The Adirondack Council

News Release

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

Released, Thursday, August 7, 2003

RAY BROOK, N.Y. - The Adirondack Council today praised Gov. George E. Pataki's choice of the retired dean of the state's forestry college as the new chairman for the Adirondack Park Agency.

"The Governor could not have made a better choice for APA chairman than Ross Whaley," said Adirondack Council Executive Director Brian L. Houseal. "His scientific background, his leadership skills and his love of the Adirondack Park will serve the Park Agency well.

"In terms of practical scientific knowledge, he will be the most highly qualified chairman the Agency has ever had," Houseal said. "He is also a very likable and approachable person who should have little or no trouble working with local elected officials. In that regard, he will be a good replacement for the last official chairman, Richard Lefebvre, who saw himself as the APA's good-will ambassador to local government."

Whaley lives inside the Adirondack Park, in Franklin County. He retired last year as Dean of the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry in Syracuse.

The Governor also re-nominated former Bolton Town Supervisor Deanne Rehm, whose term on the APA board is expiring.

"Deanne Rehm has done a fine job on the APA board thus far," Houseal said. "Perhaps the most difficult decision she has been called upon to make was to vote against the use of a chemical herbicide to kill Eurasian milfoil in her own home town. She took a lot of heat, but she acted on the merits of the case and made a good decision.

"We hope the Senate will quickly approve both nominations when it returns to Albany in September,"

The APA Board of Commissioners is comprised of 11 members, eight of whom are private citizens and three of whom are state officials or their designees (Depts. of State and Environmental Conservation and Empire State. Devel. Corp.). Of the eight citizen members, five must be full time Park residents. Three must live outside the Park. Every chairman of the APA (with the exception of temporary replacements) has been a Park resident, although the law does not require residency.

APA Chairmen receive an annual salary of $30,000 and are the only paid members of the board. The current interim chairman is James Townsend of Rochester, who replaced acting chairman James Frenette of Tupper Lake, who retired from the board in June.

The Adirondack Council's mission is to ensure the ecological integrity and wild character of the Adirondack Park. Founded in 1975, the Council is a privately funded not-for-profit organization.