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Forest Preserve

DEC’s Efforts To Lobby For A Mine In Adirondack Wilderness

July 6, 2020 by Peter Bauer 1 Comment

NYCO MinesThis is the last article in a 5-part series on possible amendments in 2020 to Article 14, Section 1, of the NYS Constitution, the famed forever wild provision.

This article looks back at the amendment for NYCO Minerals, Inc., in 2013, that authorized exploratory drilling on 200 acres in Lewis Lot 8 in the Forest Preserve in the Jay Mountain Wilderness. This amendment was barely approved, passing by the narrowest margin of any successful Article 14 amendment. The NYCO Amendment was different from all other amendments to Article 14 because it marked the first time that a private corporation used the amendment process to seek and obtain Forest Preserve lands for no other purpose than benefiting its bottom line. Every other amendment had a public benefit and purpose. The NYCO Amendment did not. [Read more…] about DEC’s Efforts To Lobby For A Mine In Adirondack Wilderness

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, Capital-Saratoga, History, Nature Tagged With: Adirondack Park, Article 14, DEC, Environmental History, Forest Preserve, Forever Wild, Political History, Protect the Adirondacks, wilderness

Camp Gabriels: A Former Prison On ‘Forever Wild’ Land

June 30, 2020 by Peter Bauer 1 Comment

Camp Gabriels MapProtect the Adirondacks has reviewed the options for the future of the Camp Gabriels complex, a former state prison in the Town of Brighton in Franklin County in the northern Adirondack Park.  The site is located between Saranac Lake and Paul Smith’s just outside of Gabriels, in Franklin County.

The land that the prison complex was built upon is Forest Preserve, protected under NYS Constitution Article 14, Section 1 (the “Forever Wild” provision). The prison complex was part of a state purchase in 1982 of over 224 acres. This facility has been dormant since 2009 when the state closed the prison camp. [Read more…] about Camp Gabriels: A Former Prison On ‘Forever Wild’ Land

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, Capital-Saratoga, History, Nature Tagged With: Article 14, Brighton, Camp Gabriels, Forest Preserve, Legal History, NYS Constitution, Protect the Adirondacks

Forever Wild: New Constitutional Amendments Being Considered

June 18, 2020 by Peter Bauer Leave a Comment

Article 14, Section 1 New York State Constitution Forever Wild clauseArticle 14, Section 1, of the New York Constitution, the famed “forever wild” provision, has been amended 16 times since 1938.

It has been amended five times since 2007, making this period the most active and intensive in Forest Preserve history for amendments.

Several Article 14, Section 1 proposed amendments are being currently being drafted and organized by the Department of Environmental Conservation and administration of Gov. Andrew Cuomo. [Read more…] about Forever Wild: New Constitutional Amendments Being Considered

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, Capital-Saratoga, History, Hudson Valley - Catskills, Nature, Recreation Tagged With: Article 14, DEC, Forest Preserve, Forever Wild, Legal History, NYS Constitution, Political History, wilderness

Cuomo Makes Adirondack Park Board Nominations

June 9, 2020 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

APA Building in Ray Brook NYGov. Andrew Cuomo has formally nominated seven individuals to the board of the Adirondack Park Agency, which oversees land-use, planning and zoning on both public and private lands, in cooperation with other state agencies.

Three individuals who are currently serving were nominated for new terms and four individuals were nominated for their first terms. [Read more…] about Cuomo Makes Adirondack Park Board Nominations

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, Capital-Saratoga, History, Nature, Recreation Tagged With: Adirondack Council, Adirondack Mountain Club, Adirondack Park, Andrew Cuomo, APA, conservation, DEC, Forest Preserve, Political History, Protect the Adirondacks, State Land Master Plan, wilderness

Viewpoint: We Need Forest Rangers As Forest Preserve Ambassadors

June 7, 2020 by Peter Nelson 2 Comments

DEC Forest Rangers at work educating hikers and conducting search and rescue operationsThe ongoing pandemic is asserting its influence on Adirondack summer recreation, amplifying worries about public safety and the increased number of visitors, especially in the High Peaks.

There are many questions: will there be more hikers this season? Fewer? Will choked trailheads be COVID vectors? Will novice visitors seeking to escape both the coronavirus and social isolation mean an increase in unprepared hikers and rescues? Will a decrease in the usual resources such as open facilities, trail stewards and shuttles cause our visitor management challenges to be overwhelming?

