Park Agency chair John Ernst to retire in June

Elk Lake proprietor has served since 2016; was appointed to lead Adirondack Park Agency board in 2021

By Zachary Matson

John Ernst, chairman of the Adirondack Park Agency board, will retire from the APA board after the June meeting, Ernst confirmed Friday. 

Gov. Kathy Hochul appointed Ernst, longtime proprietor of Elk Lake and one of the most important conservation easements in the park, to lead the agency board in October 2021, after the board had gone nearly 900 days without a permanent chair. Ernst, whose permanent residence is in New York City, had filled an “out-of-park” board seat since June 2016. June was set to be the last meeting of his appointed term, though he and other board members have continued on expired terms before.

During his tenure on the board, Ernst chaired the state lands, park ecology and park and policy planning committees. As chair Ernst has sought to steer the agency through some tumultuous times and strengthen ties with local leaders across the park. 

Some current and former staff members have rebelled against a proposed move of the agency headquarters to Saranac Lake, and 20 staff union members earlier this year anonymously signed a letter accusing agency leaders of fostering a toxic workplace. Environmentalists have bemoaned the board’s approval of some projects and the continued non-use of special in-depth adjudicatory hearings the board can call for particularly contentious projects.   

Agency leadership, though, has earned plaudits in recent years from many community leaders who say they feel their concerns are better heard by the agency. The agency hosted its third annual planning forum earlier this month, bringing local and state officials together to discuss the unique challenges facing Adirondack communities. Ernst called it a “great success” at the May meeting.

The retirement was announced in a note included in the preliminary June meeting agenda.

“Chair John Lyman Ernst will be recognized for his service to the Agency, the Adirondack Park and the state of New York,” according to the meeting notice. 

Ernst and his wife, Margot, own and operate Elk Lake Lodge and approximately 12,000 acres surrounding the lake. The family was the first to give a conservation easement to the state in 1963 and with a second easement finalized in 2012 protected most of the acreage from future development, including all of Elk Lake. The easements also grants public recreational access to the southern High Peaks and popular Dix Mountain trails. 

“I just wanted to try and freeze it, preserve it,” Ernst told the Explorer in a 2022 interview, speaking of the easement protections. “Strange things are happening in the world, and it may not always be going the way you want it, but this place will look the same.”

Photo at top: John Ernst, chairman of the Adirondack Park Agency, at his second home on Elk Lake. Photo by Carl Heilman II