COMMENTARY: Ten Questions to Challenge Business as Usual at the APA By David Gibson The Adirondack Park Agency’s monthly public comment opportunities and long list of permits issued during the year are duly posted on the APA website and at Adirondack Almanack. This posting of basic Agency information is positive. However, behind the apparent conduct…
COMMENTARY: Is APA OK with ceding its authority over the Master Plan? For decades the Adirondack Park State Land Master Plan (APSLMP) has required that State Land Unit Management Plans “will address, on a site specific basis the identification, in intensive use, historic and appropriate portions of wild forest areas accessible by motor vehicles, of…
Peter Brinkley: The Adirondack Brand What follows is a guest essay by Peter Brinkley who lives in Jay and is Senior Partner of Adirondack Wild: Friends of the Forest Preserve. This essay was prompted in part by new Almanack contributor Kimberly Rielly’s piece “Understanding the Adirondack Brand“. We hear of the need for businesses in…
Megan Phillips, Deputy Director for PlanningNYS Adirondack Park AgencyP.O. Box 99Ray Brook, NY 12977 Re. Third Comment Letter, Proposed Adirondack Park State Land Master Plan (APSLMP) amendments Dear Ms. Phillips, During the Agency’s public comment period, Agency and Department staff have made the public statement that the proposed APSLMP amendments on Accessibility, including the Motor…
Megan Phillips, Deputy Director for PlanningNYS Adirondack Park AgencyP.O. Box 99Ray Brook, NY 12977 Re. Additional Comments, Proposed Adirondack Park State Land Master Plan (APSLMP) amendments Dear Ms. Phillips, As we have re-read the Agency’s proposed amendments pertaining to Unit Management Plan Development, we now wish to augment our earlier letter with additional concerns about…
COMMENTARY: APA Proposes to Weaken Wilderness Protection On behalf of the Association for the Protection of the Adirondacks, I was one of the intervenors to sign the 2001 Galusha v. NYS Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) and Adirondack Park Agency (APA) consent order before U.S. Federal Judge Kahn in Albany. Following the lawsuit in federal…
Group Letter to Governor Hochul on Whitney Park Adirondack CouncilAdirondack Mountain ClubAdirondack Wild: Friends of the Forest PreserveAdirondack Wilderness AdvocatesCitizens Campaign for the EnvironmentNew York League of Conservation VotersProtect the Adirondacks!Sierra Club Atlantic Chapter October 29, 2024 Hon. Kathy Hochul, GovernorExecutive ChamberState CapitolAlbany, NY 12224RE: Whitney Park Dear Governor Hochul: As you are well aware,…
October 24, 2024 Megan Phillips, Deputy Director for PlanningNYS Adirondack Park AgencyP.O. Box 99Ray Brook, NY 12977 Re. Proposed Adirondack Park State Land Master Plan (APSLMP) amendments Dear Ms. Phillips, We have serious concerns about the speed by which major amendments to the APSLMP have been authorized to proceed to public hearing and comment. The…
For Immediate ReleaseOctober 21, 2024Contact: Dave Gibson, 518-469-4081, dgibson@adirondackwild.org Adirondack Wild 2024 Honorees North Creek, NY – Tannery Pond Community Center in North Creek played host this month to Adirondack Wild: Friends of the Forest Preserve’s annual meeting and 2024 award presentations. The Paul Schaefer Wilderness Award, named after 20th century wilderness preservation leader Paul…
Bearing Responsibility for the Adirondack Park State Land Master Plan Former member of the Adirondack Park Agency and former chair of its State Land Committee, Dick Booth, offered this advice about the most significant, controversial legal issues facing APA during his time as one of its members (2008-16): prioritize, anticipate, prepare, be transparent, and issue…