For Immediate Release: January 8, 2004
Contact:
Keith P. McKeever | Public Relations | Adirondack Park Agency
contact@apa.ny.gov | (518) 891-4050
The 1998 January Ice Storm affected 4.6 million acres and significantly damaged 3 million acres of forest and communities in New York State.
Inside the Adirondack Park boundary roughly 100,000 acres of timberlands were heavily damaged. Damage occurred on state lands as well as lands managed for forest products by individual land owners, forest management groups, or large industrial owners.
The 1998 January Ice Storm diminished forest management practices of the previous 15 years and forced many timberland owners to salvage an immature less valued wood product or face economic losses in the coming years due to tree mortality and degrading wood quality.
Section 810 of the Adirondack Park Agency Act and 9 NYCRR 573.7 requires a landowner to obtain a permit from the APA for clearcutting more than 25 acres, except in Industrial Use and non-wetland portions of Hamlet land use areas.
In order to assist landowners who planned salvage operations on timberlands in the Park that were damaged by the 1998 January Ice Storm the APA assembled a package of documents outlining permit requirements. This Advisory was announced at the February Agency and issued February 12, 1998.
The Advisory detailed the Agency’s legal provisions and how the APA would view damaged trees towards its clearcutting definition and other harvesting jurisdictional thresholds.
The Advisory defined damages trees as those which were down, not wind-firm, or had lost the majority (over 50%) of their canopy. Salvaging these trees did not require a permit from the APA.
The Advisory required landowners to property document the storm damage to ensure tracts heavily damaged by natural forces were not confused with unlawful clearcuts. Proper documentation included photographs, professional forester observations and Agency staff confirmation through site visits. In order to expedite salvage operations the Agency utilized aerial photographs and satellite imagery to enable mapping of clearly viable areas of storm damage.
The Advisory stated that salvage operations should be supervised by a professional forester or other individual with similar qualifications and at a minimum the “Timber Harvesting Guidelines for New York State” should be adhered to in all salvage operations.
To date there have been 200 inquires about the APA advisory related to the January 1998 Ice Storm forest damage.
APA staff conducted 100 site inspections.
Landowners filed 62 “notice of intent” forms indicating areas to be harvested due to heavy ice storm damage. These salvage operations cover an estimated 32,000 areas.