The Fort Ticonderoga Association has announced that it has acquired 47 acres on the east face of Mount Defiance, to help protect the historically important mountain from which the British took Fort Ticonderoga in 1777.
The acquisition was made possible through partnership with the Open Space Institute (OSI) which provided a $46,000 grant for the purchase and related expenses. » Continue Reading.
ANCA’s annual Clean Energy Economy Conference is set to return to the Queensbury Hotel in Glens Falls on October 24-25, 2018. The annual forum attracts clean energy leaders from across Northern New York and Vermont who are driving renewable energy adoption in the region.
This year’s conference focuses on “disruptive innovation” and will explore advancements affecting the region such as transportation and battery storage. The conference agenda includes special tracks for residential consumers, small businesses and industry professionals, as well as professional training opportunities that provide continuing education credits. » Continue Reading.
The Cuomo Administration is searching for a new Chair for the Adirondack Park Agency (APA). The Governor appointed Karen Feldman, an attorney from Columbia County, who also has a home on Schroon Lake, as a Temporary Chair in July at the time the APA Chair Sherman Craig (Wanakena) resigned. Feldman is campaigning for her temporary status to be made permanent and she is currently Team Cuomo’s top candidate for the job.
The APA Chair is one of eight appointed Board seats where an individual is nominated by the Governor and approved by the State Senate. Under state law, five APA Board members must be full-time Park residents and three must reside in counties outside the Adirondack Park Blue Line. There can only be a maximum of five Board members from one political party and Board members serve 4 year terms, two of which expire each year and run in a continuous cycle. Under NYS law Board members can continue to serve in “expired” terms. New Board members are often appointed to partial terms. » Continue Reading.
On Friday, September 7, the Lake George Land Conservancy (LGLC) marked the opening of the Leeming Jelliffe Preserve in Huletts Landing with a ribbon-cutting ceremony attended by nearly 40 community members and supporters of the project.
The 33.3-acre upland preserve was purchased by the LGLC in April. Over the summer, LGLC staff and volunteers blazed a short, easy trail to the preserve’s viewpoint overlooking the narrows and Silver Bay on the western shore. There is currently a small road-front area for parking; a larger parking lot may be created, if needed. » Continue Reading.
Plug-in electric vehicle drivers, supporters, and interested local residents are invited to attend The Wild Center’s celebration of National Drive Electric Week on Saturday, September 15 from 11 am to 3 pm.
National Drive Electric Week is a nationwide celebration to heighten awareness of today’s widespread availability of plug-in vehicles and highlight the benefits of all-electric and plug-in hybrid-electric cars, trucks, motorcycles, and more. » Continue Reading.
The New York State Departments of Environmental Conservation (DEC) and Agriculture and Markets (DAM) have confirmed that spotted lanternfly (SLF), an invasive pest from Asia, has been found in Albany and Yates counties.
A single adult insect was discovered in a vehicle in the Capital District. In addition, a single adult insect was reported on a private Keuka Lake property in Penn Yan, Yates County.
Following both reported cases, DEC and DAM began surveys in the area and report that at this time no additional insects have been found. DEC and DAM urge New Yorkers to report potential sightings to spottedlanternfly@dec.ny.gov. » Continue Reading.
As an advocate for quiet waters, on August 18, 2018, I joined with 36 canoes and guide boats on a Canoe-In to Weller Pond and Little Weller Pond to lobby for no motors on these pristine bodies of water (cul-de-sacs of the Saranac Chain of Lakes.) As we paddled toward the channel to Weller Pond nine powerboats lined the shore of nearby Hungry Bay. We chanted “All we want is 2%: You have 98,” referencing the amount of the waters open to motors on these lakes. The entire 17.5- mile route from Lower Saranac to Upper Saranac Lake allows for the unlimited use of motorboats.
The motor-boaters held signs urging that Weller be kept open to them. After hearing about the Canoe-In, they had sponsored an advertisement in the Adirondack Daily Enterprise on August 11 encouraging “Motorboat owners and boat enthusiasts to come and show your support in preserving and protecting our rights on the water.” » Continue Reading.
