservation law that says timely municipal objections to proposed open-space projects "shall prevent the state from undertaking such acquisition."
State officials are aware of the vetoes and monitoring ongoing talks between the towns and International Paper, said Michael Fraser, spokesman for the state Department of Environmental Conservation.
"We are still confident this transaction will be finalized" in the near future, he said.
What the towns want is a year-round multi-use trail system that would accommodate both snowmobiles and all-terrain vehicles, something they consider essential to their constituents' needs and the sparsely populated area's tourism economy.
"It's pretty hard to find a yard or a garage up here that doesn't have an ATV in it, plus a sled," Bory said. Hopkington, 123 miles northwest of Albany, has 1,056 residents.
In Colton, Supervisor Hank Ford also wants permission to erect a multi-use bridge over the Raquette River, saying he already has a $1 million state grant to build it on power company land. The town also wants nearby state land to remain classified as wild forest to permit motorized vehicles on existing roads.
Ford's town has about 18,000 IP acres and about 1,400 residents. He says they are "pretty much" of one mind, except for "a pinpointed group that's not in favor of motorized recreation."
The paper company stands to receive, depending on final assessments, an estimated $20 million to $25 million for state easements that prevent development while guaranteeing various levels of public-recreation access. IP would continue logging, while the state would pay about one-third of its property-tax bill and enforce limits on public use.
"We don't see any great delays. I think we're looking at '05 and '06 closings, which is what we were looking at in the first place," IP spokesman Robert Stegemann said. After the deal was announced in April 2004, state and IP officials said they'd hoped to sign the first contracts last year.
Title searches for the timberlands scattered around the 6-million-acre Adirondack park and detailed contract language take time, Stegemann said Wednesday.
Concerning the St. Lawrence County towns, the IP spokesman said there will be some key corridors that will be attractive to them for snowmobiling. The easement doesn't address ATVs for that property, he said, but IP and municipal officials are continuing to talk.
Hunting clubs already use ATVs on trails they established in the easement lands, Bory said, while off-road vehicles can be controlled, and ATV clubs volunteer to keep trails up.
"We're asking for crossing rights. That's all we're asking for," Bory said. "We're not that far apart."
Fraser says the DEC is now hoping to get the first phase of IP easements done by the end of the summer.
In March, the DEC proposed an effective ban on ATVs on state-owned land in the Adirondacks and Catskills, while saying their use could be considered on easement lands. Environmental advocates say the ATVs tear up sensitive wilderness.
John Sheehan, spokesman for the Adirondack Council, said the IP easements are being held up by Ford and the other town officials for a bridge that would be illegal to build anyway. "There are 260,000 recreational opportunities for the entire state to enjoy," he said, and the "bridge to nowhere" is keeping that from happening.
However, the environmental group has "no particular objection" to ATV routes on the easement timberlands that already have trucks, skidders and other noisy vehicles, Sheehan said. A route through the nearby Champion easement would make a better alternative to the proposed bridge, he said.
"Ultimately on easements is where most of the motorized traffic that people want to see expanded ought to happen, both snowmobiles and all-terrain vehicles, if only to prevent continuing damage to the forest preserve," Sheehan said.
