ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the effect of constitutional limits, the impact of the Adirondack Park State Land Master Plan, and the extent to which the unit management planning process can provide opportunities for an ecosystem perspective. The language in the New York Constitution governing the Forest Preserve serves as a fundamental constraint on activities at Whiteface Mountain. The Master Plan establishes foundation principles that are based on the capacity of resources to sustain human use. In general, human use is to be subordinated to the health of the resource, a profoundly ecological perspective. The Adirondack Park Agency has a relatively minor role in this plan and the link to the Master Plan avoids inappropriate involvement of the regulatory program of the Agency in specific acquisition objectives of the State. As knowledge about the mountain ecosystem improves, these planning and review process offer significant opportunities for evaluating the human impact of the Ski Center's activities on an ongoing basis.
