ALBANY - The state Department of Environmental Conservation is banning all-terrain vehicles from 83.5 miles of roads through state forests and easement lands in northern New York where they were allowed.

Judy Drabicki, DEC's Region 6 director, says that brought the area into compliance Tuesday with the law and conforms to the rest of the state, including DEC Region 5, which covers most of the 6-million-acre Adirondack Park.

According to the DEC, most of the 52 affected roads are in Lewis County, which still has more than 400 miles of town and county roads where ATVs can be ridden.

C. Lee Hinkleman, president of the Lewis County Chamber of Commerce, tells the Watertown Daily Times the change will mean lost revenues.