SOURCE:
by David Gibson - March 2, 2023
Nearly 100 people from 20 different Adirondack organizations met with 50 state legislators and their staff during Adirondack Park Lobby Day to advocate for funding and policy advancements for the Adirondack Park. A group of Eagle Scouts from Queens, NY took the bus to Albany to help the group make a collective case for Wilderness, Clean Water and Green Jobs, including:
· $4 million for a Survey of Climate Change and Adirondack Lakes ecosystems;
· At least $500 million for clean water projects, including road salt pollution prevention;
· $2 million for the Timbuctoo Summer Climate and Careers Institute, a partnership exposing high school students from the City of New York to training and possible careers in natural resources in the Adirondack Park;
· Doubling and diversifying the number of DEC Forest Rangers;
· $40 million for open space protection, and $21 million for preserving farmland;
· $12.8 million for Forest Preserve stewardship, and visitor use management;
· $500,000 for Visitor Interpretive Centers at Newcomb and Paul Smith’s;
· $400,000 for the Adirondack Diversity Initiative.
In addition, the group urged passage of non-budgetary legislative action, including:
o the passage of Ecological Integrity, Wildlife and Open Space legislation in the Adirondack Park (Assembly 4608 by Assembly Member Deborah Glick) to mark the 50th anniversary of the Adirondack Park Agency Act of 1973;
o nominating and confirming committed, knowledgeable environmental voices to the Adirondack Park Agency this year;
o and passing legislation to prohibit wildlife killing contests (Assembly 2917/Senate 4099).
Participants included members of the Adirondack Council, Adirondack Diversity Initiative, Adirondack Experience, Adirondack Mountain Club, Adirondack North Country Association, Adirondack Wild: Friends of the Forest Preserve, Adirondack Lakes Survey Corporation, Ausable River Association, Champlain Area Trails, Citizens Campaign for the Environment, Environmental Advocates NY, Essex Farm Institute, John Brown Lives!, New York League of Conservation Voters, Paul Smith’s College Adirondack Watershed Institute and Visitor Interpretive Center, Protect the Adirondacks, SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry Newcomb Campus, Sierra Club Atlantic Chapter.