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Conservation Report
July, 2013
Vice-Chair, Conservation: John Omohundro, 315-265-8365
Mary MacKinnon has graciously donated three motorized weed cutters, which will be pressed into service this month on the Red Sandstone trail, clearing raspberry canes from the railroad bed. Thank you Mary!
Mark Simon, the Stone Valley trail coordinator, and I have been meeting with others to update the Stone Valley Cooperative Recreation Area agreement, among property owners (county, towns, Brookfield), workers (ADK, Raquette River Blueway Corridor (RRBC)) and user groups (American Whitewater, et al.) We will probably have a document for public review by fall. Issues include signage, safety, resource protection, user rules, and development for mountain bikes and whitewater kayaking.
I represent ADK on the Raquette River Advisory Council (RRAC). which advises Brookfield on its river lands. We’re on the verge of approving two new bike trails in Stone Valley. We’re also reviewing RRBC’s plans to enhance public and paddler experience at Stone Valley during whitewater releases. We’ve also funded a second year of loon survey in Piercefield Flow.
The County’s planned Multi-Use Trail that will cross the county on public lands and roads has gone through public review recently. Tom Ortmeyer, our chapter’s representative to the trails committee, recommends that the chapter support the trail, with provisos about unregulated spur trails, trespass, and erosion from wheeled vehicles. Your chapter weighed in on these subjects during the environmental review last year, and we note that many parties have addressed them again this year. So we are adopting a “watch and wait” posture, to see how the trail works in its early years.