The Adirondack Explorer, Sun Community News, and Adirondack Daily Enterprise invited a number of stakeholders to take part in a forum on the future of the Boreas Ponds Tract.
The following stakeholders participated in the forum: Bill Farber, chairman of the Hamilton County Board of Supervisors; Jason Kemper, chairman of the New York State Conservation Fund Advisory Board; Willie Janeway, executive director of the Adirondack Council; Dave Olbert, owner of Cloudsplitter Outfitters in Newcomb; Peter Bauer, executive director of Protect the Adirondacks; Pete Nelson, co-founder of Adirondack Wilderness Advocates; Roger Dziengeleski, retired vice president and senior forester at Finch, Pruyn and Company; Dan Plumley, a partner in Adirondack Wild; and Ron Moore, supervisor of North Hudson, where Boreas Ponds is located.
Moderators included: Phil Brown, Editor, The Adirondack Explorer; Peter Crowley, Managing Editor of The Adirondack Daily Enterprise; and John Gereau, Managing Editor of Sun Community Newspapers.
The Adirondack Park Agency has yet to decide how to classify the 20,758-acre parcel under the Park’s State Land Management Plan. The state Department of Environmental will later write a management plan for the property, but the types of recreation allowed and the degree of motorized access will be partially predetermined by the classification.
The classification has generated heated debate, largely over how much of the parcel should be classified motor-free Wilderness.