The only independent, nonprofit news organization solely dedicated to reporting on the Adirondack Park.
Environmentalists say the APA needs to update its regulations to incorporate “smart growth” principles. By Kim Martineau As the proposed Adirondack Club & Resort in Tupper Lake wound its way through the approval process, two planning consultants separately recommended in 2008 that the Adirondack Park Agency require clustering of homes in the backcountry. Under a…
DEC’s proposals for managing the former Finch, Pruyn lands kindle a debate over motorized use. By Phil Brown More than five years after the Nature Conservancy bought all 161,000 acres of Finch, Pruyn & Company’s timberlands, the state has acquired eighteen thousand acres for the Forest Preserve and intends to open up some of the…
By Phil Brown
The Adirondack Park Agency has hired James Townsend, one of its former board members, to serve as the agency’s counsel. He will replace John Banta, who retired last year. A Rochester lawyer, Townsend sat on the APA board from 1999 to 2010. He left when he wasn’t reappointed by Governor David Paterson. APA Chairwoman Lani…
Officials in Tri-Lakes region urge state to study the benefits of converting rail corridor to a recreational trail or to just go ahead and tear up the tracks. By Brian Mann The battle over use of a historic railroad corridor through the heart of the Adirondacks escalated this fall, with a growing number of local…
Environmentalists want the state to do more to protect and enhance the region’s identity as a special place. By Kim Martineau The Adirondack Park is more than double the size of Yosemite and Yellowstone National Parks combined, but its greatness is not always apparent. Silver lakes and dark woods beckon from some roadsides, while lawns…
By Phil Brown
Protect the Adirondacks contends that a change in regulations proposed by the Adirondack Park Agency will lead to more clear-cutting. The APA is seeking public comment on the change in policy, which the agency’s board approved in November. “PROTECT believes that a decision by the APA to significantly loosen clearcutting rules will have wide ranging…
Critics say existing regulations are inadequate to stop upland development from marring the natural beauty of the Adirondack Park. By Kim Martineau In a field bordered by forested hills and rocky ridges, Dan Plumley unfurled a zoning map of the Adirondack Park. The color-coded map was a reminder of how much private land lay…
By Phil Brown
State officials felt they had no choice but to kill an injured moose that had been hanging out in the Ausable River in Wilmington Notch, according to David Winchell, a spokesman for the Department of Environmental Conservation. “The primary factor was its deteriorating condition,” Winchell said this morning. “It was not able to move out…
By Phil Brown
Protect the Adirondacks and the Sierra Club want to see e-mails between the Adirondack Park Agency and Governor Andrew Cuomo’s staff to determine if the governor’s office improperly influenced the APA’s approval of a massive resort in Tupper Lake. John Caffry, the attorney for the two environmental groups, said the APA acknowledges that the APA…
By Phil Brown
The state is on track to buy more than nineteen thousand acres of former Finch, Pruyn lands by the end of the year, according to the state Department of Environmental Conservation. Karyn Richards of DEC’s Division of Lands and Forests outlined the department’s plans to the Adirondack Park Agency on Thursday afternoon. Over the next…