Blog

Looking to 2019 with hope for an even brighter future for the Adirondack Park. Our Adirondack legacy is a product of our constant yearning to do more and do better every day for the next generation. We have so much work left to do, so please join the Adirondack Council in fighting to build upon that legacy. Here are just a few efforts that give me hope for 2019.

The Adirondack Park is an example of how people and wildlands can thrive together. It's a unique patchwork of public and private lands that host 105 towns and villages and is home to over 130,000 permanent and 200,000 seasonal residents, and 10 million visitors yearly. It's also a safe haven for wildlife, it filters our air and water and mitigates the impacts of climate change. However, overuse is a problem that needs to be solved to protect this special place for future generations.

Adirondack Conservation News is a collection of the most current events taking place in New York’s Adirondack Park, a unique national treasure and legacy we inherited over 100 years ago, that we have to protect for future generations. Adirondack News aims to highlight both threats and opportunities concerning the Park’s ecological integrity, wild character and community vibrancy.

The Essex Farm Institute (EFI) and the Adirondack Council have mutually agreed that EFI will become a fully integrated program of the Adirondack Council to strengthen the capacity of the Institute and to help meet the Council’s strategic objectives related to open space protection, working farms and forests, and community diversity in the Adirondacks. 

  Thanks to generous advocates for the Adirondacks, all gifts received by December 31, 2018 will be...

This fall will be a momentous time for acid rain in the Adirondack Park. The Adirondack Council will participate in a national conference on air pollution, while also hosting its own regional conference to determine how the Adirondacks and New York State can lead the rest of the nation to end acid rain and curb climate change.

New York State has done an incredible job adding more land to the Forest Preserve and conservation easements (private land, which rangers also patrol), but with the success we have had in promoting increased tourism in the Adirondacks we desperately need to rethink our staffing numbers for those who protect and manage these lands.

I can still feel the deep longing I had last spring to be out hiking in the mountains, unencumbered by cold-weather gear, after what felt like a never-ending winter. The receding of the cold weather and arrival of spring seemed to be moving at a snail’s pace as I anxiously awaited that final transition into summer. Then, it was here, in all its recreational glory!   

We have a chance to create transformational change in how future generations experience the Adirondack Park. The current model isn't working. There are record numbers of rescue missions and not enough Forest Rangers and support staff. Over 130 miles of trails in the High Peaks Region alone need major work. Hundreds of hikers and paddlers are flooding the same small regions, while other areas of the Park go under utilized.

Throughout that entire period, photography has been an integral component of my experience with the Adirondacks. Although much of that has been casual, over the past several years I have pursued the craft of photography more earnestly. That effort and my desire to help support, protect and educate others about the Adirondack wilderness has lead to the creation of my new business, Nature’s Sake Photography.