The state Department of Environmental Conservation is proposing numerous changes to the Saranac Lake Islands Campground, located just outside of Saranac Lake. In one form or another, the state has regulated camping on Middle and Lower Saranac lakes, as well as on Weller Pond and First and Second ponds, for just over a century. (Enterprise photo Justin A. Levine)

SARANAC LAKE Little more than a century after camping first opened on Lower and Middle Saranac lakes, the state Department of Environmental Conservation is proposing changes to both the regulations governing the campground and the locations of some of its sites.

Officially sanctioned state camping began on the lakes in 1916 and eventually expanded to include 300 wooden tent platforms scattered around the lakes, islands and connected ponds. The popularity of the platforms led to unsustainable use, and the state removed the platforms and created the Saranac Lake Administrative Camping Area, which opened in 1977.

The camping area, now known as the Saranac Lake Islands Campground, initially opened with 62 sites, all located on Lower Saranac Lake. In 1992, the DEC reorganized the campground, adding another 25 sites on Middle Saranac Lake and Weller Pond to bring the campground to its current total of 87 sites.

However, the DEC failed to change its rules and regulations to reflect the expansion of the campground, and is now proposing to do so through the recently released Saranac Lakes Wild Forest Unit Management Plan.

The Saranac Lake Islands Campground is operated by the DEC, one of more than a dozen such campgrounds throughout the Adirondacks. From the middle of May to the middle of October each year, sites in the campground are available to rent, and can be reserved up to nine months in advance.

However, while the state-owned shoreline of Lower Saranac Lake is administered under the campground rules, Middle Saranac Lake and Weller Pond shorelines are considered wild forest. This means that while there is no camping on Lower Saranac Lake except at the campground sites, there could be camping along the shoreline of Weller Pond and Middle Saranac Lake in places that are not official campground sites.

The DEC is proposing to expand the campground regulations to the shoreline of Weller Pond and Middle Saranac Lake so that no camping within 1,000 feet of shore would be allowed, except at the existing campground sites.

In addition to the regulations change, the DEC is also proposing to relocate 14 of the campground sites over three years to meet separation guidelines. Many DEC campgrounds are classified as intensive use areas, which means that campsites can be close together. But due to the administrative classification of the islands campground, sites need to be about 500 feet apart. Therefore, DEC plans to close some current sites and move them to other locations where the separation requirements will be met. Twelve of these sites are on Lower Saranac Lake, while the other two are on Middle Saranac Lake.

The DEC is also proposing to build four new sites and says it will work with the state Adirondack Park Agency to develop several new group camping sites, which allow more than six people. DEC campgrounds limit most sites to a maximum of six.

The DEC has put presentations and fact sheets about various aspects of the Saranac Lakes Wild Forest UMP on its website and will take public comments on the proposals until Aug. 11. For the fact sheets, presentations and the full UMP, along with public meeting dates and information on how to submit comments, go to http://www.dec.ny.gov/lands/22593.html.

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DEC would change islands camping - The Adirondack Daily Enterprise