View of mountains behind Lake George

APA failure to hold public hearings has consequences

APA failure to hold public hearings has consequences Last April, Adirondack organizations wrote to the Adirondack Park Agency asking APA to rediscover their discretionary power to hold adjudicatory public hearings on particularly complex, controversial Adirondack land use projects. No response to our joint letter has been forthcoming from the APA. However, a rather resounding response…

Letter to the APA, Wild Forest Guideline 4

March 8, 2023Barbara Rice, Executive Director &John Ernst, ChairNYS Adirondack Park AgencyP.O. Box 99Ray Brook, NY 12977Dear Barbara and John, During the February Agency meeting members and staff continued to debate Wild Forest guideline 4, “no material increase in the mileage of Wild Forest roads and snowmobile trails open to motorized uses by the public”…

Adirondack Park Lobby Day in Albany  

March 1, 2023Contact: David Gibson, Adirondackwild.org518-469-4081, dgibson@adirondackwild.org Adirondack Park Lobby Day in Albany Photo by Ken Rimany Albany, NY – Nearly 100 people from 20 different Adirondack organizations met with 50 state legislators and their staff during Adirondack Park Lobby Day to advocate for funding and policy advancements for the Adirondack Park. A group of…

Group leader speaking to hikers in front of a snow-covered cabin in the woods

The Heart of the Adirondacks

The Heart of the Adirondacks Newcomb is in the heart of the Adirondack Park, and Newcomb’s Adirondack Interpretive Center (AIC) of the State University College of Environmental Science and Forestry is the beating heart of Park ecological science. AIC operates one of the longest, if not the longest, uninterrupted study of the interactions of forest…

Letter to DEC, Comment on draft Commissioner’s Policy – Forest Preserve Work Plan Policy

Peter FrankNew York State DECDivision of Lands and Forests625 BroadwayAlbany, NY 12233 Re. Comment on draft Commissioner’s Policy: Forest Preserve Work Plans Dear Mr. Frank, While DEC’s Draft Forest Preserve Work Plan Policy contains good logic and structure, and addresses key constitutionally required questions to be answered in Forest Preserve work plans, there are also…

Governor Nelson Rockefeller signing the APA Act, 1973,

APA Act at 50 – Interdependence, not Balance

APA Act at 50 – Interdependence, not Balance Well, it’s happened again. Another state budget is proposed by the Executive wherein the Adirondack Park Agency’s job is mischaracterized by this Governor’s (and former governors’) budget divisions as working “to achieve a balance between strong environmental protection and sustainable economic development opportunities for the residents of…

Letter to the Governor – Nominations for the NYS Adirondack Park Agency

Honorable Kathy Hochul, GovernorExecutive ChamberState CapitolAlbany, NY 12224 Adirondack CouncilAdirondack Wild: Friends of the Forest PreserveEnvironmental Advocates of New YorkProtect the AdirondacksSierra Club Atlantic Chapter Dear Governor Hochul: 2023 presents major challenges and great opportunities for the Adirondack Park. The year will kick off with the World University Games in Lake Placid and North Creek,…