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Credit goes to the Department of Environmental Conservation and its Region 5 facilitators for including a “break-out” session on Permits at its late July High Peaks-Route 73 stakeholder meeting at the Keene Central School. After all, the very word “permit” has been an electrified “third rail” (hazardous, indeed) topic for years.
That was not always the case, however. In 1978, the first draft of a High Peaks Unit Management Plan included a section on “individual user controls” with eight alternatives along a spectrum ranging from mandatory registration and reservation permit systems, to no controls at all. Alternative C, reservation or permit systems, stated that “through past experience the U.S. Forest Service has found that a permit system is one of the best ways of gathering user information concerning an individual management area.”
The 1978 draft UMP went on to recommend that a “free permit system should be initiated in the eastern High Peaks with no effort to limit numbers of people using the area for at least three years. Data will be analyzed. If at some time in the future it is determined that numbers of people using the area will have to be controlled, even just for certain high use weekends, the mechanism will already be in place to do so.” » Continue Reading.
The Adirondack Mountain Club (ADK) and the Adirondack Chapter of The Nature Conservancy have announced that the Adirondack High Peaks Summit Stewardship Program was awarded the New York State Environmental Excellence Award at a ceremony on November 15th at Union College.
The 
The Adirondack Mountain Club (ADK) has announced that Education Director Julia Goren received the 2016 Guy Waterman Alpine Steward Award. This award is given annually to a person or organization who has demonstrated a long term commitment to protecting the physical and spiritual qualities of the mountain wilderness of the Northeast United States. Julia was recognized for her work protecting the alpine ecosystem and for mentoring the next generation of alpine stewards.
After more than a 25 years of protecting New York State’s alpine zone, the Adirondack High Peaks Summit Stewardship Program is being recognized in a new publication.
General inquiries about the Adirondack Almanack should be directed to editor 
The mountains are calling …
“Mountains are our crystal ball,” John All, scientist and mountaineer writes in Icefall. “Understand them, and you get a glimpse of the planet’s future.”
All almost lost his life during an expedition to understand climate change in the world’s most remote places, the subject of his book, a source for my current research into the high peaks of the Adirondacks. He risks everything to tell stories of resilience and human adaptation.
These qualities of courage and perseverance are alive and well in those who steward the High Peaks Wilderness, subjects of my upcoming feature which will explore the history of protection for alpine ecosystems. Rare plant species persist after nearly becoming extinct because of foresight and dedication on behalf of organizations like the Adirondack Mountain Club. What lessons have we learned from past successes in protecting threatened species in unique ecosystems and how might we apply them to new climate challenges? This is what I’ll be looking to understand in the coming month.
» Continue Reading.