The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) today released the Draft Buck Pond Campground Unit Management Plan (UMP) for review. The draft UMP would guide management actions for the Buck Pond Public Campground over the next five years. The campground is located on County Route 60, also known as Gabriels–Onchiota Road, .4 mile east of the hamlet of Onchiota in the town of Franklin, Franklin County.

This 116-site campground offers hot showers, flush toilets, trailer dump station, recycling center, picnic tables, fire places, boat launch (Lake Kushaqua), car top boat launch (Buck Pond), boat and canoe rentals, and sand beach with bathhouse. Buck Pond offers space to accommodate tents to 30' RVs and is a day use facility. The campground is located on the western shore of the130-acre Buck Pond. Campsites are large, well forested, and private with a variety of recreational opportunities including boating, paddling, fishing, swimming and hiking. The pond is restricted to non-motorized boats, while Lake Kushaqua is open to all boats.

NYS DEC will accept public comments on the Draft Plan until May 15, 2017, and will host a public availability session on April 27, 2017, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the DEC Region 5 Ray Brook Office, 1115 NYS Route 86, Ray Brook, NY 12977-0296.

The availability session will provide an opportunity for people to learn more about the proposed management actions in the draft UMP and to ask questions about campground management. The meeting facility is wheelchair accessible. Please call (518) 897-1248 at least two weeks in advance of the meeting with any specific accommodation requests.

The Draft Plan for the Buck Pond Campground can be viewed and downloaded at (http://www.dec.ny.gov/outdoor/24457.html) and proposes the following management activities:

• Replace four comfort stations: Station numbers 3, 4, 7 and 8;
• Construct addition on staff cabin in loop B and add leach field;
• Replace ticket booth;
• Improve boat launch on Lake Kushaqua;
• Replace playground facilities in day-use area;
• Rehabilitate four sites to universal design;
• Relocate trailer dump station to near recycle center;
• Replace main waterline;
• Replace overhead electrical with underground system;
• Rehabilitate 15 campsites;
• Install plantings throughout campground;
• Extend water system to day-use area;
• Relocate one remote campsite from island to campground (APSLMP Compliance); and,
• Construct universally accessible trail on old D&H railroad bed.

Copies of the Draft Plan are available on computer disc and may be obtained by calling, (518) 457-2500.

Public comment can be submitted by mail to: Josh Houghton, NYS DEC Bureau of Recreation, 625 Broadway, Albany, NY 12233-5253, or by e-mail to: campinfo@dec.ny.gov.