Adirondack Council

Measuring and Protecting Adirondack Park Remote Places

June 1, 2026 by Anthony F. Hall 3 Comments

A canoeist paddling toward the center of Middle Saranac Lake can still hear the dull, monotonous roar of car and truck traffic. Are there any places left in the Adirondacks that could still be considered remote, far removed from the sounds and sights of urbanized America? And if so, how many?

That is what a group of environmental protection organizations – the Adirondack Council, Adirondack Wild, Adirondack Wilderness Advocates and the Rewilding Institute – hope the Adirondack Park Agency and the Department of Environmental Conservation can determine. [Read more…] about Measuring and Protecting Adirondack Park Remote Places

Just 3% of Adirondack Park Is More Three Miles From A Motorized Corridor

April 14, 2026 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

New York State’s Adirondack Park offers much less remoteness than you might imagine. In the 2010s when all areas at least three miles from a road and at least two miles from motorized lakes were mapped, it left less than 3% of the Park.

Now a coalition of environmental organizations is asking the Adirondack Park Agency (APA) to develop new Policy and Guidance to measure and better protect those remote areas. [Read more…] about Just 3% of Adirondack Park Is More Three Miles From A Motorized Corridor

DEC Considering Hiking Limits in Most Popular Adirondack, Catskill Areas

April 6, 2026 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) has announced the release of two reports regarding Visitor Use Management (VUM) for the Adirondack High Peaks Wilderness and Kaaterskill Clove region of the Catskill Park.

DEC is soliciting feedback from the public to help inform additional actions the State may take to enhance safety and the visitor experience. These actions include recreation limits at the two Park’s most popular areas. [Read more…] about DEC Considering Hiking Limits in Most Popular Adirondack, Catskill Areas

North Country Proposals in the Proposed State Budgets

March 13, 2026 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

The New York Senate and Assembly have passed their “one-house” budget bills and Adirondack Park advocates are watching annual negotiations with the Governor to see how their budget priorities are reflected in Northern New York.

Adirondack Council Executive Director Raul J. Aguirre called the proposals a “commitment to clean water funding, wilderness and visitor-use management, climate data collection, and crucial training programs for next-generation leaders.” [Read more…] about North Country Proposals in the Proposed State Budgets

Earth to Sky: Sharing The Adirondack Climate Story

February 2, 2026 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

The Wild Center will host “Earth to Sky: Sharing Our Adirondack Climate Story,” a free, two-day, in-person workshop focused on strengthening climate communication across the Adirondack region.

The program will take place March 5–6, 2026, with an additional virtual webinar on February 25. [Read more…] about Earth to Sky: Sharing The Adirondack Climate Story

New Study: Adirondack Brook Trout Recovering After Acid Rain Reductions

January 26, 2026 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

A new study by the US Geological Survey shows that a nationwide effort to control acid deposition by reducing sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide emissions from power plants has worked, reversing decades of ecological damage and supporting significant recovery of brook trout populations in the Adirondack Park’s 30,000 miles of rivers, brooks and streams.

The study covered a period of more than 40 years, finding that Adirondack brook trout had repopulated streams once too acidic to support them. Of the 42 sites surveyed, more than half had no trout in 1984-89. By 2023 brook trout were living in 33 of the 42. Adirondack brook trout were one of signature species sampled in 42 streams across the Adirondacks. [Read more…] about New Study: Adirondack Brook Trout Recovering After Acid Rain Reductions

Hochul’s State of the State & The Adirondacks

January 14, 2026 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

New York Governor Kathy Hochul committed to a 50% increase in state funding for clean water infrastructure projects, steady funding for the Environmental Protection Fund (EPF) and a constitutional amendment to remove former prison sites on the Adirondack Forest Preserve lands from state ownership in the 2026 State of the State message she delivered on Tuesday. [Read more…] about Hochul’s State of the State & The Adirondacks

Adirondack Conferences Set For February, April

January 9, 2026 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

Two upcoming Adirondack conferences are scheduled which hope to address ongoing threats to water quality and some of the region’s other most significant environmental and social issues.

Organized by the Adirondack Research Consortium and its partners, these events – which include the 30th Annual Conference on the Adirondacks – are planned for February and April in Paul Smiths and Lake Placid and will bring together dozens of Adirondack researchers, scientists, environmental experts. [Read more…] about Adirondack Conferences Set For February, April

Adirondack Park Agency Requires Hearing for Proposed Heavy Weapons Firing Range

November 17, 2025 by Editorial Staff 2 Comments

In a first since 2007, the Adirondack Park Agency (APA) Board is requiring an adjudicatory hearing for a proposed project to be sited on private lands within the Adirondack Park. The Board vote was unanimous. [Read more…] about Adirondack Park Agency Requires Hearing for Proposed Heavy Weapons Firing Range

44th State of the Adirondack Park Report

November 4, 2025 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

The Adirondack Council has released its 44th annual State of the Park Report, highlighting the recent successes, challenges, and future goals for protecting the Adirondack Park.

