The Adirondack Council

News Release

ELIZABETHTOWN, NY -- Adirondack Council Executive Director Timothy J. Burke has stepped down after more than 10 years at the helm of the Adirondack Park's largest and most influential environmental organization.

"We are truly saddened by Tim's departure," said David Skovron, Chairman of the Adirondack Council's Board of Directors. "But he leaves behind him an organization that has grown in influence and thrived financially under his guidance. He has built and sustained the finest professional staff in the environmental community and embarked on a capital campaign to ensure that the organization's future is secure."

"Tim has built a reputation as a hard-nosed environmental advocate who was always willingto seek and encourage opportunities for sustainable economic development in the Park's villages and hamlets," said Adirondack Council staff attorney Bernard C. Melewski. "His legacy in the Adirondacks will consist of his indispensable role, not just in the protection of hundreds of thousands of acres of Adirondack forests, lakes and rivers, but also in the creation of community development funds and new jobs throughout the Park." "It has been a great ten years for me," said the outgoing Tim Burke. "The Adirondack Council is a wonderful organization."

Burke, 53, joined the Council as executive director in May of 1991, after serving two terms as a Vermont state legislator and serving as Vermont's Commissioner of Environmental Conservation. Burke will be leaving at the end of the month or a well-deserved vacation. Staff attorney Bernard C. Melewski will serve as interim director while the Board of Directors conducts a search for a new executive director.

The Adirondack Council is a privately funded, 18,000-member, 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. Founded in 1975, the Council's member organizations include the Association for the Protection of the Adirondacks, Audubon New York, Citizens Campaign for the Environment, National Parks & Conservation Association, Natural Resources Defense Council and The Wilderness Society, with a total membership of more than 1.4 million people.