No one knows. Understandably, concern is high. [Read more…] about Viewpoint: We Need Forest Rangers As Forest Preserve Ambassadors

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, Capital-Saratoga, Hudson Valley - Catskills, Recreation Tagged With: camping, Forest Preserve, Forest Rangers, High Peaks, hiking, nature, Public Health, Tourism, wilderness

Adirondack Wild: Rail-Trail Plan Fails to Assess Impacts

April 16, 2020 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

adirondack wildA DEC plan for the 119-mile Travel Corridor that runs through the heart of the Adirondack Park does not adequately assess actual and projected impacts on the Park’s public wilderness and natural resources according to the group Adirondack Wild: Friends of the Forest Preserve.

At issue is whether the plan complies with the Adirondack Park State Land Master Plan. Adirondack Wild does not believe it does comply. The group filed comments on the Remsen-Lake Placid Travel Corridor Unit Management Plan amendment with the Adirondack Park Agency this week. [Read more…] about Adirondack Wild: Rail-Trail Plan Fails to Assess Impacts

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, Capital-Saratoga, History, Mohawk Valley, Recreation Tagged With: Adirondack Wild, biking, DEC, Forest Preserve, hiking, Historic Preservation, New York Central RR, railroads, Remsen-Lake Placid Travel Corridor, snowmobiling, State Land Master Plan

An Adirondack Council Review of the State Budget

April 8, 2020 by John Sheehan Leave a Comment

Adirondack CouncilThe Adirondack Council thanked Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Legislative leaders on April 1st for much-needed environmental capital projects that were slated to be approved in the NYS Budget agreement. [Read more…] about An Adirondack Council Review of the State Budget

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, Nature, Recreation Tagged With: Adirondack Council, Forest Preserve, High Peaks, NYS Budget, Restore Mother Nature Bond Act

The Origin and Impact of the Adirondack Northway

March 28, 2017 by Anthony F. Hall 2 Comments

i87When my parents came to the Adirondacks in 1956, they believed they were moving to a place far removed – culturally and politically as well as geographically – from the cities in which they had worked as left-wing journalists.

Beyond the Adirondacks lay “the big world,” as our neighbor Peggy Hamilton called it. (It was a world she was familiar with, having been the companion of Vida Mulholland and, like Vida and her more famous sister Inez, an early advocate of women’s rights.) [Read more…] about The Origin and Impact of the Adirondack Northway

Filed Under: History Tagged With: Adirondack Park, Forest Preserve, I-87, Nelson Rockefeller, Public History, Transportation History

Discussions Of Adirondacks Overuse Are Not New

October 13, 2016 by Lawrence P. Gooley Leave a Comment

A1985 AdkCouncilFavorsPermitsAn excellent pair of articles published here recently by Mike Lynch (Beyond Peak Capacity and Group of 67 People Ticketed on Algonquin) resurrected some memories from the 1970s and ’80s, when avid (or zealous, rabid, insatiable … just pick one) hikers like me lived in constant fear that access to the mountains would soon be restricted. That anxiety was based on frequent newspaper headlines touting plans to alleviate trail damage attributed to hordes of newcomers to the Adirondacks.

Like now, the problems back then were intensified by successful efforts aimed at raising public awareness about the wonders within the mountains, and thus boost the region’s tourism-based economy. The result: more people, more spending, and greater profits, but also more boots on the ground, more worn trails, and more poop in the woods. The problems intensified so quickly that organizations and politicians offered all sorts of solutions, most of which left hikers fearful that the freedom to roam would be restricted. [Read more…] about Discussions Of Adirondacks Overuse Are Not New

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, History, Nature Tagged With: Adirondack Park, Adirondacks, Forest Preserve, Tourism

Karl Frederick, Adirondack and National Conservationist

October 4, 2016 by Lawrence P. Gooley Leave a Comment

1KTFred1922St2In addition to a remarkable shooting career that included winning three Olympic gold medals, New York attorney Karl T. Frederick was deeply involved in conservation issues. In the early 1900s, through membership in groups like the Camp Fire Club of America, he became involved in national issues as well as regional ones. Foremost among them was the battle to protect the Adirondacks. He supported the club’s stance, recommending the purchase of private land inside the Blue Line for addition to the state Forest Preserve, and advocating for expansion of the Adirondack Park, which at that time consisted of approximately three million acres— half of what it encompasses in 2016.

His law practice was briefly derailed when the company disbanded, but in 1925, the new legal firm of Kobbe, Thatcher, Frederick & Hoar, with offices on Broadway, began handling cases ranging from high-profile divorces to corporate litigation. Besides further enhancing Karl’s profile as a capable lawyer, it expanded his connections among like-minded business leaders who favored protecting the natural world. In time, his respected abilities as an attorney and his deep interest in preserving the nation’s outdoor resources led to an unusual blending of leadership positions on the state and national levels. [Read more…] about Karl Frederick, Adirondack and National Conservationist

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, History Tagged With: Adirondack Park, Environmental History, Forest Preserve

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