Military Testing and Public Lands

The Adirondack Park Agency is reviewing a private contractor’s proposal to establish a 155mm howitzer barrel‑testing range on privately owned land near Lewis, New York, an unprecedented use inside the 6‑million‑acre Adirondack Park that has sparked a rare public hearing and strong local opposition. Defense contractor Michael Hopmeier, through Unconventional Concepts, Inc., wants permission to fire non‑explosive steel projectiles from howitzer barrels up to 30 times a year—no more than twice daily on weekday middays—over a distance of roughly two football fields into a sand‑ and gravel‑filled shipping container. The proposed site sits about 10 miles west of Lake Champlain, near a former Cold War missile silo his firm already uses for research, with about 44 homes located within two miles; opponents, including nearby hunters and environmental groups, argue that 180‑decibel blasts would shatter the park’s quiet and disturb moose, deer, bears and birds, and could undermine the mixed public‑private land protections that define the park. Hopmeier counters that by the time sound travels through the woods it would be comparable to chainsaws or hunting rifles and says the tests would support U.S. Army research at Watervliet Arsenal, though the Army’s DEVCOM Armaments Center says it has no current plans to use the site and only “may consider” future work based on priorities. Regulators have repeatedly demanded more information since the 2021 filing, highlighting how the case pits national‑security and defense‑industry interests against conservation, wildlife protection and quality‑of‑life concerns in one of the Northeast’s signature protected landscapes.