On Election Day 2025, New Yorkers voted to pass Proposal 1, to amend Article 14, Section 1, the famed “Forever Wild” clause of the New York State Constitution, to authorize development of certain facilities on Forest Preserve lands as part of the Mount Van Hoevenberg Winter Olympic Sports Complex near Lake Placid in the Adirondack Park.
The Mount Van Hoevenberg complex is a state-owned and operated facility managed by the Olympic Regional Development Authority (ORDA). The complex includes winter sports facilities for bobsled and luge tracks, cross-country skiing and biathlon trails, buildings, snowmaking, stadium, parking lots, among other associated activities.
These facilities host events all winter and were used in the 1932 and 1980 Winter Olympics and most recently in the 2023 World University Games.
The Mount Van Hoevenberg Winter Sports Complex is split between public, constitutionally protected Forest Preserve lands and private lands owned by the Town of North Elba and leased to the State. The bobsled and luge tracks and most of the buildings are on private lands.
The proposed amendment clarifies and improves the management of the Forest Preserve by authorizing certain uses associated with winter sports on 323 acres of the 1,039 acres managed by ORDA. These lands will be used predominantly for Nordic ski trails, which require extensive snow-making equipment and facilities.
The amendment requires that as an offset the State must acquire at least 2,500 acres of land for inclusion in the Forest Preserve in the Adirondack Park, subject to approval by the Legislature that the lands are equal to or greater in value than the Forest Preserve lands authorized for development.
Now that the amendment has passed, it remains to be seen where these lands will be purchased.
Other New York State Ski Areas, such as Whiteface Mountain, Gore Mountain, and Belleayre Mountain, were all authorized by Constitutional Amendments to Article 14. The amendment passed on November 4, 2025, brings the Mount Van Hoevenberg complex into full constitutional compliance.
Protect the Adirondacks supported this amendment and believes it was necessary to improve the future management of the Forest Preserve and provide for better planning at the Mount Van Hoevenberg Winter Sports Complex.
PROTECT has long advocated for an amendment to clean up historic violations at Mount Van Hoevenberg. This position was outlined in a critical letter to ORDA in 2019 that started negotiations on a proposed amendment.
Proposal 1 was widely supported by the conservation community because it fixed longstanding problems with Forest Preserve management of the Mount Van Hoevenberg Winters Sports complex.
It clarifies and improves the management of the Forest Preserve by authorizing specific uses associated with winter sports on 323 acres of the 1,039 acres managed by ORDA.
The New York Times reports that Proposal 1 passed, but a week after the vote, with 95% of the estimated voted counted, “Vote Yes” had 1,930,164 votes and “Vote No” had 1,775,516 votes, a difference of 154,000 votes.
While Proposal 1 passed every county in New York, except for four New York City counties (Kings, Queens, Staten Island, Bronx), the vote was still a narrow margin of 52% to 48% statewide.
Why was the vote so close?
I see three reasons for the close vote. First, New Yorkers are generally reluctant to vote for Article 14 amendments, though none have voted down in recent decades. Generally, amendments that pass are pushed with vigorous support from the conservation community.
Though this amendment was passed with a small margin, it may be last amendment proposed for a while as the New York State Legislature is growing more reluctant to authorize changes to the Forever Wild clause.
Second, Proposal 1 was made unnecessarily complicated by exceedingly sloppy ballot language approved by the New York State Board of Elections.
The ballot language was actually incorrect. The ballot language stated that 1,039 acres of Forest Preserve was being impacted, yet in reality it’s only 323 acres. The Board of Elections got it wrong.
Here’s the Proposal 1 ballot language:
Amendment to Allow Olympic Sports Complex in Essex County on State Forest Preserve Land
Allows skiing and related trail facilities on state forest preserve land on up to 1,039 acres. Requires State to add 2,500 acres of new forest land in Adirondack Park.
A yes vote authorizes new ski trails and related facilities in the Adirondack forest preserve. A no vote does not authorize this use.
