In historic decision, court rules for trees over snowmobile trails

ALBANY | On a 4-2 vote announced Tuesday, the New York Court of Appeals ruled that 27 miles of state-planned snowmobile trails intended to connect towns in the Central Adirondacks is illegal, and work on the expansive project can only go forward if voters approve an amendment to the state Constitution. The decision hands a victory to Protect the Adirondacks! and other environmental groups that had argued that the trails — which the court noted could be as wide as a lane on an Interstate highway — required the cutting of too many trees and violated the 125-year-old provision that the Forest Preserve remain "forever wild." The decision is a historic milestone in the treatment of state forests, due to a paucity of case law over the years parsing the meaning of language written well over a century ago. In the only case similar to the one at hand, the court threw out an attempt to build a bobsled run for the 1932 Olympics on the grounds that too many trees would be lost. In Protect the Adirondacks! Inc., v. the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, the court held that the same standard that applied to the 1932 case applies today. The court majority wrote that "The construction of the Class II trails is, for constitutional purposes, no different than the construction of the bobsleigh run. Both would work a substantial change to the Forest Preserve." The DEC had argued that the forest is preserved for the enjoyment of the people, and that all trails are a central part of public use. While the case was pending, the state had slapped a moratorium on not just on snowmobile trail construction, but on hiking trail construction as well. But the court made clear that the two are not alike. "Class II trails require greater interference with the natural development of the Forest Preserve than is necessary to accommodate hikers," the court wrote. "Their construction is based on the travel path and speed of a motorized vehicle used solely during the snow season. The trails may not be built like roads for automobiles or trucks, but neither are they constructed as typical hiking trails." The case, which has wound its way through the appeals process for the past eight years, divided Adirondack stakeholders, with conservation groups on one side and the state and towns, along with some land trusts and hiker groups, on the other. Towns said they had been promised the snowmobile trails as a condition for their support of additions of new land to the Forest Preserve. The trails are seen as a vital part of local economies, and some town supervisors have said that without the trails they will be reluctant to approve any more land deals. But conservationists feared the snowmobile trails would be a nose under the tent of forest protections, and make further development of wild lands easier. "This is a great day for the public forever wild Forest Preserve," said Peter Bauer, Executive Director of Protect the Adirondacks. "This is a major decision, one for the books, in the history of the Forest Preserve."

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In historic decision, court rules for trees over snowmobile trails

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