The remote, peaceful and serene wilderness areas of the Adirondack Park have become a place of refuge for millions of New Yorkers and others seeking a respite from the troubles of a rapidly changing world, according to the Adirondack Council’s annual State of the Park report. [Read more…] about Adirondack Council Releases 2021 ‘State of the Park Report’
wilderness
Adirondack Gentrification: Depletion (The Devil’s Due, Part 3)
In the autumn of 2015, the Adirondack Research Consortium in partnership with the Nelson A. Rockefeller Institute of Government held a panel to discuss the diminishing demography of the Adirondacks. The all-male affair it convened to lead this conversation was typically partisan, casually excluding the perspectives, positions and participation of those primarily burdened with the labor of Adirondack propagation.
While this august assembly of middle-aged men sat pondering the problem with pie charts and furrowed brows, back home in the mountains, the keystone species of the demographic ecosystem – Adirondack mothers – got on with the business of raising children in a climate that is notably inimical to their interests even within the auspices of nation that is generally hostile to the working conditions of those who shoulder the bulk of the responsibility for social reproduction. [Read more…] about Adirondack Gentrification: Depletion (The Devil’s Due, Part 3)
The End of Arbitrary Powers to Dam Adirondack Rivers
The State Legislature has just adjourned, but on a good many nights this past month I grew sleepy watching legislative TV or legislative proceedings on the internet. For the non-debate pieces of legislation, meaning when the legislative majority is not allowing minority debate on bills, the viewer is treated to the following exchanges in a monotone, one after the other:
The speaker or his representative, or the Senate president or her representative: “The clerk will read the bill.” The clerk: “a bill to” …whatever it does. The speaker or his representative: “The clerk will read the final section.” The clerk: “this act shall take effect immediately.” The speaker, president or their representative: “The vote: 63 in favor. The bill is passed.” All of that has taken less than ten seconds. Next. [Read more…] about The End of Arbitrary Powers to Dam Adirondack Rivers
The Environmental Movement That Tamed Adirondacks
Book purchases made through this link support New York Almanack’s mission to report new publications relevant to New York State.
A Wild Idea: How the Environmental Movement Tamed the Adirondacks (Cornell University Press, 2021) by Brad Edmondson shares the story of the difficult birth of the Adirondack Park Agency (APA). [Read more…] about The Environmental Movement That Tamed Adirondacks
Barbara Linell Glaser Named ‘Conservationist of the Year’
The Adirondack Council will present its Conservationist of the Year Award to Barbara Linell Glaser, EdD, during the organization’s Forever Wild Day celebration on July 9th at Great Camp Sagamore, near the Adirondack hamlet of Raquette Lake. [Read more…] about Barbara Linell Glaser Named ‘Conservationist of the Year’
36k Acres in the Adirondack Park Faces Development; Advocates Seek Legal Protection
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
Ed Zahniser On American Wilderness History
The history of achieving the 1964 Wilderness Act in the U.S. Congress is commonly seen as an eight-year legislative struggle. The first wilderness bills were introduced in Congress in 1956 — in the House of Representatives by John P. Saylor of Pennsylvania and in the Senate by Hubert H. Humphrey of Minnesota.
The Wilderness Act was signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson on September 3rd, 1964. My father, Howard Zahniser, primary author of the Act, had died in May 1964. My mother, Alice, attended the White House signing, and President Johnson gave her a pen he used. Three years later President Johnson sent me a letter telling me I was being drafted for two years of US Army service. [Read more…] about Ed Zahniser On American Wilderness History
The First Adirondack Conservation Easement
DEC and APA websites reveal that 777,206 acres of private land in the Adirondack Park are protected in some fashion by a state-owned conservation easement.
During the Adirondack Park Centennial year of 1992 there were 93,000 acres of private lands under state-owned easement in the Park. [Read more…] about The First Adirondack Conservation Easement
Advocates Divided Over Tree Cutting In Adirondack Park
The Open Space Institute (OSI) and the Adirondack Mountain Club (ADK) have moved to jointly file an amicus brief in support of the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation in a case now being heard at the New York Court of Appeals, the state’s highest court.
Protect the Adirondacks (Protect) was recently granted a 4-1 decision by the Appellate Division, Third Department, that Class II Community Community snowmobile trail construction resulted in an unconstitutional destruction of trees on the Adirondack Forest Preserve. Protect is now defending that decision against an appeal by the state. [Read more…] about Advocates Divided Over Tree Cutting In Adirondack Park
Adirondack Advocate Paul Schaefer’s Influence On The Northway
As the decade of the 1990s began, noted Adirondack conservationist and wilderness coalition leader Paul Schaefer’s eyesight was failing. He had macular degeneration. We had noticed that this skilled carpenter, home and cabin builder and historic restorationist was no longer hitting the nail squarely on its head. We worried about him continuing to drive. [Read more…] about Adirondack Advocate Paul Schaefer’s Influence On The Northway