Protect the Adirondacks, an environmental advocacy organization, has issued a comment letter to the Adirondack Park Agency (APA) and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) regarding the Upper Saranac Marina. Protect advocated that neither agency can make the findings necessary for the marina project approval in the absence of a carrying capacity study of the Saranac Lakes Complex as required by the State Land Master Plan and the Saranac Lakes Wild Forest Unit Management Plan.
The newest proprietors of the former Hickok’s Marina on Lower Fish Creek Pond, now under the name Upper Saranac Marina, plans expansion of its dock slips to accommodate 92 boats and extend 200 feet out into the pond. A copy of Protects comment letter can be found here.
Protect the Adirondacks further stated that because of the intrusive and excessive size of the new docks the applicant proposes to construct, the APA cannot make the statutory finding that the project will not have any “undue adverse impacts upon the park’s natural, scenic, aesthetic, ecological, wildlife, historic, recreational or open space resources.”
In addition, Protect feels the proposed marina should be identified as “new use” since the intent of the proposed operation is significantly different in terms of size and scope, asserting “the proposed new marina is three and a half times larger than the small boat rental operation that previously occupied the site.”
The Upper Saranac Foundation (USF) in the past has also requested a carrying capacity analysis for the water bodies of the Saranac Lake Wild Forest. A joint letter to the APA in July of 2023 stated: “These water bodies see some of the highest rates of boat use in the Adirondack Park. The number of businesses, private camps, many of which are boat access only, the array of Forest Preserve lands on the shoreline, and major facilities like the Fish Creek Campground, illustrates the importance of a carrying capacity study as part of the APA’s review of a proposed major marina expansion on Lower Fish Creek Pond.” A copy of that letter can be found here.
The USF followed up the request with a letter submitted to Gov. Hochul along with six other Adirondack environmental advocacy groups calling for $1 million in the Executive Budget for the state to conduct the mandated and long-overdue carrying capacity study for the Saranac Chain of Lakes. A copy of that letter can be found here.
In an earlier Supreme Court ruling on the Lower Saranac Lake Marina, the court sent a clear message to the state that it has a responsibility to study a water body’s ability to sustain various uses, including motorized boats, calling the state’s failure to do so “wholly unexplained and, indeed, inexplicable.” The Lower Saranac Lake Marina is the same owner as the former Hickok’s Marina.
Carrying capacity studies evaluate human influences on lakes and ponds and create a better understanding of the water body’s ability to withstand various watercraft uses and boater traffic impacts. The New York State Land Master Plan instructs the state Department of Environmental Conservation to conduct “a comprehensive study of Adirondack lakes and ponds … to determine each water body’s capacity to withstand various uses” — especially motorized uses. A carry capacity study for Lower Fish Creek Pond has not been done. In fact, the state acknowledged in court records that it has not completed a carrying capacity study on any Adirondack lake.