Forest Preserve Advocates Disagree On Mining Amendment
Adirondack Almanack
June 12, 2013
Organizations that advocate for the protection of Adirondack Forest Preserve lands disagree over whether to support a proposed constitutional amendment that would allow the international wollastonite mining company NYCO Minerals Inc., which has facilities in Willsboro and Lewis, to mine 200 acres of Adirondack Forest Preserve lands in the Jay Mountain Wilderness.
The Adirondack Council has issued a statement in support of the proposal outlining 1,500 acres it says the state will receive if the amendment and additional enabling legislation passes. The Adirondack Mountain Club has said it supports the proposal and DEC Commissioner Joesph Martens has also lent his weight to the NYCO land swap. PROTECT’s Executive Director Peter Bauer has called the accommodation of the mining company a bad precedent. He says the process has been riddled with misinformation, and the state will be giving up old growth forests.
NYS Senator Betty Little of Queensbury supports the mining company’s plan. “This balanced approach to add to the forest preserve and help a major employer in Essex County remain viable will benefit the environment and the economy of the Adirondacks for many years to come,” she said in a statement to the press echoed by NYS Assemblyman Dan Stec, also of Queensbury. The company and both legislators have invoked the spectre of job losses as the bills have made their way through their respective chambers.
In May, here at the Adirondack Almanack, Peter Bauer called those bill justifications overheated rhetoric. “Any statement in this bill that NYCO will leave the state if this Constitutional Amendment is unsuccessful is simply false,” Bauer wrote. “NYCO isn’t going anywhere. In 1998, NYCO received its first permit for a new mine [at Oakhill]. It has built that mine. NYCO’s own 25-Year plan submitted to the APA in 2006 called for a gradual transition to Oakhill where NYCO estimates there enough wollastonite for at least 16-21 years. NYCO also owns 455 acres around the Oak Hill mine, which contains wollastonite reserves, far beyond the current mine pit of 54 acres.”
The Adirondack Council sees the swap as a “victory for wilderness.” “State officials have now applied the Adirondack Council’s principles to the details of the proposed exchange,” Executive Director of the Adirondack Council William C. Janeway said in statement to the press. “They have modified and expanded the proposal in response to our concerns. The proposed land swap now exceeds our standards for supporting Constitutional Amendments involving the Forever Wild clause.” Janeway’s statement said that the state would receive “at least 1,500 acres of land containing better wildlife habitat and greater recreational opportunities… Over time, those 200 acres will come back into the Forest Preserve [as reclaimed mine land].”
The text of the proposed amendment is available online. It allows NYCO to conduct test drilling on 200 acres of wilderness land. If the company deems that land productive, its value would be assessed by the state. The company, with the approval of the state legislature, would then provide the state with lands of equal or greater value, but not less than $1 million. Although not included in the language of the amendment, proponents say the new state lands, totaling about 1,500 acres would be added to the Forest Preserve, including five parcels adjacent to the Jay Mountain Wilderness Area, and a sixth adjoining the Taylor Pond Wild Forest and Boquet River.
NYCO-Map-1John Sheehan, Director of Communications for the Adirondack Council, told the Almanack that Governor Andrew Cuomo has provided details for enabling legislation for the larger swap to the Council and state legislators. That bill, which would require separate legislative action, would include the transfer of the new state parcels (described below).
Peter Bauer and PROTECT see a larger precedent being set that places corporate interests over the constitutional “Forever Wild” guarantee. “If this Constitutional Amendment goes through, and is approved by the voters in a public referendum, it means that there is no place in New York beyond the reach of commerce. It means that there is no place beyond the desires of various corporations and their political bidders. It means that there is no place that is truly forever wild,” Peter Bauer said.
“NYCO will receive 200 acres of old growth forests. There is not much old growth, but these lands have been in the Forest Preserve for well over 100 years and are old growth by any definition,” he said. “We should not be giving old growth forests over to a mining company.”