The 2025 report comes as the organization celebrates its 50th anniversary. [Read more…] about 44th State of the Adirondack Park Report

Adirondack Advocates Call For Hearings On Private Military Cannon Firing

October 22, 2025 by Editorial Staff 1 Comment

The Adirondack Council is calling on New York’s Adirondack Park Agency (APA) to hold a special adjudicatory hearing to review a Florida company’s request for permission to test-fire modern military howitzer cannons on private land inside the Adirondack Park. [Read more…] about Adirondack Advocates Call For Hearings On Private Military Cannon Firing

NYS Governor Commits To Protecting Whitney Estate

October 14, 2025 by Editorial Staff 1 Comment

New York State Governor Kathy Hochul has made a commitment toward the permanent protection of the ecologically rich forests and waters of the 36,000-acre Whitney Estate.

One of the largest and most important intact forest landscapes in the heart of the Adirondack Park, the Whitney Estate has been recognized as a conservation priority since the 1980s. [Read more…] about NYS Governor Commits To Protecting Whitney Estate

Science & Stewardship: The Adirondack Council’s Fight for the Park’s Future

July 24, 2025 by ADK Taste Leave a Comment

What happens in the Adirondacks doesn’t always start in the Adirondacks — it can flow into our air, water, communities, and climate from coal-fired power plants far, far away from New York State lakes and forests.

In this episode of the ADK Talks podcast, John Sheehan, Director of Communications for the Adirondack Council, talks about the science, policy, and passion driving environmental advocacy in the largest protected landscape east of the Mississippi. [Read more…] about Science & Stewardship: The Adirondack Council’s Fight for the Park’s Future

Norm Van Valkenburgh: Catskill and Adirondack Conservation Champion

July 4, 2025 by David Gibson 5 Comments

Norman J. (Norm) Van Valkenburgh has slipped his earthly bonds. Of this remarkable Catskill native and champion of the public’s wild forests and wildernesses, I can locate no obituary, only a death notice of Norm’s passing in July 2023 in Orono, Maine at the age of 92 or 93. I join many in saying “I miss him.” He influenced me a lot.

Norm, surveyor, administrator, and advocate for the Adirondack and Catskill Forest Preserve, was one consequential state employee because through his conservation work he altered the landscapes of both the Adirondacks and the Catskills for the better. Moreover, Norm wrote part of that history – found in detailed books and articles devoted to the Forest Preserve. Norm was
a stickler for accuracy in his writing and surveying. [Read more…] about Norm Van Valkenburgh: Catskill and Adirondack Conservation Champion

The Adirondack Council at 50

June 4, 2025 by Anthony F. Hall Leave a Comment

In January, 1975, a score of men, Ivy League graduates, accomplished, most of them wealthy, assembled in a conference room at the Rockefeller family offices in New York City to discuss the possibility of creating “a mechanism” to monitor the newly-established Adirondack Park Agency, to intervene in its proceedings when necessary, that is to say, when the future of the Adirondack Park was at stake, and to raise funds to finance its work. [Read more…] about The Adirondack Council at 50

Adirondack Council Shifts From Small Farm Grant Program

May 26, 2025 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

After ten years, the Adirondack Council is ending its Adirondack Farmer and Value-Added Producer Micro-Grant Program.

The program was started in 2016 following a roundtable where farmers identified the need for smaller, more accessible grant money to implement environmentally beneficial projects on their farms. [Read more…] about Adirondack Council Shifts From Small Farm Grant Program

Adirondack History, Diversity, Environment Efforts Funded by State Budget

May 11, 2025 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

The NYS Legislature and Gov. Kathy Hochul have approved a state budget that boosts the Environmental Protection Fund by $25 million to a record level of $425 million, while also providing $500 million for municipal clean water projects/septic system replacement, funding for a comprehensive study of climate impacts on Adirondack lake ecosystems, and a new recreation carrying-capacity study for the popular Saranac Chain of Lakes. Adirondack history and diversity efforts have also been given a boost. [Read more…] about Adirondack History, Diversity, Environment Efforts Funded by State Budget

Conservationists: State Should Drop Motor-Vehicle Expansion Plan for Adirondack Park

February 17, 2025 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

Adirondack conservation organizations issued a press release on Monday saying they were “pleased that the Adirondack Park Agency (APA) was pumping its brakes on a controversial amendment to the Adirondack Park State Land Master Plan that would create an administrative loophole and open remote wilderness areas to motorized vehicles.” [Read more…] about Conservationists: State Should Drop Motor-Vehicle Expansion Plan for Adirondack Park

Adirondack Council Celebrates 50th Anniversary

January 14, 2025 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

Founded as a coalition of national, regional and local environmental organizations in January 1975, the Adirondack Council was created 50 years ago to focus attention on the emerging threats of acid rain, declining biodiversity and the increasing subdivision and development of wildlands in the Adirondack Park. [Read more…] about Adirondack Council Celebrates 50th Anniversary

Governor Kathy Hochul Vetoes Safe Wildlife Crossings Act

November 26, 2024 by Editorial Staff 5 Comments

New York State Governor Kathy Hochul has vetoed the Safe Wildlife Crossings Act, a bill designed to make highways safer for motorists and wildlife with purpose-built crossings in the New York’s North Country. The bill would have required the NYS Department of Transportation (DOT) and the NYS Thruway Authority to conduct studies to determine the most hazardous areas of highways for vehicle-animal collisions and develop a plan to reduce those hazards. [Read more…] about Governor Kathy Hochul Vetoes Safe Wildlife Crossings Act

Adirondack Council

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