I don't recall much uproar when the Whiteface glades were cut, and that was a lot more trees. Any of the WF veterans care to weigh in?
With regard to tree cutting specifically ... I don't have much to say ... Certainly the proposal to essentially combine the Upper Thruway trail with what is often referred to as "Middle Parkway" is probably the most "significant", in that it's going to create a very wide open space. That, combined with also widening Upper Thruway on skier's left alongside Mountain Run is going to make that face of Little Whiteface very wide open.
As for the amendment in general, here are my thoughts with respect to the proposed skiing related items. I'll leave the hiking trail and mountain biking trail proposals to others.
For me, the most significant item is in the table on page 29, regarding Lift G (Little Whiteface) and Lift H (Mountain Run). The action/improvement is "Replace double chair with with quad" and the current status is "Approved in 1996, not yet implemented. Construction proposed for 2022." It's unclear from the UMP, but my assumption is that the plan is to replace the two lifts with a single quad, with a mid-station in the current location of the terminus of the Mountain Run chair and mid-station of the Little Whiteface chair. It would be great if that actually happens next year!!!
The other significant items for recreational skiers are the addition of the new lift from Bear Den, the proposed new Yellow Dot trail and the proposed High Country Road trail.
I don't see a whole lot of value in the new lift, even for the beginner skiers the proposal is supposedly targeting. I'm not saying it's a bad idea, just that it seems like a big expense that isn't really necessary. Currently, beginner skiers can take the Face Lift and then use Easy Street to get to the terminus of the new lift. Easy Street is definitely the easiest part of any route from the mid-station lodge down. I suspect there's an alternate agenda here, that is, to transport non-skiers to the mid-station lodge. This would be useful for events held on Wilderness, should they be able to get World Cup moguls competitions back at Whiteface. It would also be useful in the summer, so that the mid-station lodge could be used as a venue or weddings, etc.
Creating an actual Yellow Dot trail from Victoria to Lower Skyward is definitely a good idea, in order to give people an easier way down than Victoria. There's no doubt in my mind ... Victoria is one of the scariest trails at Whiteface if you're a novice skier who wandered over there without realizing what you were getting into. Note, from a purely selfish perspective, I'll be sorry to see the existing Yellow Dot converted into a real trail, and will be sorry to see increased traffic on Lower Skyward, but ... it's not all about me.
Finally, the High Country Road trail. This would be a really nice improvement in my opinion, however, if they replace the Little Whiteface chair with a RELIABLE quad, this becomes less important. I've bush-wacked through there a few times to get back over to the Summit Quad after skiing Upper McKenzie. It would be nice to be able to do that with less effort.
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