ADIRONDACK COUNCIL
RELEASES FOURTH VOLUME OF RENOWNED ‘2020 VISION’ SERIES
OF ACTION PLANS FOR PROTECTING WILD CHARACTER & ECOLOGICAL
INTEGRITY OF THE ADIRONDACK PARK
First Three Volumes
Became Blueprint for NYS Open Space Conservation Plan in Park
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the report
For more information:
John F. Sheehan
518-432-1770 (ofc)
518-441-1340 (cell)
518-456-4512 (home)
Released: Wednesday, May 17,
2007
ELIZABETHTOWN, N.Y. – The
Adirondack Council today released a formal action plan for state
officials and private landowners who want to protect the vast,
private timberlands that make up almost one-third of the six-million-acre
Adirondack Park.
The new, 40-page, full-color
publication, “2020 VISION Volume Four: Private Land Stewardship”
is the first of the Council’s 2020 VISION policy documents
to focus exclusively on private property management. About half
of the Adirondack Park is private land, where development and
land-use are guided by the state’s Adirondack Park Agency.
The other half is public Forest Preserve, protected from development
or logging by the “Forever Wild” clause of the NYS
Constitution.
“Huge tracts of private
land have changed hands in the Adirondacks over the past decade,
including all of holdings of the Park’s major timber companies,”
said Adirondack Council Executive Director Brian L. Houseal.
“These large, undivided land holdings make up the transition
zone between the Park’s Forever Wild Forest Preserve and
the lived-in landscapes of the Park’s 104 villages and towns.
“When they are well-managed,
they provide wildlife habitat that can’t be found on either
the Forest Preserve or in settled areas,” he said. “They
are crucial buffers that protect water quality and soak up carbon
dioxide, thus helping to slow drastic changes in climate. They
can also provide good, steady jobs, small business opportunities
and useful wood products.”
Houseal said the Council wanted
to provide guidance to the new landowners in the Park, as well
as to long-established park landowners, on the tools available
to keep their large holdings intact and undeveloped. The Council
also wants state officials to know there are things they can
do to help, he said.
“All four volumes of the
2020 VISION series are subtitled ‘Fulfilling the
Promise of the Adirondack Park,” Houseal explained. “That
is really our aim. The Adirondack Park is unfinished. It is a
work in progress. What we do now will have a lasting impact on
how the Park looks and works for future generations. Our ancestors
have left us the largest, wildest, healthiest forest in the Northeast.
We owe it to our kids to do the same.”
The action plan in “2020
VISION Volume Four: Private Land Stewardship” was developed
in concert with a broad array of landowners and land-use experts.
They included: Brandreth Park Association, Adirondack Landowners
Association, Northeast Wilderness Trust, International Paper
Co., Finch, Pruyn & Co., Adirondack Nature Conservancy, Provincetown
Center for Coastal Studies, Adirondack Mountain Reserve and others.
“The Brandreth Park Association
is honored to be part of the Adirondack Council’s ‘2020
VISION: Private Land Stewardship,’” said Ginny Brandreth,
an advisor on the project. “We sincerely appreciate
the Council’s recognition of the importance and value of
private stewardship by dedicating this volume to the private
landowners that have contributed to the fabric of the Adirondacks.
The Brandreth Family looks forward to working together with the
Council to preserve the unique culture and environment of the
Adirondacks for generations to come.”
Among the recommendations
for public officials in the publication are:
- Encouraging the use of Conservation
Easements – contracts that permanently limit development–
more widely throughout the Park;
- Changes in forestland taxation
laws that encourage and reward careful management;
- Income Tax Credits for those
who dedicate their lands to conservation purposes;
- Containment of development
to already-settled areas to prevent fragmentation of habitat;
- Recognition and reward for
the carbon-dioxide-consuming abilities of well-managed forests
Houseal said the Council would
distribute the publication throughout the Adirondack Park, including
all libraries, and will publish the document on its website by
the end of May. The first three volumes are already available
there for viewing/printing. Printed booklets of all four volumes
are available by calling toll-free 1-877-873-2240.
Volumes 1 through 3 of 2020 VISION
were (1) Biological Diversity: Saving All
the Pieces, 1988; (2) Completing the
Adirondack Wilderness System, 1989; (3)
Maximizing the Recreational Potential of Wild Forests (1990).
Many of the recommendations for land acquisition and policy changes
contained in these volumes were adopted directly into the Adirondack
section of the NYS Open Space Conservation Plan (1992).
Founded in 1975, the Adirondack
Council is a privately funded not-for-profit organization dedicated
to ensuring the ecological integrity and wild character of the
Adirondack Park. With 18,000 members in all 50 United States,
the Council carries out its mission through research, advocacy,
public education and legal action.
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