Almost A Plan
            We like the new Catskill Park Master Plan, and we think DEC’s done a good job thinking it through and putting it together.  To be sure, there are some problems that need to get fixed, but that’s why it’s going through a public review period.  And because it is, we’d like to think what doesn’t belong in the plan will be gone before long, and we’re hopeful that what stays will make sense for another generation or so. We don’t think that’s wishful thinking. It’s based on the fact that DEC has a good history of being responsive to our community’s concerns once it knows where we stand.
            We think the revised Master Plan is a good plan because it strikes a good balance, the right balance between the agency’s two main goals of protecting the land as they’re charged with under the state’s constitution, and making it available and accessible to public use. We’re pleased that thought has gone into things like handicapped access, and we’re pleased the plan’s short and straightforward and readable. We urge people to check it out and let the agency know what they think about it.
            What’s new in the plan – the single most substantive change – is that 53,000 acres are being reclassified from “Wild Forest” to the slightly more restrictive “Wilderness” designation. No, you couldn’t cut trees in either one before and you still can’t; both classifications remain constitutionally “forever wild”.  What’s interesting and certainly a testament to the plan’s basic sobriety is that the most controversial thing to emerge is a single and honestly less-than-cataclysmic recreational issue: bicycles in the wilderness. Let’s face it. In a post 9-11 world, things could be way worse than arguing about whether we should allow bicycles in the wilderness.
            Bicycles by the way, aren’t permitted in any other wilderness areas in the United States. One thing that’s come out the public hearings is there are no good reasons to chase them off: no evidence of environmental damage, no apparent conflicts between hikers, bikers, and anyone else, no problems at all.  And besides that, the bikers showed up at the hearings with some good arguments about fairness and the essentially arbitrary nature of their exclusion. 
            On the particulars, on the facts, and on this issue of whether to prohibit mountain biking in the Catskill wilderness, we believe the mountain bikers are right and DEC is wrong. The folks on bikes have proven themselves good stewards of the land and users of the trails, and they don’t deserve to be excluded.  We think the State should find a good administrative solution to solve the non-problem they’ve turned into a problem for themselves. Basically, we think DEC should step off the trail, let the folks on bikes pass, and take a chill pill if necessary on the whole subject.
            Next, on the larger issue and on the facts as to whether Wilderness designation for a third or a half of the state land here constitutes an economic threat to the watershed towns, we say Oh please. Come on. We live inside a PARK for heaven’s sake. That’s what makes this place different from everywhere else, and what makes people want to come here and be here and live here.  It is special, it is the place it is BECAUSE it’s protected. Is that a pain in the ass sometimes? Sure it is. But we doubt any of us would trade that for the privilege of being somewhere else. 
            So if we’re going to talk about economic threats, let’s be real about it. The argument being made by the Coalition of Watershed Towns – that unrestricted mountain biking is a critical economic lynchpin to our regional well-being – is just silly. There’s enough real stuff going on that we don’t need to cry wolf and we don’t need to grandstand. If we want to keep some credibility for the real battles ahead both with DEC and with DEP, let’s keep some perspective.  In the more than two years The Phoenicia Times and The Olive Press have been around, there has been no stronger and more consistent voice in support of the Coalition of Watershed Towns and its advocacy on behalf of the people of the Catskills. But if the Coalition is going to stay strong, it has to be credible. And that means it has to pick its arguments thoughtfully, and not fire off a broadside every time a dinghy shows up on the radar.
            Finally, on the larger issue of Wilderness, we believe DEC is right to seek that designation for the state’s lands in the Park that qualify for it.  It’s DEC’s job to fight for the protection of our state’s wild legacy. Certainly nobody else in government is going to lift a finger to do that, and if they didn’t try to fight for it, we should find people to fill those jobs who would. Fortunately the agency’s well-staffed, and by people whose background in science and nature often helps them retain perspectives others forget.  They are trying, and they do a hell of a good job with very few resources available. The proof’s in the plan.
            There will always be folks who want to grouse about all the good timber going to waste on state land, about how our damn constitution is screwing up our options for proper wildlife management, and about how awful it is that we have to try to build a regional economy around all the unsalable real estate DEC manages.  We all bring our personal values and sensibilities to these resource-related discussions, and we’re all entitled to our views on the best use of public land. 
            For us, we take the view that’s what’s best for the Catskill Park and its mountains and rivers will pay for itself many times in dividends to the quality of life, the value of property, and the material well-being of those of us who live here. And if we’re wrong, well, a couple hundred years from now we can just log the hell out of the place, sell it off to aliens, Eurotrash, or whoever’s left, and see if that’s what it needed all along. Till then though, we’re pretty much stuck with doing the best we can to keep it whole, and as close to the way we found it as it is today.