Adirondack Council Reveals Its Priorities for the Remainder of Current Legislative Session
Tuesday, May 13, 2025
ALBANY, N.Y. – The Adirondack Council is urging the NYS Legislature to pass a resolution that allows voters to decide whether to legalize the expansion of NYS Olympic Regional Development Authority facilities at Mt. Van Hoevenberg. Other Adirondack Council priorities for the Legislature and Governor include appointments to the Adirondack Park Agency’s Board, the creation of a Road Salt Reduction Council and citizen-oversight board, a program to boost the water-quality efforts of lake associations, and a change in hunting regulations allowing the use of crossbows for big game in most counties.
“Over a period of decades, facilities were constructed at the Mount Van Hoevenberg Winter Sports Complex that are situated on lands originally protected as part of the ‘forever wild’ Forest Preserve,” said Raul J. Aguirre, Executive Director of the Adirondack Council. “This amendment would provide after-the-fact authorization of improvements on those lands and compensate New Yorkers with lands of greater value in another location. In addition, enabling legislation must be approved this year to implement the exchange of land, specifying that 2,500 acres of forest will be added to the Forest Preserve in exchange for the roughly 325 acres that were affected by tree clearing and development.”
The Adirondack Council has worked with the Olympic Authority for many years to bring the site into compliance with Article 14, Section 1 of the NY Constitution, a.k.a. the Forever Wild clause. It mandates that all Forest Preserve be kept as wild forest lands. Removing or repurposing the lands of the existing Forest Preserve requires approval from the voters of New York State in the form of a Constitutional Amendment. Amendments must be passed by two consecutive, separately elected legislatures.
The resolution was approved during the FY2023-24 session by both houses. If it passes again this year, or next, it will be delivered to the voters at the following November’s general election. The amendment doesn’t require the Governor’s signature. The enabling legislation must pass only once, but does require the Governor’s signature.
The resolution (A.7454/S.5227) is sponsored by Assemblymember D. Billy Jones, D-Chateaugay, and Sen. Pete Harckham, D-Peekskill. Both are also the sponsors of the enabling bill (A.3628/S.6888).
Adirondack Park Agency Board Nominees
Aguirre said that by the end of June, all eight citizen members of the Adirondack Park Agency board will be serving on expired terms of office. He urged the Governor to appoint a new slate of board members, with experience in wilderness protection, wildlife, water quality and science. The other three members of the APA board are ex-officio members of the Governor’s executive team, including the Secretary of State, Commissioner of Environmental Conservation and Director of Economic Development.
Road Salt Reduction Council
This bill (A.4481a/S.6976a) is also sponsored by Jones and Harckham. It would establish a New York Road Salt Reduction Council consisting of state officials and the citizen-based New York Road Salt Reduction Advisory Committee, with the goal of implementing best practices for the reduction of road salt use statewide, using lessons learned in the Adirondacks.
Lake Association Legislation
A bill (A.2627/S.1733) sponsored by Senator Harckham and Assemblymember Steven Otis, D-Port Chester, would establish a program to assist municipalities in improving the water quality of bodies of water managed by lake associations. The Council is working to amend this legislation to expand eligibility and benefits to all lake associations.
Allowing Crossbows
Senator Harckham is sponsoring a bill (S.6360) giving the Dept. of Environmental Conservation authority to allow the use of crossbows for big game hunting in locations where longbow use is already allowed. The bill includes safety provisions prohibiting the discharge of a crossbow within 500 feet of a home or school, or in the suburban counties of Westchester, Nassau and Suffolk. Crossbows are an increasingly popular hunting tool for whitetail deer, whose populations are overwhelming forests in several areas of the state, slowing or halting hardwood forest regrowth.
Established in 1975, the Adirondack Council is a privately funded, not-for-profit environmental advocacy organization dedicated to ensuring the ecological integrity and wild character of the Adirondack Park. The 9,300-square-mile Adirondack Park is one of the largest intact temperate forest ecosystems left in the world. The Adirondacks are home to about 130,000 New York residents in 130 rural communities.
The Council carries out its mission through research, education, advocacy and legal action. The Council envisions a Park with clean water and clean air, core wilderness areas, farms and working forests, and vibrant, diverse, welcoming, safe communities.
For more information: John Sheehan, Director of Communications, 518-441-1340