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
Forest Preserve
Adirondack History: New York State to the Rescue
In the late nineteenth century, Adirondack VIP tours were arranged to assess water damage from state-sponsored dams that kept lumber mills powered and barges floating up and down the Erie Canal. Judges like Truman Fuller exhorted the New York State Forest Commission to get an accurate upstate map completed, to head off all the lawsuits. [Read more…] about Adirondack History: New York State to the Rescue
Logging The Adirondacks: A Legal Logjam (1880-1900)
An early 20th century Adirondack lawsuit pitted a small Big Moose Lake sportsman and landowner Aaron Lloyd against a team of powerful opponents, John Adams Dix and his Moose River Lumber Company with Dr. William Seward Webb and his Nehasane Park Association.
A second suit reversed the plaintiff and defendant, Webb vs. Lloyd, and appeared to be linked to the first complaint. Clearly this was a classic David versus Goliath clash. These cases would have been the fodder for conversations around the campfire in the Big Moose area for almost a decade.
On the surface, the complaints concerned the harvest of millions of board feet of virgin timber and flooding Big Moose Lake to get these logs to market, with Webb behind both actions. [Read more…] about Logging The Adirondacks: A Legal Logjam (1880-1900)
Adirondack Voters Join Environmental Bond Act Approval Landslide
Residents of the Adirondack Park’s 130 rural communities voted overwhelmingly to approve the Clean Water, Clean Air and Green Jobs Environmental Bond Act on Election Day.
The measure won approval by more than a two-to-one margin statewide. [Read more…] about Adirondack Voters Join Environmental Bond Act Approval Landslide
Central Adirondacks Lumbering Operations (1880-1900)
After achieving his railroad dream and completing his Nehasane wilderness refuge – reachable using his own luxury rail car – William Seward Webb found himself in a major conflict with the State of New York.
Inlet historian Charles Herr tells this part of the story expertly, in his history of the Fulton Chain. My map here highlights that land aquisition by the State in yellow, totaling 74,585 acres of Brown’s Tract and in the Totten & Crossfield Purchase. Webb retained ownership of lakes like Twitchell and Big Moose because he intended those for later cottage and hotel sales. [Read more…] about Central Adirondacks Lumbering Operations (1880-1900)
Important NYS Forest Preserve Management Reforms, Part 2
The Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) recently issued a Request for Proposals (RFP) for development of a “Visitor Use Management” Plan for the Central High Peaks Wilderness Area in the Adirondack Park and the Kaaterskill Clove/Route 23A corridor of the Catskill Park.
The RFP marks a major step forward in DEC’s efforts to evaluate and address a series of impacts to the natural resources, the visitor experience, and public safety due to high recreational use in these two popular destinations on the New York State Forest Preserve. [Read more…] about Important NYS Forest Preserve Management Reforms, Part 2
Peter Bauer: Important NYS Forest Preserve Management Reforms
2022 may end up as the year some of the most important reforms in New York State Forest Preserve management were started, both in practice and in theory.
Forest Preserve management reform has been a long time coming as the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC), which is responsible for the care and custody of the Forest Preserve, has struggled for years with how to improve its overall management program.
Small changes have been attempted at various points, but no major reforms have been successfully brought to the DEC’s Forest Preserve management. [Read more…] about Peter Bauer: Important NYS Forest Preserve Management Reforms
Despite Elise Stefanik’s Claims, NYS Gun Law Doesn’t Prohibit Historical Events
New York’s new gun law, which bans weapons from “sensitive locations” such as parks and museums, will have no effect on musket demonstrations, including at Fort William Henry or re-enactments in Lake George Battlefield Park, according to Warren County Sheriff James La Farr.
“It is not within the spirit of the law to prohibit those activities,” LaFarr said. The re-enactors’ muskets and cannon fire only blanks.
Fort Ticonderoga, which is located in Essex County, is also unaffected by the new law, says its president and CEO, Beth Hill. “We do not plan to change our operations or special events,” she said. [Read more…] about Despite Elise Stefanik’s Claims, NYS Gun Law Doesn’t Prohibit Historical Events
Schenectady and the Adirondacks: A Legacy of Conservation
Schenectady has a long history of its residents being active in conservation and outdoor recreation – in Schenectady County and in the wilderness of the North Country, alike.
Schenectadians’ interest in protecting and exploring wilderness has its roots in the mid 1800s with industrialization and westward expansion. The wilderness was at risk of disappearing, and influential nature lovers used their writings to convince Americans that preserving land and wildlife was vital. Many Americans, including people in Schenectady, could easily see the case for this. [Read more…] about Schenectady and the Adirondacks: A Legacy of Conservation
Despite GOP Claims, Guns Not Banned in Adirondack Park
The claims of US Representative Elise Stefanik, New York State Senator Dan Stec and others that the six-million-acre Adirondack Park is among the “sensitive locations” from which all firearms would be banned under new legislation signed by Governor Kathy Hochul, while ludicrous, at least concentrates our minds on the question of what, precisely, makes the Adirondack Park a park unlike almost any other. [Read more…] about Despite GOP Claims, Guns Not Banned in Adirondack Park