Adirondack Park

David Gibson: The Price We Must All Pay for the Adirondack Park

April 22, 2026 by David Gibson 3 Comments

Having returned from the 30th Annual Conference on the Adirondacks, hosted by the Adirondack Research Consortium, my notes reflect some of the appeals that the State do more.

That it do more in the climate change era to pay for the lived-in, state and globally significant Adirondack Park; that it do more to invest in community development; and do more to help rural Adirondack towns and villages with small year-round populations defray the high costs of maintaining and rebuilding necessary infrastructure supportive of an influx of seasonal residents and millions of visitors like me. [Read more…] about David Gibson: The Price We Must All Pay for the Adirondack Park

Sam Coplon: Santa Claus of the Adirondacks

December 24, 2024 by Lawrence P. Gooley Leave a Comment

The collection of letters to Santa that appeared in this space epitomized life in the rural regions of Northern New York a century ago.

At Christmastime, children from families living a common, low-income existence asked Santa for the simplest of items: a pencil and notepad, candy and nuts, or clothing to keep them warm in the winter. Toys and playthings were often secondary requests if they appeared at all. [Read more…] about Sam Coplon: Santa Claus of the Adirondacks

Adirondack Park Agency Has Not Held An Adjudicatory Hearing In More Than A Decade

April 21, 2022 by David Gibson Leave a Comment

The Adirondack Park Agency (APA) last held an adjudicatory public hearing in 2011 – the kind of hearing that involves sworn testimony and cross-examination of evidence before a law judge, followed by a full hearing record on which to base a judicious, carefully examined, evidence-based decision.

That 2011 hearing was for the proposed Adirondack Club and Resort subdivision and development near Tupper Lake. In the eleven years since, and despite the many hundreds of permits issued by the APA over that time, including many large, regional projects, not a single adjudicatory public hearing has been convened by the APA. [Read more…] about Adirondack Park Agency Has Not Held An Adjudicatory Hearing In More Than A Decade

Forever Adirondacks Campaign Celebrates Budget Victories

April 13, 2022 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

The coalition supporting the new Forever Adirondacks Campaign for clean water, jobs and wilderness – led by the Adirondack Council’s Aaron Mair – declared victory as state government moved to approve a budget that includes funding for a series of top campaign priorities.

The Forever Adirondacks Campaign is a coalition of advocates, government officials, business leaders, educators, college administrators, grassroots activists and not-for-profit organizational partners seeking clean water, jobs and wilderness. [Read more…] about Forever Adirondacks Campaign Celebrates Budget Victories

ADK Conservation News: 5 Things You Need to Know

April 1, 2022 by Justin Levine Leave a Comment

Opening Up the Adirondacks

The Adirondack Council’s Aaron Mair and Assemblywoman Michaelle Solage were recently on the Capitol Pressroom radio show out of Albany. Mair and Solage made the case for the state budget to include funding to create the Timbuctoo Summer Climate and Jobs Institute, which would provide job and environmental training to high school students who may not otherwise get much exposure to the Adirondacks. The effort would involve Medgar Evers College in New York City and the SUNY School of Environmental Science and Forestry in Syracuse. [Read more…] about ADK Conservation News: 5 Things You Need to Know

Adirondack Wild Hails Vote for Conservation Development Bill

April 1, 2022 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

The nonprofit advocate Adirondack Wild: Friends of the Forest Preserve hailed this week’s vote on a bill in the NYS Assembly in favor of an act requiring conservation subdivision design. Advocates say the bill will “preserve ecological integrity, wildlife and open space in the Adirondack Park.”

The bill was sponsored by Assembly Member and Environmental Conservation Committee Chair Steve Englebright. It has an identical or companion bill pending before the State Senate. [Read more…] about Adirondack Wild Hails Vote for Conservation Development Bill

The Adirondack Raised Relief Map: Some History

March 21, 2022 by David Gibson 4 Comments

The Association for the Protection of the Adirondacks had hired me the previous winter. It was now the spring of 1987. Windows and doors were again opening to the hope and then the reality of spring’s warmth. The director of the Schenectady Museum William (Bill) Verner had given me, practically rent free, a desk and telephone from which to begin work as the Association’s first Executive Director in over 60 years.

It helped that Bill was a member of my board of trustees, and that his knowledge and love for the Adirondacks and Adirondack history from a home base in Long Lake was long and deep. [Read more…] about The Adirondack Raised Relief Map: Some History

Adks Conservation News: 5 Things You Need to Know

March 10, 2022 by Justin Levine 1 Comment

Large-Scale Lakes Survey Tops Scientists’ Wish List

The Adirondack Council and other environmental groups are pushing the state legislature to include $6 million in funding over three years to conduct a large-scale study of Adirondack water-bodies. The study of 400 or so lakes and ponds would create baseline data on the impact of climate change, algal blooms, and changes to water oxygen levels. The study is needed to assess the impacts to native fish and plant populations of changing carbon cycles, and the remote locations of many of the water-bodies allow researchers to differentiate the effects of climate change from those of agriculture or land development. [Read more…] about Adks Conservation News: 5 Things You Need to Know

ADK Conservation News: 5 Things You Need to Know

February 10, 2022 by Justin Levine Leave a Comment

Environment Ranks High in New York’s 2023 Budget

New York Governor Kathy Hochul released her Executive Budget proposal in mid-January, and there was a lot to celebrate for the Adirondacks. She proposed an increased Environmental Protection Fund from $300 million to $400 million and a $4 billion environmental bond act. While the proposals are good, the Adirondack Council would still like to see $500,000 for the Adirondack Diversity Initiative, $500,000 for visitor use management framework, and $6 million for an updated Adirondack Lakes Survey included in the final budget. The Council and many other environmental groups are also calling for $10 million for trails and education. [Read more…] about ADK Conservation News: 5 Things You Need to Know

The Thirteenth Lake Hotel: A History

January 30, 2022 by Dave Waite 11 Comments

In the summertime, the parking lot at the end of Thirteenth Lake Road in the town of Johnsburg, Warren County, will be crowded with the cars and trucks of people there to hike, paddle, and camp.

