Long-time Keene resident and environmental activist Dan Plumley will leave his post as founding partner with the non-profit wilderness advocacy group Adirondack Wild: Friends of the Forest Preserve at the end of January.

Plumley helped found Adirondack Wild in 2010. He is expected to work as an independent consultant in the Adirondacks according to a press release issued by Adirondack Wild.

Plumley has worked in Adirondack conservation circles since 1982 when he landed his first position as Park Ranger with the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYS-DEC) on Lake George. He has been an ardent advocate for the High Peaks, Dix, Giant and other Wilderness areas for more than 30 years. More recently, he’s advocated for wilderness protection of the Boreas Ponds.

“Dan Plumley has been a tireless advocate for Wilderness since the days he wore a Ranger’s uniform and the pace and commitments he set then have never slackened,” David Gibson, managing partner of Adirondack Wild said in a statement sent to the press.. “We owe Dan a great debt of gratitude for the founding of Adirondack Wild, for the gains we’ve made over the past 9 years, and for his achievements in wild land conservation over the past 37 years. “

“In the short term we are reluctant to lose his knowledge, drive and spirit. Longer term, we know he will continue to make important contributions to the Adirondack region and to wilderness and cultural landscapes, both here and internationally,” Gibson’s statement also said.

Since 1985, Plumley has worked for the NY State Forest Practices Board, the Adirondack Council and the Association for the Protection of the Adirondacks. He also held conservation and cultural advocacy positions with Ecologically Sustainable Development in Siberia, Russia and in Mongolia, and also worked with Protect the Adirondacks before founding Adirondack Wild in 2010.

Plumley was named a member of the federal Acid Rain advisory Committee in 1990. He has shared his Adirondack experience in regions as remote as Siberia, Russia and Mongolia, and has worked to preserve and sustain yak and reindeer herding culture in those parts of the world.

Plumley says he will also be making some time for his favorite winter pastime of ice climbing and winter mountaineering. He is also a fire company officer on the Keene Fire and EMS Department.