Adirondack Park advocates are celebrating passage of three bills that would protect birds and bees from pesticides, protect native aquatic plants from invasive species, and deal with a violation of the New York State Constitution’s “forever wild” clause.
Advocates are also urging the NYS Assembly to pass two bills already passed by the Senate, when the Assembly returns on June 20. Those bills would ban contests that reward the killing of wildlife, and would require state transportation officials to provide better protections to wildlife at highway crossings. Top priority sites would get federal funding to facilitate their construction.
Before the Senate ended its session on June 9, both houses had approved bills to:
Prohibit the use of noenicitinoid insecticides in corn, wheat and soy seeds, because they are harmful to pollinators such as bees and birds
Allow the creation of Aquatic Invasive Species Control Districts to respond to infestations of non-native aquatic plants
Bring recently constructed sports facilities into compliance with the Constitutional protections for the Forest Preserve.
These bills now await approval by Governor Kathy Hochul.
“Lakes, bees and birds were the big winners so far,” said Raul J. Aguirre, Acting Executive Director of the Adirondack Council. “The Adirondack Council thanks Senator Pete Harckham and Assembly Member Deborah Glick, and the sponsors of these important bills. We urge Governor Hochul to sign these bills into law. We also urge the Assembly to ban wildlife-killing contests and require transportation officials to provide safer highway crossings for wildlife when it returns next week.”
Harckham, D-Peekskill, and Glick, D-Manhattan, chairs the Legislature’s Environmental Conservation Committees.
Aguirre expressed disappointment that the Senate had adjourned without nominations from the Governor to fill vacant seats and expired terms on the Adirondack Park Agency board. The APA is the state’s principal land-use regulator and planning agency in the park.
The Legislature also completed a “first passage” of an after-the-fact constitutional amendment that will authorize the work already completed at the Mt. Van Hoevenberg cross country ski center for the FISU World University Games. The bill should have passed the Legislature in two consecutive sessions and then be presented to voters by referendum in order to not-violate the New York State Constitution and it’s protection for the “forever wild” Forest Preserve lands.
State agencies have a record of ignoring the need to amend the New York State Constitution to change Article 14, Section 1, which provides that “The lands of the state, now owned or hereafter acquired, constituting the forest preserve as now fixed by law, shall be forever kept as wild forest lands.”
Birds and Bees Protection Act
S.1856-A (Hoylman-Sigal) / A. 7640 (Glick) discontinues the use of a neonicotinoid insecticide on any corn, soybean or wheat seeds for planting, or application or treatment of outdoor ornamental plants and turf. This bill recognizes that “neonics” threaten the bees, birds, and other pollinators that are critical to New York State’s food security, agricultural economy, and environment.
Scientific evidence from Cornell University confirms that neonics contribute to the decline of pollinator populations in New York State, which account for an estimated $439 million in ecosystem services to our apples, tomatoes, squash, and other agricultural commodities. Since the 1990s, neonics have been used to permeate plants to make their exterior poisonous to insects.
This neurotoxic insecticide is widely used on and off farms, moves easily in rain and irrigation water, and persists in soils for years. The loss of pollinator species causes ecosystem-wide damage as fish, amphibians, and birds rely on pollinators for food. Human exposure to neonics through contaminated food and water have been linked to deformations of the human brain and heart.
ATV Child Safety
The Legislature as part of the budget, passed a new minimum age for operating an all-terrain vehicle, which would rise from 10 to 14, if signed by the Governor.
Business Left Unfinished in 2023
By the end of June 2023, four seats on the Adirondack Park Agency board will either be vacant or have members serving on expired terms. Following two recent court losses by the Adirondack Park Agency, Governor Hochul passed up an opportunity to appoint new and returning board members that Park advocates say could bring fresh and diverse backgrounds and expertise to the Agency.
By June 2024, six seats on the Adirondack Park Agency board will either be vacant or have members serving on expired terms. Last year, Governor Hochul appointed Benita Law-Diao as the first person of color to serve on the Agency’s board.
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