Voters across New York will decide this election whether to keep Olympic sports trails on state land in the Adirondacks.
Proposal One is a referendum on a facility already constructed near Lake Placid. It would officially allow Nordic ski and biathlon trails at Mount Van Hoevenberg to stay. In return, the state would add 2,500 acres of new "forever wild" forest to the Adirondack Park.
John Sheehan with the nonprofit Adirondack Council said the project helps to protect the integrity of the park's constitutional protections, while also helping the economy of the local community.
"Its facilities help to support a winter economy in a place that probably wouldn't have much of one without them," Sheehan said. "In many ways [they] help to keep the Adirondacks on the map globally in that people tend to send their competitors here from all over the world."
Voter approval is needed because the state constitution strictly limits development on state-owned land. The Olympic Regional Development Authority already expanded winter sports facilities, encroaching on state lands. If approved, the ballot proposal would allow those facilities to be run for winter sports training and for public use.
Sheehan added as a trade-off, there are areas of forest that would be valuable additions to "forever-wild" lands in the Adirondacks.
"There are many candidates available from willing sellers that are either identified in the New York state open space conservation plan or are adjacent to existing forest preserves," Sheehan said. "We believe that any of these would be a great candidate and that they would bring some excitement to the vote for the public."
But some environmental advocates worry about the precedent this change could set, weakening protections by allowing new development on state land.
Proposition One can be found on the back of the ballot. Early voting began Saturday and runs through Nov. 2. Election Day is Nov. 4.
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