A plan to protect Allegany State Park from oil and natural gas-drilling was hailed by residents attending a public hearing Thursday in the Central Library auditorium.

About 50 people attended the forum, the second in two days by the state Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation, which invited comment on its draft master plan for the park. It includes plans to designate the park as a “Natural Heritage Area, a “Bird Conservation Area” nearly 85 percent of it as a “Park Preserve.”

“This master plan focuses on the identification of the scarce and very important ecological resources of this park, the old growth forests [and] the things that make this state park our largest and wildest state park,” said Neil Woodworth, executive director of the Adirondack Mountain Club.

Thomas Alworth, deputy commissioner of natural resources with the state parks office, explained that the plan limits development and precludes motorized vehicles from accessing those areas of the park that have been designated park preservation areas, which means they must be maintained in a near-wilderness state. That would give Allegany State Park the same protection from logging as the old-growth forest in Zoar Valley and the forest preserve in the Adirondacks.

“It also sends a strong message that we have real concerns about oil and natural gas exploration,” said Alworth.

Alworth said that the park is vulnerable to these operations because it sits atop the Marcellus shale formation and that the state does not own the subsurface mineral rights to much of its 65,000 acres.

“What we are promoting, however, does not inhibit at all the public’s use [of the park] in terms of trails, hiking, biking, skiing and even some camping. We want people to get in there, but we want the park to remain intact,” said Alworth.

Robert Pfohl of the New York State Horse Council echoed the sentiments of others who called the voluminous document “a good plan.” However, Pfohl said the plan should include separate trails for mountain bikes and horses.

Larry Beahan of the local Sierra Club called the draft master plan excellent but said it was too generous in adding trails.

“What we like about the park is that it is big, wild and remote,” Beahan said.

The state parks office will continue to accept comments on the draft master plan through May 28, after which public responses to it will be included in a final master plan that will be adopted by state parks office.