The acreage was important. The incentive to pass Proposal 1 was to authorize intensive trail building for cross-country ski races on the Forest Preserve on 323 acres in exchange for the State compensating the Forest Preserve with a purchase of at least 2,500 acres elsewhere in the Adirondack Park.
The amendment was structured so that the Forest Preserve clearly benefited with much greater acreage being acquired than being lost to ski trails, yet the Board of Elections got the numbers wrong.
Here is the official text of the approved new language in Article 14, Section 1, of the New York Constitution:
Notwithstanding the foregoing provisions, the construction, operation, and maintenance to international standards for Nordic skiing and biathlon trails that will accommodate global competitions, training, and events, totaling not more than three hundred twenty-three acres of trails and appurtenances thereto, is authorized on one thousand thirty-nine acres of forest preserve lands at the Mount Van Hoevenberg Olympic Sports Complex in the town of North Elba in Essex county, and as an offset thereto the state must acquire for incorporation into the forest preserve at least two thousand five hundred acres of forest land for inclusion in the forest preserve in the Adirondack Park on condition that the legislature shall determine that such lands are equal to or greater in value.
The actual impacts will be limited to the 323 acres. ORDA will contain its activities for trails and associated facilities to 323 acres that crisscross 1,039 acres of Forest Preserve lands.
These lands are classified as Intensive Use under the Adirondack Park State Land Master Plan, the same as Whiteface Mountain, Gore Mountain, and State Campgrounds, such as Fish Creek or Golden Beach. Intensive Use areas allow for more intensive activities but constitute less than 1% of the total Forest Preserve.
The third reason for the close vote was negative press and editorials in New York City that sharply skewed the vote there, where Proposal 1 lost by 125,000 votes.
The Daily News called Proposal 1 an “insult to the New York constitution.” The New York City Republicans urged a “no vote” in their voter guide to City Republicans, saying the proposal “sounds innocuous but would needlessly cost taxpayers millions of dollars.”
Even the United Federation of Teachers urged a “no vote” saying “Proposal #1 undermines the ‘Forever Wild’ clause of the State Constitution by permitting development on protected Adirondack land, setting a dangerous precedent that threatens New York’s environmental safeguards.”
Robert Holden, a New York City Council member from Queens, was also outspoken against Proposal 1.
There was far better press around the rest of New York and more penetrating advocacy by the conservation community. Newsday editorialized in support, as did the Daily Gazette in Schenectady, and the Post Standard in Syracuse. The Buffalo News ran a “Vote Yes” guest essay. The Gannett newspapers ran positive news reports.
Environmental groups, like Protect the Adirondacks, helped to get the word out. See reports in New York Focus, Spectrum News, WRGB TV, News 10, and WAMC public radio, among many other news sources.
Proposal 1 was passed by wide margins across Upstate New York. Erie County (Buffalo) voted yes by over 27,000 votes. Monroe County (Rochester) and Onondaga County (Syracuse) and Albany County voted yes by over 70,000 votes combined. Many smaller counties voted in support by 60% to 40% margins.
This was important because while Proposal 1 won overall by over 150,000 votes across New York, it lost New York City by nearly 125,000 votes in the five boroughs. Long Island largely played to a draw, so it was Upstate New York that passed Proposal 1 by more than 250,000 votes.
State leaders and the Adirondack Park environmental community have some reflection and soul searching to do to figure out the disconnect between Upstate and New York City on this amendment to the Forever Wild clause.
There were five other proposals on the New York City ballot to amend the City Charter and four of them passed.
Proposal 1 was intertwined with a vigorously contested and bitter election for mayor that saw the largest turnout ever, though 300,000 fewer people voted on Proposal 1 than for Mayor.
Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani stated he voted for Proposal 1, though he did not actively campaign on it or any of the other City ballot proposals.
The good news in the close margin is that New Yorkers are reluctant to mess with the Forever Wild clause. In the future it is highly likely that other attempts to Article 14 will be closely scrutinized.
Read more about the Adirondacks.
Photo of the Olympic Regional Development Authority’s Mt. Van Hoevenberg complex courtesy Protect the Adirondacks.
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