ALBANY — An appellate court has ruled against the state’s effort to build a 27-mile network of snowmobile trails in the North Country, concluding that the project is cutting more trees than should be allowed under laws to protect the Adirondack Forest Preserve.

While the planned network of connector trails around the Newcomb area didn’t violate the overall spirit of keeping the Adirondack Forest Preserve in “forever wild” status as outlined in the state constitution, the 25,000 trees that were being cut amounted to an excessive removal of timber, which isn’t permitted, the appellate division judges concluded in a ruling entered on Wednesday.

“This is a major decision in the history of the Forest Preserve,” Peter Bauer, executive director of the environmental group Protect the Adirondacks, said of the decision.

“The court ruled that the level of tree cutting necessary to build a network of road-like trails constituted an unconstitutional destruction of timber on the Forest Preserve.”

Bauer’s group filed suit against the trail project in 2013.

A state Department of Environmental Conservation spokesperson said the agency is reviewing the decision. The agency could try to appeal the decision to the state Court of Appeals.

The lawsuit had earlier been dismissed by an Albany trial court but the Protect group, represented by Glens Falls lawyer John Caffry, appealed.

The trial court arguments were extensive, with both sides presenting witnesses such as foresters as well as history experts to give their readings of the Forever Wild law, instituted in the 19th century to protect the Adirondack region from excessive logging and other developments.

The arguments at one point turned on issues such as the definition of a true tree under the rules. While the lower court agreed with the state that trees up to 9 inches in diameter and “chest high” could be viewed as saplings, the appellate judges noted that some of those may actually be 100 years old.

Prior debates over the extent of tree cutting allowed, such as for a bobsled run near Lake Placid in the 1930s, also came into play.

Supporters of the snowmobile connector trails said they hoped they would improve winter tourism in the area, which gets lots of cold and snow and already has existing trails.

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Opponents like Bauer, though, maintained too many trees were being cut in this case.

“The destruction of a substantial number of trees can be problematic whether those trees were together or spread out along one or more portions of the Forest Preserve,” concluded the judges.

“It would be anomalous to conclude that destroying 925 trees per mile of trails, or approximately 25,000 trees in total, does not constitute the destruction of timber "to a substantial extent" or "to any material degree"

rkarlin@timesunion.com • 518-454-5758 • @RickKarlinTU