Governors on snowmobiles
"It has been a
priority of the Cuomo administration to motorize the Adirondacks.” So says
Peter Bauer, executive director of Protect the Adirondacks. Bauer’s specific
comments were in reference to the recently approved plan to clear a 22-mile-long
snowmobile track in the central Adirondacks. the Adirondack Park Agency (APA)
voted in favor of the land purchase, a move now under fire by conservation
groups. According to Bauer this new plan will add onto the already approximately
hundred miles of snowmobile track in the park this decade. Opponents of new
snowmobile trails have brought a lawsuit to the New York Supreme Court, arguing
that the state has violated the Wild, Scenic and Recreational Rivers System Act
of 1972. According to the case that is currently sitting with the Court, if
allowed to proceed, this action will, “for the first time,
introduce public motorized recreational use into a narrow one-tenth-mile-wide
sliver of Forest Preserve threading between lands classified as Wilderness on
one side and Primitive on the other.”
The problems of such motorization on
wild land, are obvious: intersecting rivers may be polluted, wildlife habitats
fragmented, and human penetration of the Park will be again deepened. Where
conservationists see the biggest problem however, is the precedent of such
action. Because of the designated land being proposed to build on, this move
represents totally unprecedented powers of the APA to increase its monetary
tourist value. Governor Andrew Cuomo’s administration has come under fire, as
he himself is sometimes seen as viewing the Adirondacks with opportunistic eyes.
The
governor has shown much interest in the Park. Through his latest budget, and
even his escapades in the Park (going snowmobiling himself…). Many
environmentalists however, are left wondering if his new interest is motivated
by an appreciation for the survival of wilderness, or if the park represents only
potential money to be made. At the end of the day the issue will never be so
clear as one or the other – even as we see an increase in tourism, we must ask
ourselves if preventing a flow of money into the park really is in its worst
interest. While it doesn’t carry much weight, my own opinion is that the
governor is a threat to the Park; Cuomo is a politician – (as we have heard so
much recently from presidential candidates across the aisle) a balanced budget
is the bottom line. A balanced budget sounds good, but can the Adirondacks
remain “Forever Wild” AND be seen as a boon to New York’s economy? I’m not so
sure.
Unfortunately I've noticed that economics seems to trump intrinsic value of the wilderness. Aside from moral issues, however, I think the problem is that it is easier to think about policy in the short term rather than the long term. In a human lifetime, let alone a term in office, it is easier for people to concern themselves with problems that affect humans directly such as unemployment. It is much harder to motivate people to care about problems that will manifest themselves later on...
ReplyDeleteSo true, seems to basically be a problem with politics in general. And I wonder if that means no attention might be better than good (short term) attention.
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