Backcountry downhill skiers, snowboarders, and all outdoor adventurers who may traverse slides or steep, open terrain in the Adirondacks should be aware of and prepared for avalanche conditions, New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) has advised today. [Read more…] about Avalanche Risk Increased in the Adirondacks
High Peaks
Ed Zahniser On Wilderness & New York State
New York State’s Forest Preserve lands of the Adirondacks and Catskills are living fossils of the broad 19th-century movement to protect wild forests of the federal public lands in the West as forest reserves and not as national forest sources of fiber, forage, and minerals.
New York State’s Forest Preserve lands therefore are living proof that the wilderness preservation movement is not an upstart 20th-century offshoot of the mainstream American conservation movement. [Read more…] about Ed Zahniser On Wilderness & New York State
Peter Bauer: DEC’s Revised Approach to Forest Preserve Long Overdue
The Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) has organized a working group to assist the department in revising and amending a series of policies for New York State Forest Preserve trails stewardship. The DEC organized this working group through the membership of the longstanding Forest Preserve Advisory Committee (FPAC). The working group includes members from trails building organizations, local government, and the environmental community.
The Department stressed that this is a unified management effort for the entire Forest Preserve, and the working group includes members from the Adirondack and Catskill Parks. [Read more…] about Peter Bauer: DEC’s Revised Approach to Forest Preserve Long Overdue
Unprepared Hiker Rescued In Adirondack High Peaks
New York State Department of Environmental Conservation Forest Rangers respond to search and rescue incidents throughout New York State. Working with other state agencies, local emergency response organizations and volunteer search and rescue groups, Forest Rangers locate and extract lost, injured or distressed people.
What follows is a report, prepared by DEC, of recent missions carried out by Forest Rangers. [Read more…] about Unprepared Hiker Rescued In Adirondack High Peaks
DEC’s Management Fiasco in the High Peaks Wilderness
A very strange thing happened this fall in the High Peaks Wilderness Area in the Adirondack Park.
The Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) worked for weeks in 2021 with heavy machinery to rebuild an old logging road in the Dudley Brook area of the MacIntyre East section of the High Peaks Wilderness. This is the same area where the DEC had worked for months in 2019 and 2020 to tear apart old logging roads.
DEC says they’re not rebuilding the road however, they’re correcting a massive mistake that somehow its leaders in Albany had failed to notice for the last two years.
It’s one of the strangest things I’ve seen in Forest Preserve management at the DEC in the last two decades. [Read more…] about DEC’s Management Fiasco in the High Peaks Wilderness
DEC Announces First-Ever Adirondack, Catskill Parks ‘Coordinators’
New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) has announced the creation of new coordinator positions to help lead efforts to promote sustainable use of public lands in the Adirondack and Catskill Forest Preserves.
Proposed by the High Peaks Strategic Advisory Group (HPAG) and aligned with Catskills Advisory Group (CAG) discussions to date, these new DEC staff positions are expected to help coordinate efforts proposed and undertaken with the multiple communities and regions that comprise the Adirondack and Catskill Parks to better guide efforts to address the unique problems caused by the uptick in visitors to the two Forest Preserves. [Read more…] about DEC Announces First-Ever Adirondack, Catskill Parks ‘Coordinators’
Report Concludes Cascade Mountain Trail Exceeding Capacity
A new study of one of the Adirondack Park’s most popular hiking trails into the High Peaks Wilderness Area shows that currently levels of use are degrading the trail and the sensitive ecosystem around it, creating unsustainable levels of damage according to the Adirondack Council. [Read more…] about Report Concludes Cascade Mountain Trail Exceeding Capacity
New Adirondack High Peaks Shuttle Starting Aug 21st
A new pilot Route 73 shuttle service will be begin Saturday, August 21st, along the busy Route 73 corridor in the Adirondack High Peaks region, according to announcement issued Thursday by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC), Essex County, and town of Keene. [Read more…] about New Adirondack High Peaks Shuttle Starting Aug 21st
High Peaks Keene Hiker Shuttle Restarting Saturday
As part of its ongoing effort to welcome hikers to the “Home of the High Peaks,” the Town of Keene will be starting its hiker shuttle to the Garden trailhead at 7 am, this Saturday, July 17, 2021.
This town service gives hikers access to one of the most popular daily and overnight hiking areas in the Adirondacks – for only $10. [Read more…] about High Peaks Keene Hiker Shuttle Restarting Saturday
100 Adirondack Hikes to Avoid Weekend Crowds
Memorial Day Weekend is one of the biggest hiking weekends each year in the Adirondacks. Trailhead parking areas will fill up early and overflow crowds are expected throughout the High Peaks Wilderness Area.
In an effort to help disperse crowds beyond the High Peaks Wilderness Area to lesser used and known trails and hikes across the Adirondacks, Protect the Adirondacks has published online trail guides to 100 terrific destinations throughout the Adirondack Park. These online trail guides provide maps and information for 100 trails in all corners of the Adirondacks Park. [Read more…] about 100 Adirondack Hikes to Avoid Weekend Crowds