Lows Lake, about 20 miles southwest of Tupper Lake, is one of the Adirondacks' most remote large lakes. But it's been front and center in recent land use debates.

Its classification to promote a wild canoe route plan has been fraught with controversy, and now the controversy is headed to court.

Two leading environmental groups sued the state Tuesday over the land use classification -- or lack thereof -- for Lows Lake.

Protect the Adirondacks! and the Adirondack Mountain Club filed their lawsuit Tuesday in state Supreme Court in Albany, naming the Adirondack Park Agency and the Department of Environmental Conservation.

"We are forced to seek redress in the courts because, despite the best efforts of many different parties, our state agencies failed to settle some important matters regarding implementation of the State Land Master Plan," said David Gibson, executive director of Niskayuna-based Protect the Adirondacks!

The issue, the groups say, is that the APA failed to give Lows Lake itself a classification when it recommended 8,000 acres around the lake be classified as either Wilderness or Primitive Area, significantly restricting human activity.

The APA board voted in September to classify part of the lake Wilderness and part of it Primitive Area, but then reversed itself in November and left the lake itself unclassified in its final recommendation.
"The magnificent state-owned lakes of the Adirondacks are as much a part of the Forest Preserve as the trees, and the waters of the Adirondacks need legal protection under the constitution's Forever Wild clause," said Neil Woodworth, ADK's executive director.

APA spokesman Keith McKeever said: "We're surprised, but we haven't had a chance to review the lawsuit, so we can't comment."

DEC as agency policy doesn't comment on litigation.

The lawsuit was filed the same day that Gov. David Paterson approved the new classifications the APA recommended in November around Lows Lake, adding them to the Five Ponds and Round Lake Wilderness Areas and creating a new Eastern Five Ponds Access Primitive Area.

"These new designations substantially advance the Lows Lake-Bog River-Oswegatchie wilderness canoe route," Paterson said.

The groups filing the lawsuit are concerned that not classifying the lake could allow motorized uses at the lake to continue, even though motorized uses are banned in wilderness and primitive lands.
Most of the land around Lows Lake is state-owned Forest Preserve, but there is a Boy Scout camp there.

The lake was also in the news last year when DEC supported extending the right of float plane operators to ferry parties into the lake. The APA rejected a 10-year extension, and float plane use of the lake is now scheduled to end in 2011.

Stephen Williams is a Gazette staff reporter. Reach him by e-mail at swilliams@dailygazette.net.