New York Almanack

History, Natural History & the Arts

Protect the Adirondacks

Adirondack Voices: Residents Speaking Out For Environmental Protection

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Adirondack Voices newsletter from the Residents Committee to Protect the AdirondacksI recently came across copies of Adirondack Voices from the 1990s, published by the Residents’ Committee to Protect the Adirondacks (RCPA). This organization was founded in 1990 by full-time residents of the Adirondack Park intent on trying to keep some peace in the Adirondacks.

RCPA believed that the integrity and economic viability of the Adirondack communities they lived and worked in could be enhanced while preserving their unique wilderness and wild forest landscape. [Read more…] about Adirondack Voices: Residents Speaking Out For Environmental Protection

DEC Releases New Forest Preserve Work Policy

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Class II Community Connector Snowmobile Trail courtesy ProtectNew York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) has finalized DEC’s Commissioner Policy 78 (CP-78), the Forest Preserve Work Plan Policy. This policy is expected to serve as a guide for newly proposed projects and the evaluation of their site-specific impacts to the environment and character of the New York State Forest Preserve. [Read more…] about DEC Releases New Forest Preserve Work Policy

2 Years Later, State’s Adirondack Road Salt Report Still Not Public

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Salt Plow Truck courtesy Adirondack CouncilIn December 2020, the Randy Preston Road Salt Reduction Act was signed into law, creating the Adirondack Road Salt Reduction Task Force. The Task Force was organized in 2021, led by Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) and Department of Transportation (DOT), and completed its deliberations by late 2022.

As a new winter and road salt season approaches there has been no news or public information about the report, which has apparently been drafted for months. [Read more…] about 2 Years Later, State’s Adirondack Road Salt Report Still Not Public

Adirondack Park Wetlands Project Approval Heading To Court

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Lower Saranac Lake Marina Wetlands (courtesy Protect the Adirondacks)On June 15, 2023, the Adirondack Park Agency (APA), which oversees large or environmentally sensitive developments in thee Adirondack Park, approved a variance application for a commercial marina located in and around wetlands in Crescent and Ampersand Bays on Lower Saranac Lake in the Town of Harrietstown, Franklin County.

Wetlands are critical to conserving water quality, mitigating flooding, and harboring fish and wildlife. [Read more…] about Adirondack Park Wetlands Project Approval Heading To Court

Court Strikes Down Lower Saranac Lake Marina Permit Issued by APA

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Upper Saranac LakeThe Appellate Division, Third Department has issued a unanimous ruling annulling a permit issued by the Adirondack Park Agency (APA) for a large-scale expansion of a commercial marina on Lower Saranac Lake in the Adirondack Park.

The decision in Thomas Jorling vs Adirondack Park Agency, et. al. reverses a lower court decision issued by State Supreme Court. [Read more…] about Court Strikes Down Lower Saranac Lake Marina Permit Issued by APA

Did Covid Reshape Adirondack and NYS School Enrollments?

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Enrollment Change 2017-2022The answer appears to be not so much. School district enrollment trends in New York State have been consistent for the last few decades, and an assessment of enrollment numbers over the last five years doesn’t show a big or lasting change to these trends.

Here’s an analysis: [Read more…] about Did Covid Reshape Adirondack and NYS School Enrollments?

Protect the Adirondacks Names Claudia Braymer Deputy Director

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Protect the AdirondacksProtect the Adirondacks has announced that Claudia Braymer, an environmental attorney and local government official from Glens Falls, New York, has joined the organization as its new Deputy Director. Braymer is an attorney who has worked on environmental cases across New York State and was co-counsel on Protect the Adirondacks’ successful lawsuit that upheld and defended the Forever Wild clause in the State Constitution in 2021. She also serves as a Supervisor, elected from the City of Glens Falls, on the Warren County Board of Supervisors. [Read more…] about Protect the Adirondacks Names Claudia Braymer Deputy Director

DEC & APA Defy The Courts And Keep Unconstitutional Trails Open

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Seventh-Lake-Mountain-Trail-2022-4 It’s been nearly two years since the New York Court of Appeals, the State’s highest court, ruled that extra-wide Class II Community Connector Snowmobile Trails designed, approved, and constructed by the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) and the Adirondack Park Agency (APA) violate Article 14, Section 1, of the New York State Constitution, the famed the “Forever Wild” clause.

The high court’s decision followed a decision in 2019 by the Appellate Division, Third Department, that Class II trails violate Article 14. The Court of Appeals decision came out in May 2021 and we’re now into our second winter where the DEC and APA continue to operate unconstitutional Class II trails as if the courts have not ruled against them. Protect the Adirondacks is now back in court in an effort to get the state to comply with the appellate court decisions. [Read more…] about DEC & APA Defy The Courts And Keep Unconstitutional Trails Open

10 Organizations Unite to Call for Adirondack Investments

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Entering Adirondack Park sign photo credit, Eric Meier;A coalition of 10 conservation and educational organizations has sent a letter to New York State Governor Kathy Hochul urging her upcoming State of the State message and Executive Budget proposal to advance investments and strengthened policies to improve the protection and management of the Adirondack Park. [Read more…] about 10 Organizations Unite to Call for Adirondack Investments

Peter Bauer: Lame, Tired, And Wrong Blame-The-Adirondack Park Editorializing Persists

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AA-2020-NYS-Census-Map In the Adirondacks, I thought we had moved beyond weak economic and social analysis that blames the Adirondack Park for all of the problems and challenges facing Adirondack communities.

I thought that many in the Adirondacks had looked at long-term national rural population and economic trends and learned that the issues facing Adirondack communities are the same issues facing Rural America – and that the first decades of the 21st Century in the U.S. have proved extremely difficult and challenging times for Rural America. [Read more…] about Peter Bauer: Lame, Tired, And Wrong Blame-The-Adirondack Park Editorializing Persists