The only independent, nonprofit news organization solely dedicated to reporting on the Adirondack Park.
By James Odato
Seven workers at the wollastonite processing plant in Willsboro were laid off by owner Imerys on Friday. It’s the latest setback for workers at a mineral operation where a state land swap approved by New York voters has failed to materialize.
Federal authorities have halted consideration of whether the 30-mile rail line from North Creek to the former Tahawus mine in the central Adirondacks should be declared abandoned, ordering the current owner and a potential buyer to file a status report by Jan. 22, 2019.
The original 1999 easement, for which the state paid $1.7 million, allowed six hunting camps in perpetuity, requiring removal of 30 others from the tract in Colton within 15 years. That deadline fell three years ago.
By James Odato
ATV rides abruptly ended at Whiteface after environmental watchdogs raised concerns to state officials, and after the Adirondack Explorer inquired about the propriety of the rides.
Tom Curley, a part-time Tupper Lake resident who retired from AP in 2012, replaces another retired news executive, Charlotte Hall, in leading the 17-member board.
New York officials said the Tahawus line has no active shippers and the owner has “no reasonable prospect for developing future freight service.” That permits a federal finding of abandonment under the test of “public convenience and necessity."
Most new land preservation in the 5.8-million-acre Park over the past twenty-five years has been done through state-purchased easements, now covering 781,000 acres, or about 13 percent of the Park. About 98 percent contain working forest, according to the state Department of Environmental Conservation.
The two timber investment management organizations together currently control almost two-thirds of all 781,000 privately owned acres of Adirondack timberlands that are covered by state conservation easements. The agreements call for sustainable forestry, essentially cutting less timber than the tracts grow as measured over ten-year periods.
Some environmentalists want more active state oversight of the 781,000 acres of privately owned timberlands in the Adirondacks that are governed by conservation easements with New York.
By Mike Lynch
A list of conservation easement owners in the Adirondack Park.