APA on Whitney in 1996: “A Significant Open Space and Ecological Resource” By Dave Gibson Adirondack Explorer’s writer Jim Odato recently reported of a pending sale of 36,000-acre Whitney Industries lands and waters in Long Lake to a Texas-based developer named Shawn Todd, known for constructing “high-end housing, golf courses, and resorts.” Given its private…
Memo in Opposition, S. 7164 – Authorizing Anyone 65+ to Use ATV’s on All NY Forest Preserve Lands Memorandum of OppositionS. 7164 / A. 7886 The bill amends the vehicle and traffic law to authorize anyone 65 years and older to operate an ATV on state lands, including the “forever wild” Adirondack and Catskill Forest…
COMMENTARY: Recreational Carrying Capacity of Adirondack Lakes By Dave Gibson The recently approved 2025-26 state budget includes a modest $1 million appropriation within the NYS Environmental Protection Fund which tasks and begins to fund the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation for an important pilot study delayed by more than 50 years: a carrying capacity study…
First-ever biography explores Schaefer’s lifelong efforts to protect Adirondacks By Bill Buell May 18, 2025The Daily Gazette NISKAYUNA — Paul Schaefer realized the possible conflicts that might arise from being both a builder of beautiful stone homes and an advocate for New York’s wilderness area. By all accounts, however, he managed to handle both realms…
Memo of Support for May-Kelles bill This bill would amend New York’s Real Property Tax Law, specifically the forest tax provisions of 480a, by broadening eligibility of private forest landowners to receive a reduction of up to 80% of taxable assessed valuation in exchange for permanent forest conservation. It reduces the minimum acreage eligible for…
For Immediate ReleaseMay 2, 2025Contact: Dave Gibson, 518-469-4081, [email protected] A Force for Nature: Paul Schaefer’s Adirondack Coalitions The nonprofit advocate Adirondack Wild: Friends of the Forest Preserve is pleased to announce that a biography of its founder, Paul Schaefer, has just been published by Syracuse University Press. To quote Syracuse University Press, A Force for…
Memo of Support for Amendment of Article XIV Re: Mt. Van Hoevenberg S. 5227 (Harckham) A. 7454 (Jones) Amendment of Article XIV Re. Mt. Van HoevenbergS. 6888 (Harckham) A. 3628 (Jones) Implementing bill, Mt. Van Hoevenberg Adirondack Wild: Friends of the Forest Preserve lends support for second legislative passage of the constitutional amendment of Article…
Conservation Minded Design for Adirondack Subdivisions Still Rarely Employed By Dave Gibson Ecologist and land use planner George Davis and his staff at the Commission on the Adirondacks in the 21st Century wrote in the Commission’s final report in 1990 that “rising land values and increasing costs of land ownership are making it difficult for forest and…
Michael Wilson – A river ran through him Michael died this winter, and I will remember him with much affection and admiration. I remember his laugh, and his eyes lit up when we met. I remember Michael investigating the social, cultural, and class dimensions of Adirondack wilderness, conservation, architecture, and other histories all around his…
Adirondack Park Agency Staff: ‘We Have A Hostile and Toxic Work Environment’ By Dave Gibson On February 12, 2025, the regional field representative for the Public Employees Federation (PEF), the union representing approximately 50,000 State employees with professional, scientific and technical responsibilities, sent an email to each of the eleven members of the Adirondack Park…