NY Prop 1 2025

[Harvey]

I’m sure of one thing though, if I went up there and started cutting down trees there would be a hefty fine and if I kept doing it I would be put in jail.

I'm having a hard time getting beyond this.

To me, it makes sense that Van Ho is in the same category as Gore, WF, Belle, but in reality I agree with those who say it's not like they are going to shut Van Ho down, if Prop 1 is voted down.

Not that it really matters, but how long ago did ORDA start logging the forest preserve?

My guess is, as a statewide vote, it will be approved.

 

[Campgottagopee]

My guess is, as a statewide vote, it will be approved.

Unfortunately I agree. Especially given the way it's been presented. Local news here has been showing clips from the Olympic Hockey Team, and telling people this will increase ORDA's training facilities. Which it will. But the give no other information. Zero.
As usual, the powers to be are giving voters half of the information.

 

[Peter Minde]

Not that it really matters, but how long ago did ORDA start logging the forest preserve?

Wait what? Is ORDA logging too?

In all the excitement, nobody - myself included - has discussed the new trail from van Ho's lodge to the summit of Cascade Mountain. Supposedly it will relieve some of the pressure on the current trail. There's tree cutting for that, but from what I've bushwhacked, not much.

 

[Ripitz]

Local news here has been showing clips from the Olympic Hockey Team, and telling people this will increase ORDA's training facilities. Which it will. But the give no other information. Zero.
As usual, the powers to be are giving voters half of the information

This. Scary to think that we are probably the most informed group in the state and are barely getting the gist of it. How is my 90 year old MIL in Long Island supposed to understand the prop?

 

[tirolski]

My $.02 is that until recently, ORDA probably didn't think it was necessary to apply for the Article XIV exemption.

Huh? Based on the yer article, whatdya think was the loophole they could slide thru?

In the ORDA world, van Ho was a backwater compared to revenue generators like Whiteface or Gore (my words, not theirs).

Yup

I've heard talk thAt the refrigeration plant for the sliding track straddled DEC and North Elba land.

The environmental impacts & health risks of a sliding track's refrigeration unit is extremely larger than harvesting some trees &/or moving some dirt and rocks. The Ho slider track uses ammonia for heat transfers. The one recently put in Cortina for the games in February uses glycol.

Cortina, switching on the bobsled track's refrigeration plant - Impresa Pizzarotti & C. S.p.A.

Today, in the presence of the Undersecretary to the Presidency of the Council of Ministers, Sen. Alessandro Morelli, the Head of the Technical Mission

www.pizzarotti.it

The ORDA CEO is a slider.

 

[D.B. Cooper]

There's tree cutting for that, but from what I've bushwhacked, not much.

For anyone to answer, but "tree cutting" is based on the definition of a tree, which is 2.5" at breast height, is it not? Anything other than that, i.e. brush, can be cut no problem?

 

[Campgottagopee]

definition of a tree

As i understand it the current language in the NYS Constitution uses the word "timber" and not "tree".

 

[Ripitz]

Notwithstanding the foregoing provisions, the construction, operation, and maintenance to international standards for Nordic skiing and biathlon trails that will accommodate global competitions, training, and events, totaling not more than three hundred twenty-three acres of trails and appurtenances thereto, is authorized on one thousand thirty- nine acres of forest preserve lands at the Mount Van Hoevenberg Olympic Sports Complex in the town of North Elba in Essex county, and as an offset thereto the state must acquire for incorporation into the forest preserve at least two thousand five hundred acres of forest land for inclusion in the forest preserve in the Adirondack Park on condition that the legislature shall determine that such lands are equal to or greater in value.

The fact that ORDA would play by the rules within this boundary is questionable. When they recently cut trees for the World Cup mountain biking trails at Whiteface the consequence handed down from the DEC was, you need to communicate a better work plan?

At Belleayre they abandoned the, what could be considered historic, Cathedral Brook ski trail because they needed the mileage to clear the new Goat Path ski trail, Overlook Quad lift line and Summit Learning Center. By that logic what prevents them from abandoning all of the existing ski trails and cutting new ones in between?

I understand we are voting to allow 323 acres at Van Ho to be developed for Nordic skiing. What is the acreage of what has already been developed? Are we allowing more than what’s in the UMP?

 

[tirolski]

The 1999 EIS discusses “Regulatory Issues”.
There’s some gems.

https://extapps.dec.ny.gov/docs/lands_forests_pdf/mvh1999eis.pdf

 

[Campgottagopee]

I'm not familiar with the woods in the area.
Are there a bunch of Ash and Beech?
I know it doesn't make a difference but I'm curious to know what trees were cut. What size?
Anyone know?