The Adirondack Council

News Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, Thursday, Sept. 12, 2002

For more information: John Sheehan -518-432-1770

RAQUETTE LAKE, NY -- An impressive group of scientists, policy makers and local experts will meet in a remote Adirondack camp next week to share their insights and concerns on the impact of global climate change on New York's Adirondack Park -- a preserve of wild lands, mountains, rivers and lakes larger than most New England states.
The conference is slated for Wednesday, Sept. 18, through Friday, Sept. 20. There will be a press conference at 1 p.m. on the final day (Friday), where the participants will be available to answer questions about their discussions and conclusions regarding the future of the six-million- acre preserve.
A limited number of free press passes are still available for the entire conference (includes meals and overnight accommodations at Sagamore Great Camp). Contact John Sheehan for details.
In 1990, the United Nations' Man in the Biosphere Program declared the Adirondack/Lake Champlain region to be a World Biosphere Reserve, recognizing the global importance of its forests and waters, as well as the efforts made to ensure environmental protection. It is the most heavily populated of the two dozen biosphere reserves identified by the UN. Its public lands are also the best-protected, with the NYS Constitution requiring that they "be forever kept as wild forest lands."
"We are especially pleased with the enthusiasm for the conference shown by both the scientific community and the residents of the Adirondack Park," said Adirondack Council Executive Director Brian L. Houseal. "Because this is a lived-in Park, with 130,000 year-round residents in 92 villages and towns, we will explore not only how global warming is likely to affect the natural world, but also the quality of life in the Park and its tourism-reliant economy.
"In the short term, acid rain poses the most immediate and devastating threat to the forests and waters of the Adirondack Park," Houseal said. "Long term, climate change will alter the Park's ecosystems and have many as-yet-unidentified impacts on its economy and quality of life. We need to keep a close watch on these trends and prepare to address those we can identify. This is the first step in that process for the Adirondacks."
Among those participating in the conference are (in order of appearance):

Wednesday, Sept. 18
Bill McKibben, the Adirondack author and former contributing editor for The New Yorker, whose 1990 book The End of Nature first brought the problems of climate change to a popular audience. McKibben will deliver the keynote address Wednesday evening.

Thursday, Sept. 19
William Weber, Director of the Wildlife Conservation Society's North America Program. WCS is a co-sponsor of the conference. Weber will act as a moderator.
Professor Barry Rock, the University of New Hampshire.
Jerry Jenkins, the Wildlife Conservation Society and White Creek Field Station.
Dr. Charles Canham, the Institute for Ecosystem Studies.
Professor Jay Malcolm, the University of Toronto.
Karen Roy, director of the Adirondack Lakes Survey Corporation.
Joanne Morin, Climate Change Program Manager, New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services.
Karen Risse, International Paper Company.
James McKenna, director of the Lake Placid/Essex County Visitors Bureau.
Wayne Failing, owner/operator of Middle Earth Expeditions guide service.
Nina Schoch, D.V.M., the Wildlife Conservation Society and The Adirondack Cooperative Loon Program
Professor Sally Bogdanovitch, Paul Smiths College and Consulting Forester
Tom Both, Supervisor, Town of Keene (Adirondack High Peaks region)

Commissioner Erin Crotty, NYS Department of Environmental Conservation, who will deliver the dinner address Thursday evening.

Friday September 20
Professor Barry Rock and Joanne Morin, of the New Hampshire Climate Change Local Impact Assessment program.
James R. Mahoney, Ph.D., Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere, NOAA

At more than 9,000 square miles, the Adirondack Park is the same size as Vermont and is the largest American park outside Alaska. Yellowstone, Yosemite, Glacier and Grand Canyon National Parks would all fit inside the Adirondack Park, with room to spare. It rises from near sea- level at Lake Champlain to more than a mile in height at the summit of Mount Marcy. On Marcy's slope sits Lake Tear of the Clouds, which forms the headwaters of the Hudson River. The Mohawk and St. Lawrence rivers, Lake Ontario and Lake Champlain all draw water from the Park's 2,800 lakes and ponds, its 2,000 miles of navigable rivers and its 30,000 miles of brooks and streams.
"The Adirondacks represent the world's largest and best-protected, intact deciduous forest ecosystem," said Houseal. "It has the largest tracts of ancient, never-logged forests in the Northeast, as well as nearly all of the roadless Wilderness from Maine to the Everglades. What we learn about changes here, where human communities are scattered among a patchwork of public and private wild lands, will be helpful in designing programs to deal with climate change in unique, natural settings around the world."
The Adirondack Council is an 18,000-member, privately funded, not-for-profit organization dedicated to protecting and enhancing the natural character and human communities of the Adirondack Park, through research, education, advocacy and legal action.

8:45 a.m. - 9:00 a.m.- Welcome by Brian Houseal, Executive Director of The Adirondack Council
9:00 a.m. - 9:45 a.m.- Overview by Professor Barry Rock, The University of New Hampshire
Convening of Panels- Moderator William Weber of The Wildlife Conservation Society

Friday September 20
8:00 a.m. - Breakfast
8:45 a.m. - 9:15 a.m.
Overview of The New Hampshire Climate Change Local Impact Assessment 
Featuring Professor Barry Rock and Joanne Morin