The nonprofit advocate Adirondack Wild: Friends of the Forest Preserve has been denied certain documents by the NYS Adirondack Park Agency (APA) which Adirondack Wild believes would shed light on the APA’s responsibilities to restrain public motorized uses within Wild Forest portions of the “forever wild” Adirondack Forest Preserve. [Read more…] about Advocates: Adirondack Park Agency Withholding Documents
Adirondack Wild
Gibson: DEC & APA Should Reform Managing Adirondack Lakes and Ponds
At Adirondack Wild’s October meeting at the Paul Smith’s Visitor Interpretive Center, lakes and ponds came under the spotlight in a panel discussion about Cooperative Stewardship of Adirondack Lakes. Of particular interest was a given lake’s classification and subsequent comprehensive study, planning and management.
If Adirondack waterbodies are considered part of the Forest Preserve, and for the last fifty years the State Land Master Plan talks about land and water, then the law requires that lakes and ponds be classified, just as forests are. That raises important questions. [Read more…] about Gibson: DEC & APA Should Reform Managing Adirondack Lakes and Ponds
Adirondack Wild Annual Meeting at Paul Smith’s
Adirondack Wild: Friends of the Forest Preserve has announced its Annual Meeting of Members and Friends has been set for Friday, October 14th, at the Paul Smith’s Visitor Interpretive Center (VIC), located at 8023 State Rt. 30 just north of Paul Smith’s College in the Adirondacks. [Read more…] about Adirondack Wild Annual Meeting at Paul Smith’s
Another Adirondack Resort Subdivision Proposed Without Conservation Design
I just skimmed through Eric Stackman’s recent replies to the Adirondack Park Agency (available on the APA website). Stackman, a Miami, Florida developer, wants to construct a 120-lot resort subdivision in Jay, Essex County, above the East Branch of the Ausable River, apparently within sightlines near Whiteface Mountain, Askaard Farm and many other viewing locations. [Read more…] about Another Adirondack Resort Subdivision Proposed Without Conservation Design
Adirondack Wild Hails Vote for Conservation Development Bill
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
David Gibson: In Adirondack Common Cause
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
Adirondack Wild Announces 2021 Award Recipients, Annual Meeting
Adirondack Wild: Friends of the Forest Preserve will hold its 11th Annual Membership Meeting on Friday, September 24th at Tannery Pond Community Center in North Creek, focusing on the current state of the Adirondack Park Agency at 50 Years (1971-2021) and reimagining the APA in the next 50 years. [Read more…] about Adirondack Wild Announces 2021 Award Recipients, Annual Meeting
Dedicated Forest Ranger Academy Announced
For the first time, New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) Forest Ranger training will be held at the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry (SUNY-ESF) campus in the hamlet of Wanakena in the Adirondacks.
For decades, Forest Ranger recruits have had to share a training academy with Environmental Conservation Office recruits, where law enforcement and policing became the training emphasis. The two positions are very related, but also very distinct. [Read more…] about Dedicated Forest Ranger Academy Announced
Seven Years Later Arbor Day Efforts Yield Results
April 30th, 2021 is Arbor Day. On Arbor Day 2012, NYS DEC Forest Rangers and Foresters had recruited us to help plant young potted and bare root trees on an eroding section of Adirondack Forest Preserve south of Warrensburg in what was then known as the Hudson River Recreation Area. The saplings had come from the DEC Saratoga Tree Nursery. [Read more…] about Seven Years Later Arbor Day Efforts Yield Results
Chad P. Dawson Joins Adirondack Wild Board
Dr. Chad P. Dawson, formerly a member of the NYS Adirondack Park Agency from 2016 until December 2020, has been elected to Adirondack Wild’s Board of Directors.
Adirondack Wild: Friends of the Forest Preserve is a not-for-profit membership organization which acts on behalf of public wilderness and embraces wild land values and stewardship on both public and private lands. [Read more…] about Chad P. Dawson Joins Adirondack Wild Board