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In-Depth Information
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 “DEC’s
Insidious Disregard for the People—Comments on DEC Draft
Wilcox Lake Wild Forest UMP”- By Carol W. LaGrasse,
President, Property Rights Foundation of America, March 2, 2007
DEC’s insidious disregard for the people is exemplified
by its treatment of Stony Creek and environs. The proposed Draft
Unit Management Plan for Wilcox Lake Wild Forest should be discarded.
The plan should be re-drawn under new assumptions, with the local
culture, economy, history, and the community included as salient
factors in a plan that respects the local people.
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 “Land Acquired
- But Wait, Access Closed” - By Carol W. LaGrasse (Reprinted
from the New York Property Rights Clearinghouse, PRFA, Summer
2006)
New York State’s announcements when acquiring
vast tracts of private land for the Forest Preserve promise more
access for the public, but over decades, more recently over a
very short time, the campsites and access roads are being closed
and the land is being cut off from hunters and other recreational
users that do not fit the mold approved by extreme environmentalists.
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 “Wild Cities, Suburb
Zoos, and Rural Atrocities” - By Nathaniel R. Dickinson
(PRFA, July 2006
Instead of choosing wildlife policies on the basis of their
emotional appeal, management agencies should adopt scientifically
sound policies to deal with the frequent and severe conflicts
between wildlife and humans.
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- “Our Hike
on the Threatened Road to Whitehouse-A Photo Story, April 11,
2006” - by Carol W. LaGrasse (PRFA, June 2006)
In order to enlarge the Silver Lake Wilderness, the State
Department of Environmental Conservation proposes to deliberately
destroy the West River Road, a town highway leading to the historic
site of Whitehouse on the West Branch of the Sacandaga River
in Wells, N.Y. Two fine steel suspension footbridges will be
deliberately allowed to deteriorate, locally cherished old stone
chimneys at the ghost town will be lost, and large, active campsites
enjoyed since at least 1962, when the State acquired the land,
will be deliberately destroyed. Access to a nineteenth century
cemetery will be cut off.
- “The
Cemetery at Whitehouse” - Photo Story by
Carol W. LaGrasse (PRFA, June 2006)
The DEC’s radical eradication of highways closes
down access to cherished cemeteries, so that descendants and
local people who would like to visit, pay their respects, and
maintain the graveyards are stymied.
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- “Commentary
on Uncontrolled White-tailed Deer Populations” - By
Nate Dickinson (PRFA, January 6, 2005)
Deer-vehicle accidents with substantial human fatalities and
rampant destruction of plants, gardens, and forest regeneration
are the natural result of policies in opposition to sound, scientific
management when Nate Dickinson was Big Game Leader for New York
State Department of Environmental Conservation.
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 “Statement - Wilcox Lake Wild Forest”
- By Peter J. LaGrasse, Captain, Stony Creek Emergency Squad,
& Chairman, Stony Creek Board of Assessors, DEC Meeting,
Thurman Town Hall, March 8, 2002
Harrisburg Road should be cleared through beyond Moosewood
Club and Baker’s Clearing to Wells, other roads cleared,
and a network of roads created for pickup trucks, which are what
people drive to go fishing, ATVs for recreation, emergency use
vehicles, and ambulances.
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- “Statement
- Wilcox Lake Wild Forest” - By Carol W. LaGrasse, President,
Property of America, DEC Meeting, Thurman Town Hall, March 8,
2002
Swaths of open area should be cut as fire breaks. Ancient
highways should be opened and trails widened for fire protection
vehicles. Waite Road and other old roads should be opened to
access State land. The State should reverse its anti-ATV policy.
Cemetery access should be respected. The State’s
environmental review should include the cultural and economic
impacts, not just biological aspects.
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- “DEC settles
in access for disabled lawsuit”-Reprinted by permission
from the Hamilton County News, July 10, 2001
The State of New York has caved in to three years of civil
rights litigation brought by disabled local residents in federal
court. The Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) will
give the disabled real access to the State Forest Preserve lands
in the Adirondack and Catskill Mountains-including access to
motor vehicle roads exclusively used by the State and the expenditure
of nearly $4.8 million to make parking areas, restrooms, fishing
access sites, boat launches, campsites, picnic areas, equestrian
mounting platforms and offices accessible to the disabled.
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- The 1995 Adirondack Blowdown
The tangle of dead forest left behind by the devastating
July 15, 1995 blowdown remains in place because of the pressure
of the Adirondack Council on Governor Pataki to “protect”
the wild forest. At that time the State Department of Environmental
Conservation’s study pronounced the maximum level
fire hazard possible existed. The current status of thus hazard
has not been revisited. Today, the trunks caught high and dry
are surrounded with a dense growth of evergreens, which are fine
kindling. With seven million acres of western forests destroyed
by fire during 2000, it should be apparent that, even in an area
not prone to drought, a wildfire hazard in New York in areas
mixed with private property, towns, and villages should be a
prime concern of public policy makers. Below are reprinted some
of PRFA’s materials pointing out the ironies of the
State’s inaction during 1995-96.
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