Hike vs ride: Debate heats up over next Adirondack land buy

NORTH HUDSON, N.Y. (AP) — As New York state prepares to purchase a trio of connected gem-like ponds reflecting the highest peaks of the Adirondack Mountains, environmental groups are pressing for the waters and surrounding boreal forest to be added to the adjacent High Peaks Wilderness to create a motor-free preserve larger than Rocky Mountain National Park.

[...] officials in the tiny, impoverished hamlets interspersed with expanses of state-owned land in the Adirondack Park are lobbying for the former timberland to be given a less restrictive classification than "wilderness," which bans snowmobiles and other mechanized access that some argue bring more much-needed tourism dollars.

A longtime critic of state land purchases like most of his fellow local officials, Canon said the environmental groups' proposal to classify the Boreas Pond tract as wilderness "would be the worst thing that could happen to towns that surround that piece, in terms of their economic well-being."

The recently approved state management plan for the lake-studded tract includes mountain bike trails, lakeside primitive tent sites, car access on some roads, a new community-connector snowmobile trail, and a new bridge over the Cedar River that was approved over the objection of environmental groups.