Adirondack Wild: Friends of the Forest Preserve will make free hard copies of its guidebook Pathways to a Connected Adirondack Park available during its Keene Valley meeting on Saturday, October 12, 2019 at the Keene Valley Congregational Church.

The illustrated guidebook, authored by conservation biologist Dr. Michael Klemens, was written to de-mystify the process of ecologically-informed land use and development for a general audience. It defines and describes the threat to people and wildlife of fragmentation of large contiguous areas in the Adirondack Park by being broken up into ever smaller, isolated patches of land. The publications describes ten strategies for localities and for regional entities like the Adirondack Park Agency (APA) to adopt which can lead to better land use decisions that avoid or minimize fragmentation, reduce the ecological footprint of development and still accommodate vibrant human communities, working forests and outdoor recreation.

The guidebook’s strategies include Conservation Subdivision Design, a process which incorporates modern conservation development principles and practices to curtail the negative effects of scattered, exurban development or rural sprawl.

The meeting’s keynote speaker is Member of the NYS Assembly Steve Englebright, Chairman of the Assembly’s Environmental Conservation Committee. He is expected to describe legislation he has introduced to require Conservation Subdivision Design principles for the Park’s largest subdivision applications before the APA. A panel of Adirondack stakeholders who have helped Englebright to make amendments to his legislation will respond to his remarks.

The Oct. 12 meeting at Keene Valley Congregational Church is free and open to the public. Registration begins at 10 am; the meeting begins at 11 am; Assemblyman Englebright speaks at 1 pm. An award ceremony honoring Keene resident and wild land advocate and educator Dan Plumley and the Ausable River Association’s executive director Kelley Tucker concludes the afternoon portion of the meeting.

The full agenda is available online. To register in advance, email Ken Rimany at krimany@adirondackwild.org.

Photo of Pathways to a Connected Adirondack Park provided.