Adirondack Council Praises Comptroller DiNapoli's Report Calling Funding Inadequate for NYS Dept of Environmental Conservation
Thursday, January 28, 2021
“We are pleased to see Comptroller Tom DiNapoli has confirmed in dollars and cents what seemed to be common sense: that the Dept. of Environmental Conservation (DEC) is doing much more than it did decades ago, but the funding to carry out its mission hasn’t kept pace,” said Adirondack Council Executive Director William C. Janeway. “After 50 years of growing and improving its mission, the DEC needs an influx of new investments from the state so that it can protect the state’s clean water and air, healthy forests, wildlife, and general public health. Click HERE to read Comptroller's Statement.
“In the Adirondack Park, the DEC needs additional planners, engineers, trail builders, land managers, lake/boat-launch stewards, summit stewards, forest rangers and conservation officers, to name just a few,” he said. “Overuse of wilderness, the spread of invasive species, the need for new water systems and new sewage systems will all require greater investments by the DEC in the years ahead. The DEC needs more staff and more money to make that happen.
“The alternative to investing in the DEC is to stand by and witness a steady decline in environmental quality across the Adirondacks, as solvable problems like road salt, highway runoff, trail erosion, and invasive species continue to overwhelm our waters,” he said. “Overuse would continue to degrade and punish our wildest lands and rarest wildlife. Smog and acid rain would go unchecked and unreported and could continue unabated.
“For a decade, the DEC has valiantly tried to do more with less,” Janeway said. “There comes a day when that really translates into just doing less. When it comes to public health and our environment, we can’t afford to do less. We thank the comptroller for putting a spotlight on this crisis.”
For more information: John Sheehan, Director of Communications, 518-441-1340
