For the past 8 or so years, the nonprofit conservationist organization Protect the Adirondacks has been locked in a contentious lawsuit against the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation and the Adirondack Park agency. After being dismissed, re-examined, and appealed multiple times, the state Court of Appeals finally made a ruling just this past May. Perhaps surprisingly, the subject that caused this much contention in the court systems was the construction of snowmobile trails.

For reference, it is first necessary to know that Article 14 of the New York State Constitution, the “forever wild” clause, states that the Adirondack woods “shall not be leased, sold or exchanged, or be taken by any corporation, public or private, nor shall the timber thereon be sold, removed or destroyed.” In order to construct these snowmobile trails, it would be necessary to cut down a significant amount of forest. This is where the premise of the lawsuit came from, as Protect the Adirondacks argued that cutting down around 1,000 trees per mile of trail, as well as the manipulation of the land to create the slopes of the trails, violated the “forever wild” clause. 

While this may seem like an obvious violation of the clause, lower courts ruled in favor of the defense on multiple occasions. The reasons were that the amount of tree cutting was less than other cases that had not been taken to court, and also vague phrasing in the original constitution specifically protected larger, healthier trees, whereas trail construction would harm mostly smaller (but not less ecologically important) trees. 

The argument in favor of the prosecution, as I just hinted at, is that these trees regardless of size are necessary to maintain forest ecosystems. Building these snowmobile trails would require cutting down approximately 25,000 trees over a single 27-mile trail, with more to come in the future should the court side with the defense. These trails would also require a significant amount of work on the ground of the woods in terms of shaping and flattening, and would certainly harm the Adirondack forests. 

The final decision of the Court of Appeals was that regardless of the size of individual trees, cutting down that much forest would have significant negative impacts on the ecosystem without immediately benefiting the general public. As the highest court in the state, this decision was final, which put an end to the 8-year long lawsuit. The decision put an end to the construction of a trail in progress, saving 7 miles of forest, and will prevent more trails of this nature from being constructed in the future. It is certainly satisfying to see a decision in favor of the conservation of the forest. 

Works Cited

“Article 14 Lawsuit Update.” Protect the Adirondacks!, 25 Apr. 2021, https://www.protectadks.org/article-14-lawsuit-update/ 

Cerbone, Aaron. “New York’s Highest Court Rules against Dec Tree Cutting.” New York’s Highest Court Rules against DEC Tree Cutting | News, Sports, Jobs – Adirondack Daily Enterprise, https://www.adirondackdailyenterprise.com/news/local-news/2021/05/nys-highest-court-rules-against-dec-tree-cutting-restricting-future-trail-work/ .