be found here, although not in sufficient numbers to allow for intensive fishing. The 37 amphibian and reptile species found in the area include six deemed to be of special concern by the state: Jefferson salamander, blue-spotted salamander, spotted salamander, spotted turtle, wood turtle and eastern hognose snake. History While the wilderness area designation is rather recent, formally dating to the 1985 adoption of the Catskill State Land Master Plan, the area has been part of New York's constitutionally protected Forest Preserve for a century before that. Ironically, the lands around Slide Mountain were added to the original legislation not for conservation purposes, but to settle a tax debt Ulster County owed to the state. Management The SMWA, like all lands in the state's Forest Preserve, is managed by the Division of Lands and Forests within New York's Department of Environmental Conservation. DEC is the successor agency to the Conservation Department, Conservation Commission and Forest Commission, all of which managed the lands in prior eras. The forest rangers of DEC's Office of Public Protection provide law enforcement services to the unit. New York's wilderness-area management guidelines are similar to, if a bit looser than, those followed by the federal government. Any development of new facilities within the unit requires a change to the Unit Management Plan (UMP), or is added only at the UMP's periodic updates, both of which require public comment and extensive review. The UMP is itself governed not only by the state's Environmental Conservation Law but Article 14 of the state constitution, which requires that the Forest Preserve be kept "forever wild" and free for public use beyond any reasonable fee required for a particular activity. In a departure from the usual practice of most American public land management, the state pays full property taxes on the lands to all local governmental entities as if it were a commercial landowner. Recreational use Use of the land is limited to minimal-impact passive recreation such as hiking, camping, hunting and angling. No powered vehicles are allowed within (The use of chainsaws for trail maintenance is also permitted only by explicit written authority of the DEC commissioner). There are no designated equestrian trails within the wilderness. While mountain bike usage is currently a matter of debate as the CPSLMP is updated, and not specifically prohibited, it does not seem likely that it will be allowed. No structures may be erected