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Conservation Report
July, 2011
Vice-Chair, Conservation: Peter O'Shea, 315-848-2178
Adirondack Club Resort in Tupper Lake – Testimony in the official APA hearings on this ill-conceived project is scheduled to be concluded in early summer. Environmental groups have produced at their own expense various expert witnesses in ecology and economics, who have incisively questioned many aspects of the proposed project. The ecological problems include the negative effects of forest fragmentation caused by the great-camp development. The economic problems include the viability of the project’s business plan and its impact on the area’s economy and quality of life. The PILOT idea that would exempt owners of the high-end second homes from paying property taxes for a lengthy period is another problem.
Nature Conservancy’s Finch-Pruyn Lands – These 65,000 acres scheduled
to be purchased by the state is under withering attack from vested interests,
including members of the hunting clubs currently leasing the lands. These lands
include the crown jewels of the park: OK Slip Falls, Hudson River Gorge, Essex
Chain of Lakes, and the Boreas Ponds. Despite the Nature Conservancy’s
inducements to the local towns such as granting them lands and building snowmobile
trails, etc., some well-connected groups have convinced some of the towns to
renege on their approval of the deal. They are waging a rearguard action to
prevent the land from being included in the Forest Preserve and striving for
a conservation easement without public access. Please write to the governor
soon to register your feelings on this important transaction.
Governor Andrew Cuomo
NYS Capitol Building
Albany, NY 12224