Clean Water

Climate Impacts in the Adirondack Park

Clean water is the greatest ecological and economic resource of the Adirondack Park. Thousands of lakes and streams provide habitat, recreational opportunities and drinking water. The Council has worked for the past half century to advocate for funding and policies that protect the water quality of Adirondack lakes, rivers, and streams by:

• Advocating to fund research and clean water infrastructure projects
• Gaining approval for state-funded watershed protection via land purchases and conservation easements
• Working with partners and local and state officials to eliminate 90 percent of winter road salt use and maintain safe roads
• Fighting to decrease acid rain and mercury impacts by 90 percent
• Strengthening and funding effort to combat invasive aquatic species, including a comprehensive prelaunch boat-inspection program
• Expanding local septic system inspection and replacement-financing programs
• Working as a bridge between local and state officials to facilitate the awarding of more than $170 million in clean water project grants to Adirondack towns and villages that could not have afforded them without state assistance

Addressing aging water infrastructure is a complex and costly undertaking for small, rural communities and is critical to keep Adirondack waterbodies pristine. For the past eight years, the Council’s Clean Water program has documented these capital needs, worked with town leaders on their clean water wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) and sewer projects and advocated for state and federal grant funds.

The Council’s Clean Water Program partners with lake associations, local governments and nonprofits to build capacity, provide technical assistance, and advocate for state and federal funds to support lake associations.

Wild Places

The Adirondack Council has worked with partners for 50 years to help protect lands and waters across the Adirondacks from development and to ensure state lands are managed in a way that prioritizes resource protection.

Before there was a New York State Open Space Conservation Plan, the Adirondack Council outlined a vision for protecting more wild places across the Park. The 2020 Vision series was the first long-range plan for protecting wild places and expanding the Adirondack Forest Preserve.

To date, 75 percent of the land identified in the 2020 Vision series has been protected, expanding the Forest Preserve and, along with it, the wild character and ecological integrity of the Park. The protection of the Whitney Estate property through public and private land conservation tools is seen as the last “major” land deal left in the Adirondacks.

Lasting wilderness protection doesn’t just preserve lands and waters, it maintains and enhances the integrity of natural systems, provides habitat for plants and animals, and bolsters the processes that provide us clean air and water. Key to this is the ongoing implementation of best management practices by the state agencies charged with protecting wild places. The Council’s work to protect wilderness goes beyond acquisition and includes holding decisionmakers at the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation and Adirondack Park Agency accountable for implementing science-based management practices in protected wilderness areas.

The Council also works to halt harmful potential changes to the New York State Constitution before they could gain political traction or get the Legislature’s preliminary approval. The Council’s role as watchdog of the “Forever Wild” clause of the New York Constitution (Article 14, Section 1) has required that the organization review, assess, critique, and raise awareness of more than 100 attempts to alter, undermine, and repeal the Constitution’s ironclad protections for the Adirondack Forest Preserve.

If not for the Council’s efforts and the coalitions of allies it has rallied to provide statewide support, the Forest Preserve would have been subjected to severe consequences. Proposals would have allowed commercial leases, “salvage” logging, rental cabin construction, and a host of intensive recreational uses not suitable in wild landscapes. 

Farms & Forests/Communities

Well-stewarded forests and farms are not just beautiful landscapes, these privately owned working lands play an important role in the history of the region, the ecological health of the Park, and the vibrancy of its rural communities. Farms and forests also contribute significantly to the open space character of the Park.

The Adirondack Council works to promote sustainable practices on working forests and farms, helping to preserve large tracts of privately held land.

To support private land stewardship, the Council works with partners to:

• Advance the goals of the Essex Farm Institute as a program of the Adirondack Council.
• Advance the goals of the Essex Farm Institute as a program of the Adirondack Council.
• Provide micro-grants for farmers and value-added business owners to enhance the economic, human and environmental resiliency of Adirondack farms.
• Increase the acres of private Adirondack forest land where sustainable forestry standards or best management practices are followed.
• Conserve working forests and working farmland through support for conservation easements and other programs.
• Retain at least 5,000 acres of working farmland in the Champlain Valley and the greater Adirondack region.