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Despite scores of public comments
opposing a proposal to tear down the fire towers atop Hurricane and
St. Regis mountains, staff at the Adirondack Park Agency suggests
that commissioners move ahead with the plan.
In an internal memo drafted by APA
Assistant Director for Planning Richard Weber, staff acknowledges
the hundreds of public comments opposing the towers’ destruction,
but indicates that the State Land Master Plan’s definition of
wilderness takes precedence.
“The removal of these two towers and
the retention of 22 other towers in Wild Forest and private land
areas may also be viewed as a balanced approach that minimizes
adverse impacts to both the cultural resources and the wilderness
resources of the Park,” the memo states.
At two public hearings regarding the
amendments to the Unit Management Plans of the Hurricane Mountain
Primitive and St. Regis Canoe areas, about 90 percent of commenters
wanted the towers left alone.
WNBZ has made several attempts to
acquire the entire public comment record. But as of Tuesday, a
Freedom of Information Law request filed last week has yet to garner
a response from the state Department of Environmental Conservation.
Sources close to the story have
indicated that like the public hearings, the majority of written
comments are against the DEC proposal to remove the towers.
But DEC spokeswoman Lori Severino told
WNBZ Tuesday that the department doesn’t formally tabulate
responses, instead focusing on the specifics of the comments.
“It’s not like we tally the yays and
nays” she said.
Both the Hurricane Mountain and St.
Regis Mountain fire towers are on the National Register of Historic
Places.
“Staff believe it is important to
consider that while on the one hand, retention of the two towers at
the existing summit locations could maximize the protection of
cultural resources, it would do so to the detriment of wilderness
resources,” the memo reads.
Proponents of maintaining the towers
atop the mountains consider the structures significant relics of the
regions cultural history.
Environmentalists would like to see
the towers removed, an effort backed by language in the SLMP, which
specifically labels fire towers as non-conforming structures.
A recent DEC survey found there are 22
fire towers left on Adirondack state lands.
The Adirondack Local Government Review
Board and citizens’ organizations lobbying for the towers’ existence
have asked for a SLMP amendment that would classify the structures
as historic.
But staff doesn’t believe reopening
Pandora’s Box is a good idea.
“The act of revising the State Land
Master Plan as proposed to include fire towers as conforming
structures in primitive and canoe areas would conflict directly with
the Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement and could have far
reaching and unforeseen consequences,” staff comments state. “These
could include significant changes to the character of the Forest
Preserve.”
Several sources within DEC have told
WNBZ that there is an intra-departmental division between Albany
brass and local foresters about the future of the towers.
They said that Region 5 foresters
lobbied top DEC officials to leave the towers as they are, reminding
Albany of the public relations nightmare that ensues when an
Adirondack fire tower is threatened.
A local DEC official would not confirm
or deny if there is dissent in the ranks over the issue.
But Severino said that she hasn’t
heard of any division between Region 5 foresters and DEC brass.
Local residents have volunteered to
assume the cost and labor of maintaining the towers if they remain
atop the mountains.
APA Commissioners are not expected to
make a decision this month about the UMP amendments.
-Jon
Alexander, 4-14-10
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