LAKE GEORGE WATERKEEPER
CHRIS NAVITSKY IS ADIRONDACK COUNCIL’S
2005 CONSERVATIONIST OF THE YEAR
Legendary Advocate
Clarence Petty, 99, to Receive Council’s 1st Lifetime Achievement
Award
For more information:
John F. Sheehan, Communications Director
518-432-1770 (w)
518-441-1340 (cell)
Released, Wednesday, June 22,
2005
LAKE PLACID, N.Y. – The
Adirondack Council, one of New York’s largest and most influential
environmental organizations, today announced it would name Lake
George Waterkeeper Christopher Navitsky as its 2005 Conservationist
of the Year at the Council’s annual Forever Wild Dinner
at the Lake Placid Resort on July 9.
At the same dinner, the Council
will celebrate its 30th Anniversary by presenting its first Lifetime
Achievement Award to Clarence Petty of Coreys (near Tupper Lake).
“Chris Navitsky has been
an important force for environmental protection since he first
began his work on Lake George, under the guidance of The Fund
for Lake George and the Riverkeeper Program,” said Adirondack
Council Executive Director Brian L. Houseal. “He has worked
alongside Adirondack Council staff members on projects such as
the Ft. William Henry Hotel reconstruction and in preventing
chemical contamination in Lake George.
“His engineering skills
helped uncover major flaws in the stormwater plan for the 104-foot-tall
‘Frankenpine’ fake-tree cell tower, proposed for the
slope above Pilot Knob by Nextel and Sprint,” Houseal explained.
“Through it all, he has been a tireless advocate for the
lake’s health and for the sound planning and the well-enforced
zoning needed to protect it.”
Navitsky will receive a specially
commissioned, museum quality, hand-carved loon in recognition
of his accomplishment.
Clarence Petty, who will turn
100 this summer, attended the founding meetings of the Adirondack
Council in 1975 at the tender age of 70, arguing that the Park
needed a strong, well-organized advocate for its wild character
and ecological health. He served on the Council’s board
of trustees for more than two decades and remains a close friend
and trusted advisor.
“Clarence’s work in
conservation began during the Great Depression, when he ran a
group of Civilian Conservation Corps camps in the Adirondacks,
building roads and trails to improve recreational access. He
worked his way up to the position of Regional Forester for the
Department of Environmental Conservation, and later worked for
the brand-new Adirondack Park Agency, mapping every river in
the Park for the Wild, Scenic and Recreational Rivers program.
“It would take forever to
recite all of Clarence’s accomplishments,” Houseal
said. “The New York Times tried to do so this winter, taking
up nearly a page of the newspaper and barely scratching the surface.
Chris Angus published a wonderful biography of Clarence more
than a year ago. There is even an ‘Ask Clarence’ column
in the Adirondack Explorer Magazine. But perhaps the most remarkable
thing about him is that Clarence is one of the most prolific
letter-writing activists the Park has ever seen.”
Chris Navitsky is the 21st annual
winner of the Council’s Conservationist of the Year Award.
Clarence Petty is the first recipient of the Lifetime Achievement
Award.
Other Conservationist of the
Year winners include: Gov. George E. Pataki, Gov. Mario M. Cuomo,
New York Times Editor John Oakes, NYS Senator Carl Marcellino,
NYS Assemblyman Richard Brodsky, NYS DEC Commissioners John P.
Cahill and Erin Crotty, Adirondack Park Agency Executive Director
Robert Glennon; and, Adirondack activists Clarence Petty and
Peter Borrelli, the late Paul Schaefer and the late State Senator
and Public Service Commission Chairman Harold Jerry.
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.
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