Lyme Timber Company owns more than a quarter of a million acres of land in the Adirondacks, including more than 16,000 acres in the southern St. Lawrence County towns of Colton and Piercefield.
It's on that tract of land that Lyme Timber wants to log about 680 acres.
The Adirondack Park Agency’s Aaron Ziemann presented the logging proposal to the board on Thursday. He showed maps of where Lyme Timber plans to log.
"Zooming in a little closer now, you can see Route 3 moving from east to west," explained Ziemann. "The village of Tupper Lake to the east, Cranberry Lake to the West.”
The forestland in Colton was damaged in the 1998 ice storm, so Lyme Timber wants to harvest nearly all of the damaged overstory and turn it into pulp. Ziemann showed photos from that property.
“On the left is a maple tree; you can see this crook at the top that diminishes its value as a log tree," said Ziemann. "On the right are a pair of yellow birch trees, and you see the curvature in these stems as they bow out towards the bottom, and that curvature diminishes the value of those trees."
By logging most of the land there, Ziemann told the board that would leave room for the younger, understory trees to grow into a healthy forest.
There are strict laws in the Adirondacks regarding tree cutting. You can’t clearcut a property bigger than 25 acres without a permit, a fact that APA board member Rush Holt pointed out.
"There has to be a good reason to do more than that, and there has to be no undue damage," said Holt.
He was worried about the impact that the logging project would have on biodiversity in the area.
Holt also posed a broader question about the APA’s commitment to reviewing projects through a scientific lens, looking at data and other projections. Holt wondered whether the agency had used that approach with this project.
Ziemann said that the APA takes a scientific approach to projects within the context of developments. He also urged Holt to consider the longer-term impact of the logging plan.
"You’re changing the forest from an older seral stage to a younger stage, which will have benefits to a different suite of animals than is currently there, a different suite of wildlife," said Ziemann. "It will be different, but it will still be a forested area acting as a forested area.”
APA Board member Benita Law-Diao also jumped in. She questioned the environmental impact of the logging plan. For about fifteen minutes, the board went back and forth over the issue. Near the end of the debate, Jerry Delaney chimed in. Delaney isn’t a voting member, but represents the APA's Local Government Review Board.
Delaney encouraged Holt to visit the logging area in the future and suggested that the land would be in better shape than before it was logged.
"You should see what happens to this clearcut in five years, when you can’t walk through it. It’s full of rabbits, it’s full of ground birds, it’s being used by deer and by moose.”
At the end of the debate, the project went up for a vote. Rush Holt and Benita Law-Diao voted against it. Every other board member was in favor, so the project was approved.
The APA board also learned about plans for a new ADA-accessible boat launch in Saranac Lake. The village has spent years trying to decide how to redevelop Baldwin Park right along Lake Flower. It currently has a few asphalt tennis courts that don’t get much use.
The village wants to rip up those courts, build a pavilion, and construct a canoe and kayak launch that’s accessible to people with disabilities. APA’s Benjimin Amos presented the project to the board.
"So this accessible launch allows a person to launch or dock their vessel by pushing forward on the aluminum rails that extend from the rollers to the water.”
Board member Art Lussi described the project as thoughtful and environmentally responsible, but wondered whether there would be enough on-site parking. Amos responded.
"It is hard to forecast if there will be an increase in use," said Amos. "This is an existing public park which has some waterfront access there without any formal parking. There’s just a road shoulder.”
Amos said the plan calls for nine new parking spots along the road. The project needed APA approval in part because it would involve building in wetlands.
Ultimately, APA staff determined that the new boat launch would provide "essential public benefit," with minimal impacts to the wetlands or shoreline.
The project went up for a vote and was unanimously approved by the APA board.