Few of these visitors realize that sixty years ago when they stood on the shore, they would have seen a large, modern-looking hotel sitting on the hillside overlooking the lake. This is the story of that enterprise and those who kept it up and running for over 100 years. [Read more…] about The Thirteenth Lake Hotel: A History

A History of Snowmobile Racing in New York State

January 20, 2022 by John Warren 3 Comments

In the motor toboggan era – the time before the advent of the modern snowmobiles we know today – motor sleds had been too slow for racing excitement. As a result they remained strictly utilitarian vehicles racing only occasionally for promotional purposes. Motor toboggan and later snowmobile maker Polaris traveled each year at the end of the 1950s to trapper festivals at The Pas, Manitoba where they helped organize ad hoc races.

“We tried to rig them a little bit so we had a zig-zag effect,” David Johnson said, remembering one of the first informal races, “one guy ahead, and then the other, and so on, at a terrific speed of about 20 miles per hour.” In February 1959, Johnson won the first organized men’s race on an oval at The Pas and in 1960, the first cross-country race was held there. [Read more…] about A History of Snowmobile Racing in New York State

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

David Gibson: In Adirondack Common Cause

December 27, 2021 by David Gibson 2 Comments

Adirondack Wild and I have been among those who have heralded the NYS Court of Appeals ruling in May that the only way for the Department of Environmental Conservation to construct snowmobile community connector trails in the Adirondack and Catskill Forest Preserve was through a constitutional amendment.

Protect the Adirondacks lawsuit had taken seven years to reach that court. New York’s high court decision upheld the NYS Constitution’s clause that “the lands of the state…shall be forever kept as wild forest land.” New York State, said the court in so many words, lacked the authority to essentially amend the constitution by administrative fiat. Only the people can do that. We joined Protect in celebrating the most important high court decision affecting the Forest Preserve in 90 years. [Read more…] about David Gibson: In Adirondack Common Cause

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

Blueprint for Adirondacks Issued by Common Ground Alliance

December 22, 2021 by Editorial Staff 1 Comment

The Common Ground Alliance of the Adirondacks (CGA) recently released its 2022 Blueprint for the Blue Line, a summary of state policy recommendations largely informed by dialogue and ideas generated during the group’s annual summer forum. [Read more…] about Blueprint for Adirondacks Issued by Common Ground Alliance

Mirror Lake Water Quality Report Released

December 19, 2021 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

This week, the Ausable River Association released their fifth annual report on Mirror Lake at Lake Placid in the Adirondacks in partnership with Paul Smith’s College Adirondack Watershed Institute.

The technical brief focuses on data collected throughout the 2020 field season and documents the effects of road salt runoff entering the lake. The lake completed turnover in spring and fall of 2020 after a mild 2019-2020 winter season. This was the first time spring turnover occurred since 2016. [Read more…] about Mirror Lake Water Quality Report Released

New Adirondack Coalition Launches Campaign

December 14, 2021 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

A new coalition is launching a campaign for to protect the Adirondacks.

The Forever Adirondacks Campaign Director Aaron Mair released a 15-point agenda for protecting clean water, creating new jobs and preserving wilderness in the Adirondack Park.

State officials are about to set their budget priorities for the 2022-23 fiscal year. [Read more…] about New Adirondack Coalition Launches Campaign

DEC Announces First-Ever Adirondack, Catskill Parks ‘Coordinators’

November 30, 2021 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) has announced the creation of new coordinator positions to help lead efforts to promote sustainable use of public lands in the Adirondack and Catskill Forest Preserves.

Proposed by the High Peaks Strategic Advisory Group (HPAG) and aligned with Catskills Advisory Group (CAG) discussions to date, these new DEC staff positions are expected to help coordinate efforts proposed and undertaken with the multiple communities and regions that comprise the Adirondack and Catskill Parks to better guide efforts to address the unique problems caused by the uptick in visitors to the two Forest Preserves. [Read more…] about DEC Announces First-Ever Adirondack, Catskill Parks ‘Coordinators’

Adirondack Mountains National Park? In 1967 There Was A Plan

November 18, 2021 by David Gibson Leave a Comment

On a fall Saturday afternoon in the early 1990s some friends and I met up with wilderness coalition leader Paul Schaefer (1908-1996) at his cabin in Bakers Mills, northern Warren County, NY. Deciding to spend the night, we drove Paul into nearby North Creek for something to eat.

We tried the area’s hotel. One of the hotel staff took a look at Paul’s red plaid hunting jacket and asked him if could change into something more formal. At that, we turned heel and, walking across the street, entered Smith’s Restaurant.

Paul was immediately comfortable, having eaten here many times. Someone greeted him, a fellow deer hunter who remembered him. We took a booth and Paul ordered a steak. [Read more…] about Adirondack Mountains National Park? In 1967 There Was A Plan

Adirondack Council Releases Long Range Vision For Adirondack Park

November 16, 2021 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

The Adirondack Council have unveiled a new long-range vision for the Adirondack Park in a publication entitled Adirondack VISION 2050, offering recommendations for how to preserve the park’s ecology, sustain its small villages and hamlets, and improve park management by the middle of this century. [Read more…] about Adirondack Council Releases Long Range Vision For Adirondack Park

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