Former Adirondack Park Agency Member and State Land Chair Richard Booth, who left the APA on July 1 after eight years of public service, will receive Adirondack Wild’s highest honor – the Paul Schaefer Wilderness Award.

The award will be conveyed on Saturday, October 1 at Adirondack Wild’s annual meeting at the Indian Lake Theater in Indian Lake, Hamilton County, starting at 1 pm.

Paul Schaefer Wilderness Award: Dick Booth hails from Plattsburgh, worked for the APA in its early years, and teaches city and regional planning at Cornell University. His many achievements on the APA include leadership in achieving the 2013 classification of the Essex Chain of Lakes and Pine Lake Primitive Areas in Newcomb, Minerva and Indian Lake. He is also being honored for consistently upholding the integrity of the APA’s legislative responsibilities under the Park’s State Land Master Plan and Private Land Use and Development Plan.

Booth cast carefully reasoned votes against the Adirondack Club and Resort, the Essex Chain of Lakes Unit Management Plan and the State Land Master Plan amendments of 2016. In his final week serving the APA he issued a detailed memo for public distribution on State Land Master Plan Classifications of Large-Acreage Forest Preserve Acquisitions.

Wild Stewardship Award, Kent Busman, Camp Fowler: A Wild Stewardship Award will be presented to Kent Busman, Executive Director of Camp Fowler in Lake Pleasant, Hamilton County, for thirty years as the Camp’s leader. Every year Kent and the Reformed Church’s Camp Fowler introduce hundreds of young people from all walks of life to the joys and responsibilities of life on Sacandaga Lake near Lake Pleasant, and to the Forest Preserve wilderness and community of life beyond the camp. The camp also models Kent’s environmental ethic and sense of spirituality combined with stewardship through its award winning, integrated environmental sustainability program and through the dedication of its counselors and staff.

Wild Stewardship Award, Marilyn Patterson, Greig Town Supervisor: A Wild Stewardship Award will also be given to Town of Greig Supervisor Marilyn Patterson for her ongoing efforts and those of private citizens in her town to protect an important forest aquifer from exploitation. The hotly contested proposal was to commercially develop, pipe, truck and sell spring water at 200 gallons per minute to an out-of-area corporation. Impacts to private wells, groundwater, biologically active vernal pools and other forest natural resources led to sustained activity to defend the town’s water resources as a public trust and to pass more protective local zoning laws. The town has been repeatedly sued by the developer. The courts have ruled that Greig has the right to regulate commercial water extraction within its borders.

Ecologically Informed Site Planning: A special presentation about Ecologically Informed Site Planning and the keys to collecting and applying substantive ecological information prior to development will be presented by Adirondack Wild’s Landscape Conservation Advisor, Dr. Michael Klemens. Dr. Klemens is an ecologist and conservation biologist with more than three decades of experience in assessing biodiversity and the impacts of various land use practices. He also chairs his town’s Planning Board.

Also, Adirondack Wild staff and board will deliver reports about the group’s activities over the past year and its plans for the coming year. Adirondack Wild’s Annual Meeting in Indian Lake is free and open to the pubic, but reservations are requested. To reserve, contact Ken Rimany by email at krimany@adirondackwild.org.

Photo: Dick Booth, courtesy Ken Rimany, Adirondack Wild.