Posts Tagged ‘Travel-Tourism’

Saturday, June 15, 2013

Commentary: ARTA Rail Trail, Economic No-Brainer

Elroy Sparta TrailHere’s a classic Adirondack contradiction of the kind that drives me crazy.

For a thousand years we have had a perceived face-off in the Adirondacks (sometimes perception is reality, sometimes not, right?), one which plays out every day on the pages of the Almanack – and everywhere else there is an outlet for opinion.  In the green corner we have the the preservationists and environmentalists who want more wilderness, more protection for the ecology of the park and less development.  In the blue corner we have many local residents, businesses and government leaders who want to see healthier communities.  They see the restrictive policies of DEC, the APA and the preservationist agenda as a big problem and they see the balance between preservation and the welfare of the residents of the park as out of whack.  They love the wilderness too but they would like fewer restrictions on development, a green light for the ACR and a wider variety of recreational uses for the Forest Preserve.  Okay.  Whichever of the myriad of associated positions and disputes may be rhetoric and whichever may be real, everyone knows this story. » Continue Reading.


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Monday, June 10, 2013

Options For New State Lands: Wild Forest

Essex ChainSo far, we have looked at proposals to designate most of the former Finch, Pruyn lands Wilderness, Primitive, or Canoe. In the last article in our series, we examine two proposals to classify most of the lands Wild Forest—the least restrictive of the four classifications.

Altogether, the Adirondack Park Agency has put together seven options for the management and use of 21,200 acres of former Finch, Pruyn lands that the state purchased from the Nature Conservancy. The options will be discussed at a series of public hearings. The first will be this Wednesday at 6 p.m. at the APA office in Ray Brook. The last hearing will be July 2. The APA board could vote on a final proposal as early as August.

In each article in the Adirondack Almanack series, we examine one proposal or two related proposals. We include the APA map or maps showing the classification of the lands under the proposal in question. » Continue Reading.


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Thursday, June 6, 2013

State To Reconsider Use Of Adirondack Rail Corridor

ray-brook-railThe state announced today that it intends to revisit the management plan for a controversial rail corridor that traverses the Adirondacks, but don’t expect a quick decision.

The Department of Environmental Conservation and Department of Transportation have only just begun to prepare for a lengthy review that will include plenty of opportunity for public input.

A decision on the best use of the 119-mile corridor will take at least a year, according to DOT spokesman Beau Duffy. » Continue Reading.


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Monday, June 3, 2013

Options For New State Lands: Canoe Area

Essex ChainIn the first two articles of this series, we looked at proposals to classify the former Finch, Pruyn lands Wilderness or Primitive. This week we look at two proposals for creating the Park’s second Canoe Area.

Altogether, the Adirondack Park Agency has put together seven options for the management and use of 22,500 acres of former Finch, Pruyn lands that the state purchased from the Nature Conservancy. The options will be discussed at a series of public hearings from June 12 to July 2. The APA board could vote on a final proposal as early as August.

The four articles in this Adirondack Almanack series endeavor to explain these options. In each, we examine one proposal or two related proposals. The text is accompanied by the APA map or maps showing the classification of the lands under the proposal in question. » Continue Reading.


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Thursday, May 23, 2013

APA Schedules Hearings On New State Lands

Essex ChainThe Adirondack Park Agency plans to hold eight hearings around the state to explain options for managing 21,200 acres of former Finch, Pruyn lands and up 24,200 acres of adjacent Forest Preserve. The agency also will gather input from the public on the management and use of the lands.

The APA board is expected to adopt one of the options—possibly with alterations—at its August or September meeting.

The state recently bought the 21,200 acres from the Nature Conservancy, which acquired some 161,000 acres from Finch, Pruyn & Company in 2007. The state intends to buy a total of 65,000 acres of former Finch lands over the next few years.

The APA has set forth seven options for classifying the lands so far acquired. All of them call for creation of a Hudson Gorge Wilderness Area. They differ mainly in the classification of the Essex Chain Lakes and in the degree of motorized access to the Essex Chain and the Hudson.

» Continue Reading.


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Friday, May 17, 2013

Hearings On New State Lands to Begin June 12

Essex ChainThe Adirondack Park Agency will kick off on June 12 a series of public hearings on the use and management of 22,500 acres of new state land, including the Essex Chain Lakes and parts of the Hudson River.

After the hearings, the APA will decide how to classify the lands—a decision that will affect how people can recreate and how accessible the lands will be. The state recently bought the former Finch, Pruyn timberlands from the Nature Conservancy.
» Continue Reading.


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Saturday, May 11, 2013

Improving The High Peaks Wilderness

Great Range from the First BrotherThis week I am getting my mountain fix in the Pacific Northwest, where Amy and I are attending a school in wilderness woodcraft.  That circumstance will make this week’s Dispatch mercifully short.  It will have to serve as a prelude to a more substantial missive I have been working on for a few weeks, one  which will offer suggestions – some of them certain to provoke disagreement – for improving the wilderness experience in the High Peaks, better protecting the Forest Preserve in general and sensitive high mountain terrain in particular.

Regular readers know that I am a proponent of expanding the State’s wilderness holdings.  I have written a number of Dispatches on this topic, so will not repeat my justification for this position here.  But equal to that desire is the desire to see existing wilderness holdings become wilder and healthier over time.  It should be said right at the forefront that the people of the State of New York have done extremely well with that.  Tony Goodwin, commenting to me this week on a number of topics that will be part of my coming Dispatch, gave me a useful and important perspective on this when he described the conditions when he first climbed Mount Marcy, in 1957: » Continue Reading.


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Friday, April 26, 2013

Judge Says Rafting Company Violated Law

cunningham-300x246The state attorney general’s office has won the bulk of its lawsuit against Hudson River Rafting Company and its owner, Patrick Cunningham.

State Supreme Court Justice Richard Giardino ruled on March 29 in favor of the state on three of four causes of action, finding that Hudson River Rafting violated the law by repeatedly sending customers on whitewater-rafting trips with unlicensed guides and transporting them in buses with unlicensed drivers.

The judge has yet to determine any penalties, but he continued an order forbidding Hudson River Rafting from running whitewater-rafting trips. The whitewater season began a few weeks ago. » Continue Reading.


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Monday, April 1, 2013

Marketing Local Farm Products to Adirondack Innkeepers

innkeepers and farmersCornell Cooperative Extension is hosting two workshops in the Adirondack Region in April, designed to bring accommodations together with farmers with products for sale. The project’s goal is to give innkeepers and farmers a chance to meet, get acquainted, encourage transactions, and, finally, to promote these opportunities in the future in a systematic way.

Each Innkeeper will take home a gift basket that could include jams and jellies, processed meat and grain products, flowers and produce in-season, or any kind of product or information on agritourism or services from New York farms. » Continue Reading.


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Thursday, March 21, 2013

Journalism, Social Media, and Adirondack Marketing

Pew2013DigitalHave you altogether stopped watching, reading or listening to your go-to news source because it doesn’t provide the information you’re seeking? Well, you’re not alone.

The recently released Pew Research Center’s Annual Report on American Journalism, “The State of the News Media 2013”, finds that the power of journalism continues to shrink as the news industry continues to cut jobs and news coverage. In fact, estimates for the decline in newsroom employment – at newspapers – in 2012 is down 30 percent since its peak in 2000. » Continue Reading.


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