5 Things You Need to Know Today | Adirondack News
October 27, 2017
By: Dana Mancini - Adirondack Council Advocacy and Outreach Assistant
Adirondack News is a collection of the most current events taking place in New York’s Adirondack Park, a unique national treasure and legacy we inherited over 100 years ago, that we have to protect for future generations. Adirondack News aims to highlight both threats and opportunities concerning the Park’s ecological integrity, wild character and community vibrancy.
State Plans Road Through Wild, Rare, Sensitive Tract
The NYS Dept. of Environmental Conservation (DEC) is proposing to construct a new 1.25 mile connector road and open up 17.5 miles of roads to motorized vehicles in the 12,000-acre Kildare Conservation Easement in St. Lawrence County. This road would prevent the area from ever becoming wilderness. It would bisect an old-growth forest and degrade the habitat of at least two endangered species – the spruce grouse and a rare dragonfly. Make your voice heard on this issue here.
Plan to Store “Hundreds” of Decaying Railcars in the Adirondack Park
In early October, a local railroad company proposed a plan to use a portion of its line to store junked, decaying railroad cars inside the Adirondack Park near the wildest stretches of the Hudson River. The Adirondack Council joined Warren and Essex County officials and Governor Cuomo to stop this proposal immediately, as it threatens the scenic beauty of the Adirondack Forest Preserve and the success of the Adirondack Park as a tourism destination. Despite opposition, the company began moving the railcars into the Park a few weeks later. Efforts are ongoing to stop this destruction to our Adirondack Park.
EPA fails to comply with Clean Air Act regulations
The Adirondack Council joined with the State of Maryland and a coalition of environmental and health organizations to sue the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for its failure to require the use of already-installed pollution control equipment at 36 Midwest power plants that burn coal. Read more here.
November 7 is Approaching Quickly, Educate yourself on this year’s Ballot Proposals
Election Day is soon arriving. This year, there are two proposals on the back of the ballot concerning the future of the Adirondack Park:
Proposal One - Every 20 years, voters in New York State get to decide whether or not there shall be a convention to revise and amend the Constitution. A constitutional convention would expose the “Forever Wild” clause to unwarranted risk, while offering little hope for any improvement.
Proposal Three - Voters will also be asked on Nov. 7 to approve an amendment to Forever Wild creating a modest land bank for Adirondack communities. The amendment allows communities to straighten short road sections, replace bridges or install utilities on existing roads that cross the Forest Preserve.
Adirondack Council releases its annual State of the Park Publication
This month, the Adirondack Council released its annual publication, detailing how decades of success in the Adirondacks is threatened by acid rain and smog from the Midwest impacting the forests, waters and communities of the Park, due to lax Trump administration enforcement of clean air rules. See the full report here.
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