RAY BROOK -- The Adirondack Park Agency has adopted a snowmobile trail mileage cap of 848 miles for state lands designated as wild forest, a number established by the Department of Environmental Conservation in its 1986 policy.

The cap issue generated 750 letters from snowmobilers, environmentalists, and others, many critical of the 848.48-mile cap, the Adirondack Daily Enterprise reported. Environmentalists wanted it lower, snowmobilers higher. Several APA commissioners suggested tighter limits, but a majority Friday agreed to the stay with the DEC's figure.

The total does not include an estimated 1,200 miles of trails on private land in the Adirondacks, which constitute more than half the 6-million-acre park and include timberland covered by state recreation easements. Snowmobiles are prohibited from another 1 million acres of state-owned land designated as wilderness.

The two state agencies estimate there are 766 snowmobile trail miles now through the nearly 1.3 million acres of wild forest, lower than the cap level since some trails were rerouted or discontinued over the past 20 years. The cap would apply as new trails are considered.

The DEC also estimated there were 740 trail miles through wild forest lands in 1972, when the APA was created. The State Land Master Plan states there should be no "material increase" since then.