Head of NYS Department of Environmental Conservation engages with buyer to balance development and conservation at 36,600-acre Adirondack retreat
By James M. Odato
New York’s top environmental officer Tuesday said she has been in talks with the proposed buyer of a vast expanse of the Adirondack Park in attempts to encourage a balance of development and protection of the acreage.
Department of Environmental Conservation Commissioner Amanda Lefton said she reached out to Shawn Todd, chairman of Texas-based Todd Interests. The Dallas development company this spring entered into a contract to purchase the 36,600-acre Whitney Park in Long Lake.
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Todd envisions building a high-end retreat with a top golf course, fine-dining restaurant and expanded lodging in the park once owned by mining magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt Whitney and his wife Marylou Whitney, and later by Mrs. Whitney’s widower John Hendrickson. All of the owners have died and Hendrickson’s trusteed listed the property for sale this spring for $125 million.
“DEC is now proactively engaged in productive conversations with the contracted buyer of the Whitney estate,” said Commissioner Amanda Lefton in a statement to Adirondack Explorer. “We recognize the property’s expansive acreage, multiple waterbodies and waterfront, and extensive road networks create an opportunity for development. DEC is interested in ensuring conservation of the land’s most important natural resources, habitat connectivity, and recreational corridors for the benefit of the local community and New Yorkers as a whole.”
She said the department hopes the future uses of the land honors the Whitney and Hendrickson family’s legacy of stewardship and will “allow the state to work towards a conservation outcome that balances private development with community, recreational, and natural resource benefits.”
Lefton, confirmed as commissioner May 28, served as interim DEC leader since February. Shawn Todd said her office contacted him for a conversation just a few days after the Explorer broke the story June 2 about Todd’s contracts to buy Whitney Park and Cady Hill, the Whitney mansion in Saratoga Springs.
Whitney Park is considered prime open space and has been high on the state’s list of sites to conserve. Environmental groups have pushed for it to be included in the Adirondack Forest Preserve to preserve it as wilderness.
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However, John Hendrickson, who married Marylou Whitney in 1997, five years after Cornelius “Sonny” Whitney’s death, inherited the property when his wife died in 2019 and put it up for sale to private buyers.
He disliked the state’s care of about 15,000 Whitney Park acres it purchased in the late 1990s. He was particularly protective of a distinct strain of brook trout in Little Tupper Lake, one of the water bodies transferred to the state, and the fish were harmed by the introduction of bass after state takeover.
As a result, he did not want the remaining 36,600 acres of Whitney Park to go to the state and even proposed subdividing it when attempting to sell the property for $185 million shortly before he died in 2024.
Easements on the table
Lefton appears to be angling for conservation easements that would allow the new owner to enter into deals to protect land Todd Interests does not intend to develop.
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RELATED READING: Future plans for 36,600-acre Whitney estate may be limited by past decisions
Much of the Whitney Park acreage is unsuitable for building as it is wetlands. The property holds several residences and cabins, including a retreat called Deerlands with 17 bedrooms.
“For generations, the Whitney family has protected and stewarded a historic property in the heart of the Adirondacks,” Lefton said in her statement. “The State of New York believes in the importance of continuing that legacy.”
She said when the state succeeding in purchasing 14,700 acres of Whitney Park 28 years ago, Marylou Whitney and John Hendrickson “took a monumental step to preserve some of their land for future generations” and the couple continued their thoughtful management of the remaining Whitney Park property “in furtherance of that same ethic.”
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Shawn Todd, who founded Todd Interests 35 years ago, said he is encouraged by Lefton’s statement. He said his conversations with her department have been professional. “I’m encouraged with how well they communicated their hope of having a desirable outcome for everyone.”
“I’m glad she recognized the stewardship of John Hendrickson and Marylou Whitney of that asset,” he said. “Her recognizing the development potential is an accurate statement.”
He said he has visited the Long Lake property several times in the past 30 days.
Asked about conservation easements, he said his team has been looking into such possibilities. He added there are “certain aspects” of the Whitney Park transaction “that would greatly diminish the ability to do that.”
He would not get into specifics, but in the past he has referred to deed restrictions on the land that prevents the state from ever acquiring Whitney Park. Edward Hendrickson, trustee of the estate, refused to confirm such language exists.
Environmental groups react
Environmental leaders pressed Gov. Kathy Hochul to find a way to acquire the property a few months after Hendrickson died last August. Since news of Todd Interests’ deal to buy the land, environmental leaders in the Adirondacks have pushed for conservation easements, an option Shawn Todd said he is open to discussing.
