Cloudsplitter Foundation Grant

For Immediate Release
Friday, August 20, 2021

Contact: David Gibson, 518.469.4081
dgibson@adirondackwild.org

Cloudsplitter Foundation Grant Supports Work of Adirondack Wild

Saranac Lake, NY – Adirondack Wild: Friends of the Forest Preserve, a not-for-profit advocate and educator for wildlands and for enhanced planning of human development, has received a $3,000 grant from Cloudsplitter Foundation.

“We are very grateful to Cloudsplitter Foundation for grant support of our work as a friends group for the public’s Forest Preserve,” said Adirondack Wild’s managing partner David Gibson. “We oversee and influence state agency management of the Forest Preserve, we advocate for stronger regional planning practices, and we collaborate for sound stewardship of our majestic, ‘forever wild’ lakes, mountains and forests.”

Adirondack Wild has documented how the long-range planning and stewardship capacity at the state’s Adirondack Park Agency and Department of Environmental Conservation has diminished over time due to budget cuts, loss of leadership and erosion of mission and purpose.

This troubling trend comes despite the need for a more robust planning response as Adirondack climate, rainfall and snowpack conditions change and as pressures on the natural and personnel resources of the Park increase from a growing number of recreational visitors.

“Cloudsplitter Foundation’s grant will help us to step up our role as advocate and collaborator for wilderness character, applying carrying capacity principles on our trails, lakes and peaks, and helping to reduce the most damaging impacts of human development of the Park’s private lands through smarter design,” added Gibson.

Adirondack Wild was reorganized in 2010 from Friends of the Forest Preserve, founded in 1945 by wilderness coalition leader Paul Schaefer. Adirondack Wild has a board of nine, an advisory council of seven, and a full-time staff of two. Adirondack Wild: Friends of the Forest Preserve has 900 members working together on behalf of wilderness and wild land values and stewardship.