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Adirondacks Region

The Adirondack Park Agency At 50: State Leaders Are Missing The Point

February 7, 2023 by David Gibson Leave a Comment

Gov. Nelson Rockefeller signs the APA ActWell, it’s happened again. Another state budget is proposed by the Executive, wherein the Adirondack Park Agency’s legislated job is mischaracterized by this Governor’s (and former governors’) budget divisions as working “to achieve a balance between strong environmental protection and sustainable economic development opportunities for the residents of the Adirondack Park” (2023 Executive Budget Briefing Book).

Balance is an important goal to strive for in our individual lives. However, nothing in the Adirondack Park Agency law, now reaching 50 years old in May, calls for “a balance between strong environmental protection and sustainable economic development.” That is merely an executive construct and interpretation that has been superimposed upon the law without legislative approval, most especially since Governor Andrew Cuomo began his first term in 2011, as in this example from that year: “The APA Act is a balance of the adverse resource impacts of the project with its potential benefits” (APA staff during the Adirondack Club and Resort public hearing). Many have stated similar “balancing” objectives since then.

The unstated assumption behind such a balance statement seems to be that natural resource protection and economic development are on a seesaw, oppositional in purpose and competing in nature, and therefore requiring a state referee to provide necessary balance. That is not what the APA Act is about. [Read more…] about The Adirondack Park Agency At 50: State Leaders Are Missing The Point

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, History, Nature Tagged With: Adirondacks, Andrew Cuomo, APA, Clinton County, DEC, development, Economic Development, Environmental History, Essex County, Forest Preserve, Franklin County, Hugh Carey, Kathy Hochul, Legal History, Lewis County, Nelson Rockefeller, Oneida County, Political History, Saratoga County, St Lawrence County, Warren County, Washington County, wilderness

Adirondack Environmental Priorities in Governor Hocul’s Budget

February 6, 2023 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

New York State CapitolGov. Kathy Hochul’s FY2023/24 budget proposal includes significant funding and policy proposals for municipal clean water and wastewater projects, environmental jobs training, an Environmental Protection Fund of $400 million, and “Cap and Invest” program expected to generate $1 billion for programs to fight climate change, according to the Adirondack Council. [Read more…] about Adirondack Environmental Priorities in Governor Hocul’s Budget

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, Nature Tagged With: Adirondack Council, Adirondacks, Brooklyn, Climate Change, CUNY, Environmental History, Kathy Hochul, SUNY ESF, Timbuctoo

Moose Are Back in New York State: A Population Update

February 3, 2023 by Editorial Staff 1 Comment

moose courtesy DECMoose have been present in the northern tier of New York since the Pleistocene. However, by as early as the 1860s over-exploitation and habitat degradation had extirpated moose from all of New York State.

In response, a handful of small-scale moose restoration efforts were undertaken between 1870 and 1902, but none proved successful. Over the next eighty years there were periodic moose sightings, but none seemed to suggest an established population. [Read more…] about Moose Are Back in New York State: A Population Update

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, Nature Tagged With: Adirondacks, Cornell University, DEC, moose, SUNY ESF, Wildlife

State Rebuilding of High Peaks Wilderness Roads Challenged in Court

January 30, 2023 by Editorial Staff 2 Comments

equipment in the MacIntyre East High Peaks Wilderness Area to rebuild roadsOn January 20, 2023, Protect the Adirondacks filed a lawsuit challenging the reconstruction by the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) of a previously closed and reclaimed road in the High Peaks Wilderness Complex. Protect argues that DEC’s road construction activity in the High Peaks violates the Adirondack Park State Land Master Plan (Master Plan) which prohibits roads in Wilderness Areas. [Read more…] about State Rebuilding of High Peaks Wilderness Roads Challenged in Court

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, Nature, Recreation Tagged With: Adirondacks, APA, Article 14, Boreas Ponds, DEC, development, Environmental History, Finch Pruyn Lands, Forest Preserve, High Peaks, Legal History, MacIntyre East Tract, State Land Master Plan, wilderness

Woodsman Willard Howland and his Amazing Critters

January 28, 2023 by Dave Waite Leave a Comment

“Williard Howland from the Sun newspaper August 30, 1896,Lotsa Screes in here tonight,” Willard spoke low. “Puts me in mind of a he-scree I see up in Hawk’s Nest one fall when I was trappin’.”

