OLD FORGE, N.Y. (WKTV) - The Adirondack Council is expressing their concern and dismay over a proposed plan by the Department of Environmental Conservation to close an acid rain monitoring station inside the Adirondack Park at Nick's Lake, near Old Forge.

According to John Sheehan, Director of Communications for The Adirondack Council, acid rain has caused more damage to the lakes and forests of the western Adirondack Park than any other places in America. Sheehan says that any savings from closing the station would be negligible.

In a letter to the DEC, Sheehan, on behalf of the Adirondack Council, thanked the DEC for reconsidering a proposal several years ago to close the monitoring site at the Wanakena Ranger School, believing it vitally important to keep open monitoring sites. Sheehan said that such sites, especially those in the Adirondack Park, have provided invaluable data on acid rain and other air pollution for decades.

Stating that they empathize with the DEC's struggles to make difficult financial decisions, and understand the necessity of closing more monitoring sites, the Adirondack Council said that it strongly opposes the proposed closure of the Nick's Lake campground location for a variety of reasons.

Sheehan said that since the site has been open since 1987, the DEC risks losing 25 years of continuous data if the site were to close.

"Once an interruption in data has occurred, it would extremely difficult to make up for such a gap," Sheehan states in his letter. "as new York has some of the best and longest-running monitoring in the country, it would be a serious blow to lose this site, especially as new federal air quality rules are going into effect that will hopefully show improved air quality in places such as Nick's Lake."

While part of the proposal to close the Nick's Lake site is based on what the DEC says is "redundant NADP deposition monitoring at Moss Lake," the Adirondack Council states that they feel it is a risky proposition.

"As the Adirondack Council and DEC know all too well, federal funding for air monitoring has remained stagnate for the last decade or longer," Sheehan states in his letter to the DEC. "while we have been able to successfully withstand attempts to cut the funding by as much as half, with costs always increasing, a site such as NADP29 Moss Lake may soon be on a list of potential site closures. Then there would be a huge loss of data for this part of New York if both sites were closed."

The Adirondack Council hopes that the DEC will reconsider the proposal and allow the monitoring site to remain open.