Claudia Braymer is in line to become executive director
By Chloe Bennett
Environmental nonprofit Protect the Adirondacks named Claudia Braymer, attorney and Warren County supervisor, as the new deputy director. Braymer is expected to succeed Executive Director Peter Bauer, 60, within the next few years.
The organization began searching for a new leader in November as part of a developing succession plan. In December, Bauer said Protect interviewed six people for the position and made a decision in early January.
Braymer, 42, is not new to Protect, having worked with the organization for more than a decade on its legal team. The new deputy director was part of the 2021 Article 14 case that found state agencies in violation of the “forever wild” clause of the New York State Constitution in developing snowmobile trails.
“I do look forward to being part of the Adirondacks advocacy efforts going into the future and working with some of the other environmental partners out there,” Braymer told the Explorer.
RELATED: Read Peter Bauer’s commentary pieces in Adirondack Almanack
Braymer lives in Glens Falls and is continuing work in her private practice which has spanned environmental law, zoning and planning, real estate, and municipal law. As of today, she said she is working part-time for Protect. Christopher Amato, a long-time environmental attorney, will continue as Protect’s lawyer, the organization noted in a press release.
There is no set date for Bauer’s transition from the executive director role, but he said he expects Braymer will expand the organization’s impact of protecting the Adirondacks.
“We’re extremely pleased to bring Claudia aboard and we think she has all the skills to take this organization far into the future,” he said.
Dear Peter Bauer,
I accidently heard a lecture on the internet by Laura A. Watt, an expert on America’s national parks, & author of a book called “The Paradox of Preservation.” I understood more than ever before our own situation in the Adirondacks and what you and Protect have been doing. I said that Protect would send her appropriate materials. Her mailing address is: Laura Alice Watt, Saevangur, Laekjaros lod 1, 471 Thingeyri, Iceland. Sincerely, Peter