"To provide the agency board with adequate time for deliberation, Chairwoman Lani Ulrich has tabled the vote on proposed general permit which was scheduled for [Thursday's] agency meeting," said APA spokesman Keith McKeever.

McKeever said there will still be a discussion of forestry practices in the Adirondacks at this week's monthly meeting.

Clearcutting has long been a flashpoint between environmentalists, who view the practice with distrust,  and loggers who see it as a legitimate harvesting method.

News that the vote will be delayed was welcomed by David Gibson, head of Adirondack Wild, one of seven groups that called for the plan to be shelved. 

"We're delighted that the agency has come down and asked them to do what we asked them to do," Gibson said.

Gibson said more dialogue, study and research is needed before clearcutting rules are revised.

Industry groups, meanwhile, have supported the measure, arguing that the current rules promote smaller, less well planned clearcuts that don't promote healthy forest regeneration.

The change is also strongly backed by Ross Whaley, former APA chairman and a former head of the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry.

Whaley has argued that current rules encourage forestry practices that are producing "poor genetic stock" and less valuable stands of trees.

"If you look at that history, it looks like we've been practicing bad forest management here," Whaley says.