John Sheehan, a spokesman for the Adirondack Council, said the group has been hoping DEC would approach Todd Interests and is pleased to hear that has happened.
“Our discussions with the state have made it clear they are working toward a positive outcome on this property,” he said.
He said DEC Commissioner John Cahill, under Gov. George Pataki, acted similarly. Cahill contacted Whitney Industries about buying the 15,000 acres that included LIttle Tupper Lake to protect it from development
Claudia Braymer, executive director of Protect the Adirondacks, called Lefton’s actions “proactive” and “very welcome news.”
Whitney Park has significant conservation and recreation potential for things such as restoring historic canoe routes, she said. “It’s really important that the state does move forward as aggressively as it can to protect Whitney Park,” she said.
Whitney Park, in the northern tier of the 6-million-acre Adirondack Park, includes 22 lakes and ponds and is home to many species of wildlife, birds and plants.
Photo at top courtesy of Gustav Schmiege
It seems to me that putting a golf-course on that land is in direct conflict with efforts to preserve it as wilderness. Golf-courses are extremely detrimental to the environment. The enormous amount of water and pesticides needed to keep the greens green will undoubtedly ravage the surrounding habitat. The run-off into nearby streams and lakes would also negatively affect those brook trout that Hendrickson was so keen on protecting. All of the recent construction and clear cutting for solar farms lately has resulted in the Adirondack Park feeling less like a wilderness preserve and more like an outdoor mall.
Hard to think of a worse possible outcome for Adirondack forest land than a golf course. Not only does a golf course require large-scale clear cutting and permanent habitat destruction, but it means perpetual dousing with pesticides and fertilizers, enormous water consumption, and daily operation of a fleet of gas-guzzling, noise-polluting machinery.
John Hendrickson didn’t want Whitney Park to become a forest preserve because he ostensibly thought it provided insufficient protection for lake trout, so he sells it to a golf course developer from Texas instead???
The state of NY ‘s policy of forever is the biggest abuse of forest land in the country – no conservation involved in their policy at all
Forever IS conservation, regardless of what forestry capitalists filled your head with.
WHERE was the Nature Conservancy when this land became available?
It’s ironic that John Hendrickson would not sell to the state because he didn’t like their management of the tract sold to them, but was ok selling to a developer who wants to build, among other things, a golf course. I wonder what his wife had to say when he met her on the other side.
That’s EXACTLY right. Bass in Little Tupper Lake is worse than significant development on this sizable pristine land? I’m glad the guy is …. .
If “deed restrictions” that this guy alludes to exist, preventing the state from ever owning the land, wouldn’t record of that exist with the deed that was filed with the County?
Yeah, now the DEC is talking. Where were they, Hochul and the legislature when it was up for sale? A tremendous lost opportunity to add to the Forest Preserve in the core of the Adirondacks and protect it forever. Unforgivable.
Whoever introduced bass to trout waters should be in jail!
As I stated to reporter James Odato, it’s very welcome news that the DEC Commissioner is talking directly to the developer/prospective buyer who says that the company is open to conservation of Whitney Park. However, the current seller of the Whitney Park apparently plans to add “deed restrictions on the land that prevents the state from ever acquiring Whitney Park” and will “greatly diminish” the State’s ability to acquire even conservation easements. We are disappointed to hear that and hope that it’s not the case. The Whitney family were careful stewards of the land for over 100 years – it would be a shame if there were restrictions making it more difficult for the State to engage in a long-term conservation solution that protects Whitney Park for all New Yorkers. We have all heard that John Hendrickson did not want to sell the land to the State and it looks like his wish will be honored by his brother. Perhaps other concerns about State management could be resolved without trying to block the State from ever working with a willing landowner. One concern that has been repeated multiple times is the claim that DEC’s mismanagement jeopardized the trout in Little Tupper Lake after the Whitney family sold it to the State in 1997. However, DEC put in place regulations to protect the trout in the lake and it’s believed that “fisherman illegally introduced the bass out of contempt for the state’s restrictive policies”. https://www.adirondackexplorer.org/stories/tragedy-of-the-trout
It’s unfair to hold that incident against the State when it was not DEC action that resulted in the damage to the trout population. Let’s continue to keep at the forefront of the conversations the conservation and recreation values of Whitney Park (https://www.adirondackalmanack.com/2025/07/commentary-why-all-the-fuss-about-whitney-park.html).
NYS couldn’t manage a girl scout cookie sale! The less they get their inept hands on, The better!!
Eminent domain and endless litigation are the solution to keep Texas carbetbaggers out and transition this to the public. Let the billionaires find another place to despoil.