The Adirondack Park Agency (APA) will hold its monthly meeting at its headquarters in Ray Brook, NY on Thursday, September 13th, 2018.
The meeting will address a variance request to expand a single-family dwelling located within the shoreline setback of Fern Lake; consideration of a State Land Master Plan conformance public comment period for a proposal to amend the Department of Environmental Conservation’s generic campground unit management plan; a discussion on the Agency’s policy on Renewable Energy Production and Energy Supply; and more.
What follows is the agenda issued by the APA: » Continue Reading.
The Nature Conservancy’s Adirondack Chapter has added three members to its board of trustees: David and Hannah Darrin, a father and daughter with longstanding ties to conservation efforts in New York and elsewhere, and Takeyce Walter, a painter whose work has prominently featured the Adirondacks. » Continue Reading.
A new major subdivision project is under review by the Adirondack Park Agency (APA). It’s the first to use the new application process developed by the APA earlier this year for large-scale subdivisions.
The project is shaping up as an important test drive of both the new review process and to see if the APA can convince a major developer that has undertaken a series of conventional checkerboard subdivision projects across New York to do business in the Adirondacks differently by utilizing land use development practices that protect open space and natural resources. » Continue Reading.
The last few years have brought a dramatic shift in fire behavior in the Western United States. Fires are more intense, more common in the wildland-urban interface, and the burning seasons are longer. Most fire professionals no longer even recognize “fire seasons” in parts of the country, but rather “fire years.” All of this is occurring while there is shrinking pool of human resources to fight fires.
The National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC), is the country’s support center for wildland firefighting. Its policy states that “Wildland fire recognizes no ownership or jurisdictional boundaries on the landscape; nor do the complex issues of fire management. As a result, perhaps nowhere is the practice of interagency and interdepartmental cooperation more prevalent and effective as in the nation’s wildland fire community.” » Continue Reading.
State agencies in the Adirondack Park are full of dedicated, hardworking employees who want to do their level best under their relevant laws and jurisdictions. However, in a situation where the same agency acts both as the applicant and the decider of an application, the public has good reason to be skeptical that there will be sufficient independence to raise difficult questions, much less objections.
This situation is apparent in the August 22, 2018 edition of the Environmental Notice Bulletin (ENB) issued weekly by the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation, or DEC. This edition of the ENB gives the public notice that a “Cedar River Bridge and Recreational Trail” is the subject of a permit application by the DEC’s Division of Lands and Forests. The decider of that permit application is the Permits Division of the same DEC. » Continue Reading.
New York State is one of the birthplaces of the American idea of wilderness. The Adirondack Park stands with Yellowstone and Yosemite as iconic landscapes that helped shape our ideas of the value of wild places. The Adirondacks served as inspiration to many of the early champions of wilderness preservation, from Ralph Waldo Emerson and his compatriots at the famed Philosophers’ Camp to Bob Marshall and Howard Zahniser, who pushed to create a national wilderness-preservation system.
Indeed, the Adirondack Park is of global significance. UNESCO recognized the value of these lands and waters when it established the Champlain-Adirondack Biosphere Reserve in 1989. It is one of just thirty Biosphere Reserves in the United States. » Continue Reading.
The July/August issue of the Explorer carried an impassioned call from Chris Amato for the Department of Environmental Conservation to implement a permit system for the High Peaks Wilderness Area.
Amato’s rationale was that the High Peaks no longer meet the definition of a “wilderness area” contained in the Adirondack State Land Master Plan (ASLMP). The ASLMP definition includes the phrases “untrammeled by man” and “outstanding opportunities for solitude.” » Continue Reading.
The High Peaks Wilderness Complex and the Vanderwhacker Mountain Wild Forest Unit Management Plan (UMP) Amendments are final and implementation of the management actions described in the two amendments has begun according to the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC).
Currently group size regulations for all of the High Peaks Wilderness, including the former Dix Mountain Wilderness lands, are in effect, limiting day use groups (hikers) to no more than 15 people and overnight use groups (campers) to no more than 8 people. Parking areas along Route 73 have been striped and parking rules are now being enforced there. » Continue Reading.
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