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By Phil Brown
The 22,560-acre Pepperbox in the western Adirondacks is one of the smaller Wilderness Areas in the Park, but it also is one of the wildest. It has no lean-tos and only two miles of foot trails. The State Land Master Plan observes that the lack of a trail system “offers an opportunity to retain a…
In classifying former Finch, Pruyn lands, the APA creates two large motor-less tracts but allows a snowmobile corridor to divide them. By Phil Brown AFTER MONTHS of public debate and behind-the-scenes negotiations, the Adirondack Park Agency voted in December to prohibit motorized recreation on most of the former Finch, Pruyn timberlands the state purchased from…
By Phil Brown
In an article in the July/August issue of the Adirondack Explorer, I examine the various options for classifying the former Finch, Pruyn lands acquired by the state from the Nature Conservancy. You can read the article here, but it also helps to peruse the table and maps included with the story. That’s what this post is…
Agency weighs a variety of options—and opinions—for managing 21,200 acres of former Finch, Pruyn lands. By Phil Brown Wild rivers, pristine ponds, deep forests, marble cliffs, a towering waterfall—the former Finch, Pruyn lands recently acquired by the state seem to have everything. If not everything, then more than enough to satisfy a variety of outdoor…
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…
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…
By Phil Brown
Protect the Adirondacks and the Sierra Club contend that the permits for the Adirondack Club and Resort in Tupper Lake have expired and the developer must begin the lengthy application process all over again. In January, the Adirondack Park Agency approved the permits with conditions. Among them, the developers were told to conduct a wildlife…
By Phil Brown
Protect the Adirondacks has submitted a lengthy reply brief in its lawsuit against the Adirondack Club and Resort in Tupper Lake. Protect is responding to the claims of the Adirondack Park Agency in its answer to the suit. Among other things, Protect contends the project violates regulations for lands classified as Resource Management, the APA’s…
Adirondack Council voices support for huge resort in Tupper Lake, revealing split in environmental movement shortly before the APA approves the project. By Brian Mann The Adirondack Park Agency’s decision in January to approve construction of a massive new resort in Tupper Lake angered many environmental activists. David Gibson, one of the founders of Adirondack…