History, Natural History & the Arts
The Clean Ferries Bill (A11303/S10381) sponsored by Assembly Member Jo Anne Simon and Senator Brian Kavanagh has been introduced in the New York State Legislature.
The bill calls for publicly funded ferry companies to purchase only zero-emission vessels starting in 2028, and for other public vessels in New York State waters to be zero-emission by 2032. [Read more…] about Clean Ferries Bill Would Transition NY Ferries from Diesel to Electric
The Trump regime removed the Pride Flag flying at the first and only National Park dedicated to LGBTQ+ history.
The removal of the flag at Stonewall National Monument comes exactly one year after the National Park Service removed references to transgender and queer people from their webpages, including the page on Stonewall. The move is the latest in a string of removals and changes censuring information on signs and exhibits on public lands that has picked up pace in recent weeks. [Read more…] about Pride Flag Removed from Only National Park Dedicated to LGBTQ+ History
Several dozen paddlers from Protect the Adirondacks and Sierra Club Atlantic Chapter attended a water-based protest earlier in September. The Paddle for Wilderness at Forked Lake in the central Adirondacks, on waters bordering Whitney Park, was a floating protest calling for the protection of the 36,000-acre Whitney Park that is up for sale and threatened with development.
This tract has been at the top of the State’s land protection list for 50 years. Whitney Park includes 22 lakes and ponds, and over 100 miles of undeveloped shorelines. The tract has important natural habitat and is the missing link for re-establishing historic canoe routes that traversed the property. [Read more…] about Paddler Protest Calls for Adding Whitney Park to the Forest Preserve
Founded as a coalition of national, regional and local environmental organizations in January 1975, the Adirondack Council was created 50 years ago to focus attention on the emerging threats of acid rain, declining biodiversity and the increasing subdivision and development of wildlands in the Adirondack Park. [Read more…] about Adirondack Council Celebrates 50th Anniversary
Eight conservation organizations called on Governor Kathy Hochul this week to act swiftly to protect 36,000 acres of forests, lakes and rivers in the Central Adirondacks owned by heirs to the vast Whitney and Vanderbilt family fortunes.
The Whitney estate, a vast tract of some of the most ecologically sensitive lands in the Adirondack Park known as Whitney Park, contains 22 lakes and ponds with more than 100 miles of undeveloped shorelines, connected by navigable rivers and streams in the Town of Long Lake, Hamilton County. [Read more…] about Calls for Governor Hochul to Protect Whitney Estate: A Historical Perspective
On September 3, 1964, President Lyndon Baines Johnson signed the National Wilderness Act into law and with one stroke of his pen, protected more than 9 million acres of undeveloped federal lands.
In a photograph taken that day, one can spot Stewart Udall, Johnson’s Secretary of the Interior, with a copy of In Wildness is the Preservation of the World, the folio of Eliot Porter’s photographs (with text by Henry David Thoreu) published by the Sierra Club in 1962. With the publication of Porter’s photographs, “conservation ceased to be boring,” as one reviewer commented. [Read more…] about ‘In Wildness is the Preservation of the World’
Recently, Diane O’Connor, the managing director of the Lower Adirondack Regional Center for History in Ticonderoga, presented “Adirondack Jews: Community and Contribution,” at the Historical Society of the Town of Chester and the Town of Chester Library. The program highlighted the contributions of the Marshall family – Louis Marshall and his sons James, George and Bob – to the preservation of the Adirondacks. [Read more…] about The Marshalls: An Indispensable Adirondack Family
Dozens of boxes of paper files and computer discs containing campaign records, strategic plans, letters to the editor, action alerts, and lots and lots of maps were among the materials turned over to the Library of Congress from Aaron Mair’s home office and his Adirondack Council office in Albany recently, all in crates bound for the Library of Congress Manuscript Division. [Read more…] about Albany Activist Aaron Mair’s Papers Now At Library of Congress
Five organizations concerned about the size, scope, and regional impacts of the proposed USL Marina on a small pond near Fish Creek Pond Campground in the Adirondacks are calling on the New York State Adirondack Park Agency (APA) to hold an adjudicatory public hearing on the application. The marina’s application is set to come before the APA Board at its May 16th monthly meeting in Ray Brook. The decision of whether to hold a public hearing is up to the Agency’s eleven voting decision-makers, or Board members. [Read more…] about Adirondack Advocates Call For Public Hearing on Marina Application
If passed, new legislation (S.7927A/A.08295A), sponsored by Senator Brad Hoylman-Sigal and Assembly Member Robert Carroll, would direct the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) to collect data about canids which have specified characteristics (coyotes and wolves for example) and are killed by hunters and trappers in New York. [Read more…] about New Bill Introduced to Protect Wolves in New York
Members from 17 different Adirondack organizations, over 100 in all, came from all over the state to meet with more than 60 state legislative offices during Adirondack Park Lobby Day on February 26th. The coalition was advocating for state funding and policy advancements for the Adirondack Park and State Forest Preserve. [Read more…] about Adirondack Park Lobby Day Held in Albany
I don’t feel old but when most of my youth’s teachers and mentors have passed on, I know I’ve arrived. When it comes to the Adirondacks and the “forever wild” provision of our state constitution, a number of us just lost a great, very determined, and very influential teacher in that field of green. [Read more…] about A Tribute to Conservationist Charlie Morrison, 1928-2024
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
When John Hendrickson, the widow of recently deceased Saratoga civic and philanthropic leader Marylou Whitney, announced last July that the 36,000-acre Whitney Park lands were for sale an alarm was raised by advocates for wild lands concerned the sale would subdivide one of the largest privately held contiguous properties in the Adirondack Park.
Last week, Hendrickson said he will apply to the Adirondack Park Agency to do just that – fragment the tract into eleven estate lots for the uber-wealthy. [Read more…] about 36k Acres in the Adirondack Park Faces Development; Advocates Seek Legal Protection
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