Peter Bauer

Peter Bauer is the Executive Director of Protect the Adirondacks.He has been working in various capacities on Adirondack Park environmental issues since the mid-1980s, including stints as the Executive Director of the Residents' Committee to Protect the Adirondacks and FUND for Lake George as well as on the staff of the Commission on the Adirondacks in the Twenty-First Century. He also worked at Adirondack Life Magazine. He served as Chair of the Town of Lake George Zoning Board of Appeals and has served on numerous advisory boards for management of the Adirondack Park and Forest Preserve.

Peter lives in Blue Mountain Lake with his wife and two children, enjoys a wide variety of outdoor recreational activities throughout the Adirondacks, and is a member of the Blue Mountain Lake volunteer fire department. Follow Protect the Adirondacks on Facebook and Twitter.

Peter Bauer: It’s Time To Pass A Constitutional Amendment For Mount Van Hoevenberg

March 29, 2022 by Peter Bauer 1 Comment

Protect the Adirondacks supports a proposed Article 14 Constitutional Amendment for the Mount Van Hoevenberg Olympic Sports Complex outside Lake Placid.

At the Mt. Van Hoevenberg complex, the Olympic Regional Development Authority (ORDA) currently manages around 1,220 acres of Forest Preserve classified as Intensive Use by the Adirondack Park Agency (APA). Abutting these lands is 319 acres of land owned by the Town of North Elba. Together this complex houses the Olympic bobsled and luge track, cross-country skiing and biathlon trails, and associated facilities, with most of the intensive buildings and facilities located on the town lands. [Read more…] about Peter Bauer: It’s Time To Pass A Constitutional Amendment For Mount Van Hoevenberg

DEC Should Conduct A Nationwide Search For A New State Forester

March 24, 2022 by Peter Bauer 2 Comments

The current New York State Forester at the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) announced that he is retiring in April.

This position doubles as the Director of the Division of Lands and Forests, and as such is the top public lands manager in the state, supervising the management of the 3-million-acre Forest Preserve, more than 750,000 acres of conservation easements, over 700,000 acre of State Forests, and thousands of acres of Wildlife Refuges and various other properties. [Read more…] about DEC Should Conduct A Nationwide Search For A New State Forester

No Major Changes for Forest Rangers in the Adirondacks

February 9, 2022 by Peter Bauer 1 Comment

The current New York State budget being negotiated by Governor Kathy Hochul and the State Legislature contains significant new spending on a number of things, like $29 million for a new headquarters for the Adirondack Park Agency, and a new $30 million building for the Olympic Regional Development Authority at the North Creek Ski Bowl, yet funding for Forest Rangers in the Adirondack Park and across the state is flat. [Read more…] about No Major Changes for Forest Rangers in the Adirondacks

The First Major Test at APA for Governor Hochul & Chairman Ernst

January 11, 2022 by Peter Bauer Leave a Comment

Will the new boss be the same as the old boss?

We’ll know the answer to this question when the Adirondack Park Agency (APA) meets on January 13-14th. On its agenda is a draft permit for a new granite quarry in White Lake in the town of Forestport in the Western Adirondacks.

This project is widely opposed by neighboring landowners, residents, and property owners in the general area. There have been very few private land development projects in the last two decades that have engendered such a high level of public involvement and concern. [Read more…] about The First Major Test at APA for Governor Hochul & Chairman Ernst

Peter Bauer: DEC’s Revised Approach to Forest Preserve Long Overdue

December 23, 2021 by Peter Bauer Leave a Comment

The Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) has organized a working group to assist the department in revising and amending a series of policies for New York State Forest Preserve trails stewardship. The DEC organized this working group through the membership of the longstanding Forest Preserve Advisory Committee (FPAC). The working group includes members from trails building organizations, local government, and the environmental community.

The Department stressed that this is a unified management effort for the entire Forest Preserve, and the working group includes members from the Adirondack and Catskill Parks. [Read more…] about Peter Bauer: DEC’s Revised Approach to Forest Preserve Long Overdue

DEC’s Management Fiasco in the High Peaks Wilderness

December 9, 2021 by Peter Bauer 4 Comments

A very strange thing happened this fall in the High Peaks Wilderness Area in the Adirondack Park.

The Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) worked for weeks in 2021 with heavy machinery to rebuild an old logging road in the Dudley Brook area of the MacIntyre East section of the High Peaks Wilderness. This is the same area where the DEC had worked for months in 2019 and 2020 to tear apart old logging roads.

DEC says they’re not rebuilding the road however, they’re correcting a massive mistake that somehow its leaders in Albany had failed to notice for the last two years.

It’s one of the strangest things I’ve seen in Forest Preserve management at the DEC in the last two decades. [Read more…] about DEC’s Management Fiasco in the High Peaks Wilderness

Adirondack Park Agency Should Embrace Transparency

October 5, 2021 by Peter Bauer Leave a Comment

Recently, we saw news that Governor Kathy Hochul has instructed state agencies to develop and submit plans for greater transparency. As I wrote in a related piece, this is good news and welcome news.

I’ve watched over the decades as state agencies have restricted more and more of what was once basic and easily accessible public information. [Read more…] about Adirondack Park Agency Should Embrace Transparency

DEC Should Embrace Gov. Hochul’s Calls For Transparency

October 1, 2021 by Peter Bauer Leave a Comment

Last week, we saw news that Governor Kathy Hochul instructed state agencies to develop and submit plans for greater transparency. This is good news and welcome news. I’ve watched over the decades as state agencies have restricted more and more of what was once basic and easily accessible public information. [Read more…] about DEC Should Embrace Gov. Hochul’s Calls For Transparency

New 2020 Census Numbers: An Adirondacks, NY State Analysis

August 12, 2021 by Peter Bauer 6 Comments

The US Census released its first cut at its 2020 decennial count today. This data is limited, delivered for the purpose of redistricting for statewide and federal representation. Much more detailed data will be released to the public at the end of September with population data at the county, town and state level. In 2022, we’ll get more data on age and race as well as economic data.

The limited data tells us a few things that are important for the Adirondack Park and New York. [Read more…] about New 2020 Census Numbers: An Adirondacks, NY State Analysis

Peter Bauer: 12 Ways Indian Lake Town Supervisor Brian Wells Gets The Historic Forever Wild Decision All Wrong

August 8, 2021 by Peter Bauer 1 Comment

In an op-ed run in the Albany Times Union on August 1, 2021, and in the Adirondack Almanack, Town of Indian Lake Supervisor Brian Wells got many things wrong about the recent historic forever wild court decision.

He makes serious accusations, yet he twists, bends, and distorts reality to fit his narrative. The one thing that he got right was that “Class II Community Connector Snowmobile Trails” were struck down by New York’s highest court because they violated Article 14, Section 1, of the State Constitution, the forever wild clause.

Here are a dozen ways that Brian Wells plays fast and loose with the truth. [Read more…] about Peter Bauer: 12 Ways Indian Lake Town Supervisor Brian Wells Gets The Historic Forever Wild Decision All Wrong