Governor Hochul’s Adirondack Park Agency Nominations
Senator Peter Harckham, Chair, Environmental Conservation Committee
Senator Liz Krueger, Chair, Senate Finance Committee
NYS Senate
Albany, NY 12247
Re. Governor Hochul’s Adirondack Park Agency Nominations
Dear Senators Krueger and Harckham,
The Adirondack Park Agency badly needs nominees with environmental and natural resource planning experience who share a commitment to protect the natural resources of the Adirondack Park. That in turn depends on rigorous oversight of Adirondack private development and stewardship of the public’s Forest Preserve.
State courts have made it clear that APA’s legislated purpose is not to balance environmental protection and economic development. Instead, courts have affirmed what the legislature decided: that natural resource protection is the overriding, paramount responsibility of the Agency while taking into account other considerations. A high-quality environment is the very basis for the Park’s economic health. The Adirondacks are an iconic wilderness landscape where APA integrated actions for climate mitigation, resource protection, and land and watershed planning ought to set a high standard for the state and nation. Therefore, the APA Board requires members with critical thinking, judgment, courage, and commitment to uphold APA’s planning responsibilities.
We believe Governor Hochul’s new APA nominees, Jose Almanzar and Russ Holt, are outstanding because these individuals possess environmental awareness and experience that the Agency needs. We trust that they will inject fresh perspective into APA deliberations and votes. We support their nomination, as well as the renomination of Zoe Smith and Benita Law-Diao because of their demonstrated environmental awareness and votes. We hope the Governor appoints a new Agency chair and ex-officio members who also prioritize resource protection.
Also, we advocate for legislative reforms of the 1973 APA Act, mostly unchanged in 52 years. The Act has not kept up with contemporary conservation science during climate change, and it must. We will look to the State Legislature to champion specific reforms, such as mandatory conservation design of residential subdivisions, and to hold public sessions to consider needed changes, some of which are described in our publications Adirondack Park at a Crossroad and Pathways to a Connected Adirondack Park.
We thank Governor Hochul and all of you for considering our concerns. Given climate and environmental backtracking in Washington D.C., we need you all to take strong action here benefiting the Adirondacks, the constitutionally protected Adirondack and Catskill Forest Preserve, and common environments across the state.
Respectfully,
David Gibson, Managing Partner
Adirondack Wild: Friends of the Forest Preserve
P.O. Box 9247
Niskayuna, NY 12309
Adirondackwild.org
518-469-4081
Cc:
Deborah Glick, Chair, NYS Assembly Environmental Conservation Committee
Ashley Dougherty, Executive Chamber