EARTH DAY | Adirondack Council Invests in Low-Carbon Future
Climate-Friendly Grants Awarded to 14 Adirondack Farms, 4 Willsboro-area Businesses
WILLSBORO, N.Y. – The Adirondack Council is showing how environmental and economic goals can support one another inside the Adirondack Park by investing private funds into the effort to build a climate-friendly Adirondack Park with a low-carbon economy.
For the fourth consecutive year, the Adirondack Council has awarded micro-grants to farmers and small business owners who want to reduce their environmental impact and adapt to a changing climate.
“We want to help farmers across the Adirondack Park to be climate-friendly, energy-efficient and more sustainable,” said Adirondack Council Executive Director William C. Janeway. “This year, the small-business portion of our micro-grants program will focus on the area in and around Willsboro, where we supported four projects.”
The Adirondack Council’s farm micro-grants are available anywhere in the Adirondack Park. Previous awards had been limited to the Champlain Valley. The small business portion moves along with the Council’s annual mid-summer Forever Wild Day celebration (July 13 in Willsboro).
“The Adirondack Park is a unique national treasure,” Janeway explained. “The park’s priceless clean water, clean air, wildlife, wilderness and communities are threatened by rapid climate disruption. So is our way of life.”
“We believe that a few dollars invested wisely now can bring benefits for many generations to come, and set an example for others to follow,” said Courtney Klipper, co-founder of the Klipper Fund. The Klipper Fund is a founding funder of the micro-grant program. “We are pleased to see the renewed interest in farming by so many young families. We want to support that trend.”
“Healthy farms are already playing an important role in limiting climate disruption in the Adirondack Park,” said Nathaniel Klipper, co-founder of the Klipper Fund. “They absorb and sequester carbon dioxide, reduce the impacts of storm-driven flooding and help us to avoid burning fossil fuels to get the food and farm products we need.”
The Adirondack Park is a 9,300-square-mile patchwork of public and private lands that comprise the largest park in the contiguous United States. Its public lands are protected from logging and development by New York’s Constitution. Private lands consist of commercial timberlands, resorts, estates, businesses and homes, in and around 130 rural communities, nine of which are incorporated villages. The park has 130,000 year-round residents and hosts 12 million annual visitors.
The Council announced today that it has awarded 18 micro-grants to 14 farms and four small businesses that are also putting their own time and money into making their operations more efficient, less reliant on fossil fuels and more weather-resilient.
Winning project proposals included replacement of fossil fuel heating with solar, carbon-sequestering cover crops, more-efficient harvest cooling/storage, greenhouses, living fences, solar hot-water boosting, insulation and other energy-efficiency and productivity-boosting projects.
“This year, we received 23 grant applications, of which we have awarded 18 project grants,” Janeway explained. “Eight of the projects are new applicants and represent a more geographically diverse applicant pool – ranging from Keeseville to Vermontville to Upper Jay.”
Over the past four years, the Adirondack Council has invested over $91,000 in local farms and small businesses as they implement climate-smart and environmentally healthy and sustainable projects to support the resiliency of the Adirondack Park in the face of climate change. This has created new possibilities through 57 farm projects and 15 small business improvements.
Included in this year’s awards is a $3,000 grant for Craigardan that was used to support the second annual Food Justice Summit held in March 2019.
The Adirondack Council was assisted in the grant reviews by an outstanding panel of local experts, including Erica Goodman, American Farmland Trust; Katie Petronis, Open Space Institute; Dr. Carly Summers, Cornell Cooperative Extension – Essex County; Josh Bakelaar, Adirondack North Country Association; and, Connie Prickett & Lindsay Yost, Adirondack Foundation.
2019-2020 Grant Recipients
Farms:
1. Adirondack Hay & Grains (Essex): $1,000 to purchase GPS assisted steering (Trimble guidance) to eliminate overlap turning and to conduct a case study to assess emissions/fuel reductions as a result of GPS technology;
2. Christian Brothers Farm (Willsboro): $1,200 to purchase or build a double rake hitch to eliminate the use of a second tractor for haying;
3. Craigardan (Keene): $3,000 for the 2019 Food Justice Summit – FEED BACK: Cultivating action;
4. DaCy Meadow Farm (Westport): $1,150 to purchase a WindyNation 300W solar energy kit to passively power a new chicken coop that will also function as a brooding facility & greenhouse;
5. Essex Farm (Essex): $1,400 to purchase 400lbs of legume seed cover crop (clover family) to seed 50 acres of farmland for carbon sequestration and soil health;
6. Green Street Family Farm & Sawmill (Keeseville): $1,500 to purchase a backup battery and pressurized system with frost protection for solar water pump;
7. Juniper Hill Farm (Westport): $1,500 to host a sustainable home building, hands-on workshop featuring sessions on: geothermal installation, heat pumps, radiant heating and straw bale home construction;
8. Moonstone Farm (Saranac Lake): $1,500 to purchase a CoolBot Pro with Wi-Fi and a 15k BTU AC unit for a new 8' by 6' CoolBot Cooler;
9. North Country Creamery (Keeseville): $1,500 to replace propane heaters with solar energy-sourced electric heat pumps for on-farm café and farm store;
10. Open Gate Farmstead (Keeseville): $1,500 to build a boundary fence, construct a "living fence" using berry bushes, and purchase fruit, nut, etc. seeds to be planted as food sources for livestock and to help address soil erosion;
11. Oregano Flats (Saranac): $1,500 to replace greenhouse plastic with SolaWrap, a high tunnel plastic film that has a lifespan of 25+ years;
12. Reber Rock Farm (Essex): $1,500 to complete the installation of a frost free watering unit, including excavation and extension of a water line, and a concrete pad on which the watering unit will sit;
13. Sugar House Creamery (Upper Jay): $1,000 to purchase a ripper attachment for the front-end loader of a tractor to aerate winter bedding in cow house;
14. Twin Hills Farm (Vermontville): $1,400 to convert a greenhouse heating system to use waste oil, and to set up educational stations for school groups;
Small Businesses:
15. Ausable Brewing Company (Keeseville): $1,500 to upgrade a solar hot water system by purchasing a 500-gallon water storage tank used for brewing in order to minimize dependence on a backup propane water heater;
16. Hub on the Hill (Essex): $1,500 to install solar panels to help power a refrigeration system within a new delivery truck;
17. Indian Bay Marina (Willsboro): $1,500 to add spray foam insulation to the underside of restaurant building; and,
18. Northern Feast Catering (Keeseville): $1,500 to purchase and install a new oven (Vulcan Series SX36-6BN oven) to replace the current oven that leaks propane.
The Adirondack Council is a privately funded not-for-profit organization whose mission is to ensure the ecological integrity and wild character of the Adirondack Park. The Council envisions a Park with clean water and clean air, comprised of core wilderness areas, surrounded by farms and working forests, as well as vibrant communities.
The Adirondack Council carries out its mission through research, education, advocacy and legal action to ensure the legacy of the Adirondack Park is safeguarded for future generations. Adirondack Council members live in all 50 United States.
For more information:
John Sheehan, Adirondack Council, 518-441-1340 cell
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Monday, April 22, 2019
