LOWVILLE — Lewis County is legally challenging the state Department of Environmental Conservation's decision in April to close truck trails to all-terrain vehicles, based on state Vehicle and Traffic Law.
"I think it's time we ask somebody to decide if DEC has the authority and power to do what they want," said county Legislator Richard C. Lucas, R-Barnes Corners, chairman of the legislative Economic Development Committee.
Syracuse law firm Hiscock & Barclay on Friday submitted paperwork in Albany County Court for an Article 78 proceeding on Lewis County's behalf, according to Yancey Roy, a DEC spokesman in Albany. However, he declined further comment, since the matter involves pending legal action.
Article 78 is a procedural action that allows the court to examine the actions of a municipality or government and determine whether the actions were proper.
Officials at Hiscock & Barclay referred questions about the lawsuit to Lewis County Attorney Richard J. Graham, who was out of the office Monday.
Mr. Lucas said the basis of the action — authorized by a 10-0 vote of county legislators Aug. 5 — is that DEC had no justification to classify the thoroughfares in question as roads rather than trails.
"These have been truck trails since the 1930s," he said.
In April, DEC closed all state forest and easement roads to ATV use, affecting 52 roads making up 83.5 miles in Lewis, Jefferson and Oswego counties. Department officials said the action was taken to avoid continued violation of Vehicle and Traffic Law, which says agencies and municipalities in the state may designate roads to be used by ATVs "when in the determination of the governmental agency concerned, it is otherwise impossible for ATVs to gain access to areas or trails adjacent to the highway."
Lewis County officials contend that Vehicle and Traffic Law shouldn't apply to the truck trails, since they aren't roads, Mr. Lucas said. And, if DEC wanted to change their designation, it should have gone through an environmental review process, which it failed to do, he said.
While acknowledging DEC's authority to restrict ATVs from state lands, Mr. Lucas said that eliminating the department's legal rationale for the closures would improve the chances of overturning them.
"Then it becomes a political question, not a legal one," he said.
DEC Region 6 Director Judy Drabicki has recommended reopening two truck trails in Lorraine that would provide passage for riders from Jefferson County's trail system to other loops in Oswego and Lewis counties. The matter has been referred to DEC's Albany headquarters.
However, Lewis County Trail Coordinator Robert C. Diehl said he was advised last month by Ms. Drabicki that his request to reopen four Lewis County truck trails would be denied.
"All we asked them to do was be reasonable," Mr. Diehl said.
That denial led to county legislators' decision to take legal action, he said.
Officials from neighboring counties initially considered taking part in the lawsuit as well, but ultimately decided against it, Mr. Diehl said.
Lewis County officials this fall expect to complete a state Environmental Quality Review of a countywide ATV trail system, allowing select trails to be opened on county reforestation land.
Mr. Diehl is working to bypass most of the closed truck trails — particularly ones that provided connections to Montague and West Turin — with trails on county and private land.