For Release March 4, 2024
Contact: David Gibson, 518-469-4081
dgibson@adirondackwild.org

Adirondack Park Lobby Day in Albany

Large group wearing red scarves holding an Adirondack Park Lobby Day sign
Photo by Ken Rimany, Adirondack Wild

Albany, NY – Members from 17 different Adirondack organizations, over 100 in all, met with 67 state legislative offices during Adirondack Park Lobby Day on Feb. 26 to advocate for state funding and policy advancements for the Adirondack Park and State Forest Preserve.  A group of Eagle Scouts from Queens, NY and students from Medgar Evers College in Brooklyn took a bus to Albany to help the organizations make their case to strengthen the state’s Environmental Protection Fund and to fund stewardship of wilderness, lakes, clean water, and green jobs, including:

  • $600 million for clean water projects to assist rural communities statewide;
  • $50 million for open space protection;
  • $10 million for Forest Preserve stewardship and visitor use management;
  • $3 million for a Survey of Climate Change and Adirondack Lakes ecosystems;
  • $2 million for the Timbuctoo Summer Climate and Careers Institute exposing students from the City of New  York to the Adirondack Park’s natural resources;
  • $1 million for a carrying capacity study of lakes in the Saranac Lakes Wild Forest;
  • $1 million for Visitor Centers in the Adirondack and Catskill Parks;
  • $420,000 for the Adirondack Diversity Initiative.

In addition, the coalition urged passage of non-budgetary legislative action, including:

  • nominating and confirming committed, knowledgeable environmental voices to the Adirondack Park Agency this year;
  • passing legislation authorizing the use of title insurance as a defensible standard for taking title to DEC open space conservation projects

“Collectively, we made a significant impact in Albany. Legislators and their staff enthusiastically welcomed this demonstration of high statewide interest in the health of the Adirondack Park and of the park’s mountain headwaters of five of our state’s significant rivers,” said Adirondack Wild’s David Gibson. “Also, the volunteers were familiar with many Adirondack lakes, and they spoke knowledgeably about the need for increased funding, monitoring, and stewardship of these lakes during climate change.”

Participants included members of ADK Action, Adirondack Council, Adirondack Diversity Initiative, Adirondack Experience, Adirondack Mountain Club, Adirondack North Country Association, Adirondack Wild: Friends of the Forest Preserve, Ausable River Association, Citizens Campaign for the Environment, Environmental Advocates NY, John Brown Lives!, New York League of Conservation Voters, Paul Smith’s College Adirondack Watershed Institute, Protect the Adirondacks!, SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry Newcomb Campus, Sierra Club Atlantic Chapter.