And so began a story that would enliven the trailside or campsite for those who had the privilege to spend time with Willard Howland. Little has been written about the life of this woodsman beyond bits and pieces of the stories he told. It could even be said that his tales, everything from experiences in the woods, to amazing fantasy creatures that inhabited his wilderness, tell more of who Willard was than anything a written history could reveal. [Read more…] about Woodsman Willard Howland and his Amazing Critters

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, Arts, History, Nature, Recreation Tagged With: Adirondack Guides, Adirondacks, Clifton, Cranberry Lake, fishing, Folklore, hunting, nature, Oswegatchie River, Roswell P. Flower, Russell, St Lawrence County, Wildlife

The Most Negative Sales Pitch Ever: An Adirondack Story

January 27, 2023 by Lawrence P. Gooley Leave a Comment

Ray Brook SanitariumA little more than a century ago, a horrendous description of an Adirondack village appeared in newspapers, including the Mail and Express published in New York City. At issue was the placement of a yet-to-be-built tubercular sanitarium. Feelings ran so high at the time, you’d swear they were selecting the next Supreme Court justice. But taking sides is nothing new, as proved by use of the written word back then to describe one of the candidate locations. As you’ll see, it’s hard to believe they were talking about the same place. [Read more…] about The Most Negative Sales Pitch Ever: An Adirondack Story

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, History Tagged With: Adirondack Correctional Facility, Adirondacks, clinton correctional facility, Clinton County, Crime and Justice, Dannemora, Essex County, Franklin County, Medical History, North Elba, prisons, Saranac Lake, tuberculosis

Adirondack Logging History: Wood’s Lake & Beaver River Stations

January 23, 2023 by Noel Sherry 4 Comments

Northern section showing lumber company railroads branching off New York Central, from BillAfter Hudson River logging sharply declined by 1905, the Adirondack railroad line known as the Mohawk & Malone kept NYS lumber companies in business for at least another twelve years. A big part of this was due to logging north of Big Moose, shown on this New York Central & Hudson River railroad map, with eight station stops northward toward Tupper Lake (shown at left), three of them as junctions for logging railroads — Wood’s Lake, Brandreth, and Nehasane.

Beaver River Station was shifting from logging to tourism. Little Rapids was a flag stop, Keepawa unlisted in an 1895 train schedule. This article will describe the logging history of Wood’s Lake and Beaver River stations, beginning with a new lumbering operation just north of Big Moose. [Read more…] about Adirondack Logging History: Wood’s Lake & Beaver River Stations

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, History, Nature Tagged With: Adirondack Dams, Adirondacks, Beaver River, Big Moose, Burd Amendment, Forest Preserve, Herkimer COunty, Industrial History, International Paper, Legal History, Lewis County, Logging, Logging the Adirondacks, Mohawk & Malone Railroad, New York Central RR, railroads, Silver Lake, Stillwater, Town of Webb, Transportation History, Twitchell Lake, William Seward Webb

New Director for Adirondack Diversity Initiative

January 23, 2023 by Editorial Staff 1 Comment

Adirondack Diversity InitativeThe Adirondack North Country Association (ANCA) has announced the hire of the new director of the Adirondack Diversity Initiative (ADI). Tiffany Rea-Fisher, who has extensive leadership experience in the arts, activism and community organizing, will be the second director of ADI, an ANCA program that aims to make the Adirondack region a more welcoming and inclusive place for residents and visitors. [Read more…] about New Director for Adirondack Diversity Initiative

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY Tagged With: Adirondack Diversity Initiative, Adirondack North Country Association, Adirondacks, Dance, diversity, Harlem, New York City

Key Adirondack Wilderness Inholding Protected

January 17, 2023 by Editorial Staff 1 Comment

map showing Bear Pond ForestNortheast Wilderness Trust announced that it has purchased a key inholding in the Adirondack Park’s Five Ponds Wilderness, establishing the Bear Pond Forest. With this acquisition, the 1,056-acre Bear Pond Forest is now safeguarded from development, and the Forest will gradually be integrated into the surrounding 107,230-acre Five Ponds Wilderness, which is connected to the 23,816-acre Pepperbox Wilderness. [Read more…] about Key Adirondack Wilderness Inholding Protected

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, Nature, Recreation Tagged With: Adirondacks, Clifton, Diana, Fine, Five Ponds Wilderness, Hamilton County, Herkimer COunty, Lewis County, Long Lake, nature, Northeast Wilderness Trust, Pepperbox Wilderness Area, St Lawrence County, Town of Webb, Wildlife

Rehabilitation of Lows Lake Lower Dam Has Begun

January 14, 2023 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

lows lakeThe gate on the access road leading to the Bog River Dam, also known as Lows Lake Lower Dam, in the town of Piercefield, St. Lawrence County, closed December 6th, to allow for construction to maintain the Adirondack dam. [Read more…] about Rehabilitation of Lows Lake Lower Dam Has Begun

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, Nature, Recreation Tagged With: Adirondack Dams, Adirondacks, Bog River, DEC, Hitchens Pond, Horseshoe Lake, Lows Lake, paddling, Piercefield, St Lawrence County

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