For it’s part, the Council doesn’t see the amendment as precedent setting. “If approved by the voters, this would not be the first time that a private company obtained permission for a mutually beneficial Forest Preserve swap,” Janeway noted. “In 1979, the voters approved a swap with International Paper Co. that brought about 10,000 acres of new Forest Preserve to the public in exchange for 7,000 acres of public land. That deal increased the size of the West Canada Lakes Wilderness and reshaped the ownership patterns to make both state and private lands easier to manage.”
“The NYCO proposal breaks with historic precedent because it would be the first Forest Preserve Constitutional Amendment to be undertaken for private commercial gain rather than for a public municipal purpose,” Bauer said.
The New York State Constitution’s “Forever Wild Clause” states that Forest Preserve lands “shall be forever kept as wild forest lands.” As a result, NYCO’s proposal requires a constitutional amendment, including affirmative votes in two separate state legislatures and approval of state voters in a statewide referendum. The amendment passed both house of the state legislature last year. It could make it to voters in the fall, provided it passes both houses again before the legislative session ends June 20.
The Adirondack Council provided the following descriptions of the parcels NYCO is expected to acquire for the state in exchange for passage of the amendment and proposed enabling legislation:
Hardwood Hill & Arnold Mountain
These include the 185-acre Hardwood Hill parcel and the 102-acre Arnold Mountain parcel. The 185 acre Hardwood Hill parcel lies on the north edge of the Jay Mountain Wilderness. Hardwood Hill is quite visible from the hamlet of Jay. It would become part of the Jay Mountain Wilderness. A stream flows out of the wilderness area through the pass to the East Branch of the AuSable River a few miles to the west. The East Branch of the AuSable River flows north from Jay to the hamlet of AuSable Forks where it meets the West Branch of the AuSable and flows into Lake Champlain.
Spruce Mill Brook
NYCO also has pledged acquire a 260-acre parcel that contains nearly two miles of the Spruce Mill Brook, which will become available for fishing. The property also links the Tom’s Hill and Derby Brook parcels.
Tom’s Hill
The 360-acre Toms Hill tract sits at the junction of the Jay Mountain and Hurricane Mountain wilderness areas. The parcel is bisected by a seasonal town road, the Jay Mountain Road, which separates the two wilderness areas and leads from the Town of Lewis to the Town of Jay. This road is really rough and virtually useless for cars, but is good for cross country skiing, hiking, access for hunting, and has been used recently for mountain bike racing. The property contains a mile of the Spruce Mill Brook, which flows into the Boquet River. Brook trout appear to be self-sustaining. Salmon are being stocked by DEC. Moose have been seen in the neighborhood.
Derby Brook
The 360-acre Derby Brook parcel is bordered by Wells Hill road to the south, Derby Brook to the North and the Jay Wilderness Area to the west. Derby Brook runs from west to east for more than a mile through the property, dropping about 380 feet in elevation. This brook runs into Spruce Mill Brook a few miles to the east and eventually into Lake Champlain. This water also has brook trout, although this portion of the river is flat-water, so it might not be the best fishing. The brook has gentler slopes where it flows through NYCO property. Running parallel and south of Derby Brook is an old log road that provides easy access to the Jay Mountain Wilderness on the east side of the range.
Deerhead
This is the only one not adjacent to the Jay Mountain or Hurricane Mountain wilderness areas. It would instead be added to the Taylor Pond Wild Forest, which it abuts. The Deerhead Parcel is about 300 acres made up of several parcels that would be consolidated into one. It is bordered on the east by NYS Rte. 9 for about a mile, on the west by Trout Pond Road (.7 miles), and the south by a private land owner (less than half a mile). On the north, it is bounded by the Burnt Pond Tract and the Taylor Pond Wild Forest. The North Branch of the Boquet River flows along the western property line, parallel to the Trout Pond Road. Brook trout and wetlands are the most attractive conservation features.
