Erosion and excessive foot traffic has taken a toll on many trails in the Adirondack Park’s central High Peaks Wilderness Area and elsewhere in the park.

In fact, more than half of the trail mileage the central High Peaks Wilderness Area are “too steep to remain stable and fails to meet the modern design standards for sustainable trails that apply to other state and federal lands,” according to a study paid for by the Adirondack Council.

Something has to be done, and someone has to pay millions of dollars to make things happen, said Adirondack Council Executive Director William C. Janeway. The given is that the state will have to kick in money. In addition, discussion is currently taking place to tap hikers to help out with costs, through such ways as charging parking fees at trailheads and hiking permit fees.

Requiring hikers to pay their way was discussed recently by the Essex County Board of Supervisors, reported the Adirondack Daily Enterprise.

“You have to get a hunting license from New York state,” North Elba town Supervisor Roby Politi said. “You have to have a fishing license. Maybe you need a hiking license."

She added: “We need to find ways to generate revenue so we can have more people helping out.”

In a news release about the trail study, Janeway said, "It’s well known that Adirondack foot trails are in crisis with overuse and huge crowds of people hiking on these too-steep trails. We are seeing wider paths, deeper ruts, trampled plants plus loss of wildlife habitat. Too much soil is moving downhill into streams and lakes.”

Janeway said the problem is fixable and calls for redesign, reconstruction and strategic hardening of some surfaces with natural materials. He said the state and other trails professonals in the Adirondack Park know what to do – if given the resources.

He said not every trail is in jeopardy, but the majority of trail mileage is hurting. Also, that the problem isn’t limited to the high peaks.

Janeway said a comprehensive plan needs to be developed, an estimate of costs, and a commitment to invest now and to keep investing for years to come.

With few exceptions, Janeway said, the state Department of Environmental Conservation is responsible for maintaining the trails on public lands and through private lands that the public is allowed to hike through. However, the actual trail maintenance work is often done by volunteer and semi-volunteer works from groups like the Adirondack Mountain Club, the Adirondack 46ers and other groups, Janeway said.

He noted the state has committed millions of dollars to state parks, but “almost nothing” to trail maintenance in the Adirondacks. That needs to change – possibly as soon as next year’s budget, he added.

Janeway said that all trails need annual maintenance. He said the study identified about 130 miles of trails “that were in such bad condition they were good candidates to be redesigned and rebuilt.”

He said many of the trails to mountain summits in both the Adirondacks and Catskills were built back in the 19th century “and were cut by early European settlers, trappers, hunters, outdoor guides, survey crews crews, voluteers and hiking clubs. The idea, he said, was to develop the shortest route, the path of least resistance.

However, steep trails fall prey to rain or melting snow that will bring “a rush of rapid water and rapid weathering.”

He said the study identified 167 miles of trails in the middle of the High Peaks with slopes exceeding 8 percent, meaning they climb more than eight feet in elevation for every 100 feet of distance covered. Erosion starts, he said, when even small sections of trails exceed eight percent. Some 40 miles of trails studied have grades between 8 and 12 percent, he said.

He added about 58 miles have slopes of 12 to 20 percent, “which is steeper than an Olympic bobsled run."

Finally, about 69 miles have slopes of 20 percent or more, the study noted.

Janeway said the Adirondack Council, with help from Colgate University, last year conducted a survey of more than 1,000 hiking groups at trailheads and the conclusion was that 70 percent favored prioritizing “the protection of wilderness character and sense of solitude over expanding recreational opportunities” in the Adirondacks

Some 80 percent wanted more education about appropriate trail use, ettiquette and safety and by 2:1 agreed that trailhead parking should combine reservations with first-come, first- served options to control the maximum numbers of vehicles at trailhead parking areas.

Janeway added, “I can speak from personal experience, collecting parking at the Adirondack Mountain Club-owned Heart Lake parking lot from hundreds of cars. Almost 100 percent were willing to pay the parking fee if they were told it went to support trail work, and a large, perhaps 50 percent objected if they thought the money would just go to the State or the Mountain Club and not support the trails and wildlands they were here to enjoy.”

Janeway concluded that in his opinion: “Folks by a huge percentage support protection of the wilderness and are willing to pay for it."

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