New York Codes, Rules and Regulations
Title 6 - DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL CONSERVATION
Chapter II - LANDS AND FORESTS
Part 197 - Guides Licensing
Section 197.2 - Definitions

Universal Citation: 6 NY Comp Codes Rules and Regs ยง 197.2

Current through Register Vol. 46, No. 39, September 25, 2024

(a) Hiking means traversing the lands of the State by foot or snowshoe for the purpose of pleasure or exercise, except traversing conducted totally within the limits of any incorporated city or village or traversing in connection with any other activity regulated by this Part.

(b) Camping means the overnight occupancy of lands, utilizing temporary shelter such as a tent or lean-to, or occupancy without structural shelter.

(c) Fishing means the taking, killing, netting, capturing or withdrawal of fish from the waters of the State by any means, including every attempt to take and every act of assistance to any other person in taking or attempting to take fish.

(d) Hunting means pursuing, shooting, killing or capturing (other than trapping) wildlife, except wildlife which has been lawfully trapped or otherwise reduced to possession, and includes all lesser acts such as disturbing, harrying or worrying, whether they result in taking or not, and every attempt to take and every act of assistance to any other person in taking or attempting to take wildlife.

(e) For hire means providing or offering to provide services to the public at large for which compensation is demanded or received, directly or indirectly. Compensation does not include reimbursement of actual expenses for travel, meals and lodging.

(f) Guide is a person who offers services for hire, part or all of which includes directing, instructing or aiding another in fishing, hunting, camping, hiking, whitewater canoeing, whitewater rafting, or rock and ice climbing.

(g) Guiding and the business of guiding means providing services for hire whereby a guide directs, instructs or aids another person in fishing, hunting, camping, hiking, whitewater canoeing and rafting, or rock and ice climbing. Secondary assistance such as carrying and cooking will not be considered guiding when carried out to assist a licensed guide.

(h) Rock and ice climbing means the sport of ascending or descending rock faces and those covered or partially covered with ice of such vertical angle that the climber must use technical climbing techniques to safely negotiate the climb. This includes all free, aided, friction and ice climbing where ropes, pitons, nuts, chocks, ice screws, or other similar climbing equipment is used. No guide license for rock and ice climbing will be required when climbing gear is used as a safety measure while negotiating foot trails or cross-country travel in connection with another guided activity. Rock and ice climbing is divided into two categories: Tier I and Tier II.

(i) Tier I climbing means the unrestricted sport as described in subdivision (h) of this section.

(j) Tier II means the sport as described in subdivision (h) of this section restricted to single pitch, not more than 150 feet in height, top rope climbing only. Top rope climbing is defined as climbing when the belay stance, anchor, or protection point for the climber's safety rope is placed, by means of an alternate route where technical climbing is not required, directly above the climber.

(k) Whitewater canoeing or rafting means the navigation using rafts, either inflatable or solid, or canoes, including open canoes, covered canoes and kayaks, of the following rivers between the points specified:

(1) the Cattaraugus Creek between the Main Street bridge in the Village of Gowanda and the dam at Springville;

(2) the south branch of Cattaraugus Creek between its confluence with Cattaraugus Creek and the Forty Road bridge;

(3) the Moose River between the New York State Route 28 bridge in the hamlet of McKeever and its confluence with the Black River at the Village of Lyons Falls;

(4) the Black River between the western bounds of the Village of Deferiet and the eastern bounds of the Village of Dexter;

(5) the Raquette River between the New York State Route 3 bridge near the hamlet of Piercefield and the point where it enters Carry Falls Reservoir;

(6) the Salmon River between the long bridge in the Village of Pulaski and the public boat launching facility located approximately two miles downstream;

(7) the Indian River between Lake Abanakee and its confluence with the Hudson River;

(8) the Hudson River between its confluence with the Indian River and the confluence of Gilead Brook near the hamlet of the North River;

(9) the Schroon River between Starbuckville Dam and the Warren County Route 11 bridge; and

(10) the Boreas River between Bruce dam and its confluence with the Hudson River.

(l) Public vessel for hire for the purposes of this regulation means all passenger-carrying vessels and includes charter fishing boats which operate on the Atlantic Ocean and all other marine and coastal waters, tidal waters including the Hudson River up to the Troy Barrier Dam, the St. Lawrence River, Great Lakes, Lake Champlain, Cayuga Lake, Seneca Lake, and the navigable portions of their tributaries.

(m) Navigable portion of a tributary means that part of any inland body of water from its connection with any of the named bodies of water in section 11-0533 of the Environmental Conservation Law or subdivision (k) of this section to the point upstream there from where any barrier, natural or artificial, necessitates the interruption of operating any vessel thereon.

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