The Adirondack Council

News Release

For more information:
John F. Sheehan -518-432-1770
518-441-1340 (Cell)

Released, Wednesday July 2, 2003

LAKE PLACID, NY - NYS Environmental Conservation Commissioner Erin M. Crotty will receive The Adirondack Council's "Conservationist of the Year" Award on Saturday (July 12) at a dinner held in her honor at the Lake Placid Resort.

Commissioner Crotty is the first woman to win the award, which has been presented annually by the Adirondack Council's Board of Directors since 1984. Crotty, like previous winners, will receive a specially commissioned, hand-carved loon to commemorate the milestone.

"We are extremely pleased to present our highest honor to Erin Crotty," said Adirondack Council Executive Director Brian L. Houseal. "Her commitment to the environment has been outstanding throughout her career in state government. She is the first women to achieve such a high position of authority over New York's environment and she has taken full advantage of that achievement.

"Her work as Commissioner of the Department of Environmental Conservation has served the Adirondack Park well, adding land to key Wilderness Areas, creating new campgrounds, improving old campgrounds, fighting acid rain and climate change, taming out-of-control jet skis, all-terrain vehicles and snowmobiles, and taking a reasonable approach to the control of exotic species."

The dinner will be held at the Lake Placid Resort Golf Club Restaurant, starting at 7 p.m. Cocktails are from 5:30 to 7 p.m., featuring a jazz ensemble. Those interested in purchasing dinner tickets should contact Elaine Burke at 518-873-2240.

"Commissioner Crotty worked closely with Governor Pataki in crafting the state's new acid rain regulations for power plants, which went into effect this spring and will give New York the cleanest power plants in the nation," Houseal said. "She has exhibited leadership on Global Warming, inviting nine other states to work with New York on ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions collectively. Last fall, she was a featured speaker at the Adirondack Council's Climate Change Conference at the Great Camp Sagamore.

"She led and oversaw the state's acquisition and protection of the Bog Lake and Clear Pond tracts in northern Hamilton County, which made fine additions to the Council's proposed Bob Marshall Great Wilderness, as well as the protection of the nearby Round Lake and Loon Pond tracts," he said. "This spring, she oversaw the purchase of 10,000 acres of new Forest Preserve adjacent to the High Peaks Wilderness, working with NL Industries and the Open Space Institute to complete a deal that took a decade of negotiations. Over the winter, she worked out the complex details of the deal to protect the Cedarlands Boy Scout Camp and McRorie Lake, in Hamilton County, preventing a proposed housing subdivision that would have fragmented the entire 5,000-acre tract.

"In southern Essex County, the commissioner broke a 30-year deadlock over the future of the former Scaroon Manor summer camp, creating what will be the state's newest campground on more than a mile of Schroon Lake's picturesque western shoreline," he said. "And the commissioner is spending millions of dollars at campgrounds around the Park to fix overburdened sewage treatment systems that are polluting the campgrounds' waters and to make the campgrounds more accessible to visitors with physical disabilities.

"Upon taking office, Governor Pataki gave her the daunting task of creating and modernizing the state's management plans for more than 90 distinct areas of the Adirondack Forest Preserve," Houseal explained. "While she is at it, she is also creating a new trail system for snowmobiles that relies much more heavily on private lands rather than the Forest Preserve, allowing communities to connect to one another without causing undue environmental harm.

"On our lakes, the commissioner pushed for and obtained a new standard for emissions from personal watercraft and has steadily worked toward selective, non-toxic solutions to the problem of exotic species invasions," he concluded.

Ms. Crotty was confirmed as Commissioner of DEC on March 28, 2001. She had served since 1999 as director of State and Local Government Relations for Plug Power of Latham. Plug Power is a leading designer and developer of on-site, electricity generation systems utilizing fuel cell technology for residential applications.

Prior to joining Plug Power, Crotty served two years as DEC's Deputy Commissioner for Water Quality and Environmental Remediation at DEC, where she was responsible for overseeing the State's programs to clean up contaminated properties, implementation of the $1.75 billion Clean Water/Clean Air Bond Act and all activities impacting New York's water quality. As Deputy Commissioner, Crotty is credited with crafting the legislation proposed by Governor Pataki to reform and refinance the State Superfund program.

Crotty also served as Governor Pataki's director of Special Environmental Projects, where she was involved in the negotiation and development of the historic New York City Watershed Agreement and implementation of the 1996 Clean Water/Clean Air Bond Act. Before joining the Pataki administration, Crotty held the position of policy analyst for the New York State Senate Commission on Toxic Substances and Hazardous Wastes.

The Adirondack Council's 2002 Conservationist of the Year Award was presented to New York Rivers United at the Council's annual awards dinner, held at the Garnet Hill Lodge in North River. Previous winners of the Adirondack Council's Conservationist of the Year Award include: Governor George Pataki, Governor Mario M. Cuomo, New York Times editor John Oakes, NYS Attorney General Dennis Vacco, NYS DEC Commissioner John P. Cahill, Senate EnCon Chairman Carl Marcellino, Assembly EnCon Chairman Richard Brodsky, Assembly En Con Chair Maurice Hinchey, 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 natural character and ecological integrity of the Adirondack Park.