2024: A year-end review of our efforts to push for more land, water and wildlife protection

Advocacy

After the State passed the 30 by 30 law in 2022, setting a goal of conserving 30% of the State’s lands and waters by 2030, PROTECT produced a report 20% in 2023: An Assessment of the New York State 30 by 30 Act demonstrating that the State needs to protect approximately 3 million acres of land to reach its goal. This report set the stage for the Department of Environmental Conservation’s (DEC) report released July 1, 2024 that calculated that 2.83 million acres of land need to be protected to meet the 30 by 30 goal. PROTECT’s report held State officials accountable, and we used our report to advocate for the 30 by 30 goal to be incorporated into the Open Space Conservation Plan as it is being updated by DEC. PROTECT also pushed the State to use Bond Act funding for open space land protection projects. Open space conservation is necessary to reach the 30 by 30 goal and is a critical piece of New York’s Climate Action Plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

PROTECT also joined dozens of other environmental organizations from across New York State for EPF Lobby Day to advocate for funding in the Environmental Protection Fund (EPF) to remain at $400 million. Funding in the EPF is the main source of funding for stewardship of public lands within the Adirondack Park and for the environmentally sound economic development of communities in the Park. The EPF included $39.5 million for open space land protection, $4 million for land acquisition, $4.5 for land trusts, and $10 million for Adirondack and Catskill Park visitor safety and wilderness protection projects.

During the 2024 Legislative session, PROTECT supported a “Three Prisons” constitutional amendment for Article 14 that would authorize the State to remove from the Forest Preserve three closed state prisons that were built on Forest Preserve lands. This amendment focused on Camp Gabriels in Franklin County, Mount McGregor Correctional Facility in Saratoga County, and the Moriah Shock Correctional Facility in Essex County. In the summer of 2024, Governor Kathy Hochul announced more closures of State correctional facilities, including two more in Forest Preserve counties: Great Meadow prison in Washington County and Sullivan prison in Sullivan County. Under state law, the only way that these closed prisons located on the Forest Preserve can be repurposed is through an Article 14 amendment. These facilities include hundreds of buildings and are highly developed. There is no appetite in State government to clear and restore these sites to wild forest lands. This proposal did not move forward in the Legislature in 2024.

 

PROTECT opposed a proposed amendment to privatize six acres of Forest Preserve on the shore of Debar Pond that includes a dozen buildings in disrepair. These public lands have significant open space, natural resource, and public recreational value as they provide unfettered public access to one of the most remote and scenic water bodies in the Adirondack Park. We advocated for Debar Lodge and the other buildings to be removed so that the site can be restored to a wild forest setting. The proposal to privatize the Debar Lodge and the surrounding buildings did not move forward in 2024.

We advocated strongly for the passage of the Wildlife Crossings Act, which was sponsored by Senator Leroy Comrie and Assembly Member Robert Carroll. The bill directs the NYS Department of Transportation (DOT) and the NYS Thruway Authority to identify sites along highways, thruways and parkways where wildlife crossings are most needed to increase public safety and improve habitat connectivity. The bill also directs DOT and the Thruway Authority to create a priority list of wildlife crossing projects where federal funds could be used. There were millions of dollars of federal funds available through the Biden Administration for wildlife crossing infrastructure such as overpass bridges, underpass tunnels, culverts and directional fencing, that enable wildlife to safely crossroads and other barriers. The bill passed the Legislature in the spring of 2024, but Governor Hochul vetoed the bill this November. In December, the State DOT was awarded federal funds to conduct a study of roadways to locate areas of high incident wildlife-vehicle collisions, and to also develop a standardized process for designing wildlife crossings to improve safety.

PROTECT worked alongside other wildlife organizations to advocate for a new wolf protection bill in the State Legislature. We worked with a group of other advocates to organize a Wolf Lobby Day in Albany to speak with Legislators and their staff about the wolf bill. The bill, sponsored by Senator Brad Hoylman-Sigal and Assemblymember Robert Carroll, requires all canids (coyotes and wolves) taken by hunters or trappers to be tagged (as is currently done with other fur/game species) and directs DEC to collect DNA samples of any coyote weighing more than 50 pounds (an indicator that the animal may actually be a wolf). The bill would also require DEC to report to the Governor and Legislature on the status of wolves in the State; require DEC to establish a website portal for the public to report suspected wolf sightings; and modify its hunting and trapping training curriculum to include educational information concerning the presence of wolves and legal protections in New York (wolves are protected endangered species). The bill did not pass the Legislature in 2024.

In the 2024 Legislative session, PROTECT also advocated for a septic inspection bill that would require an inspection of existing septic systems at the time that property is transferred from one owner to another. This type of inspection is often conducted during a property transaction, but not always and it is not mandatory. An inspection bill should also require failing systems to be fixed prior to the property transfer. Other states already require these inspections at the time of transfer of title. For example, Massachusetts has had this requirement in place since 1995. This bill did not pass the Legislature in 2024. A separate bill that we supported, sponsored by Senator Pete Harckham, Chair of the Environmental Conservation Committee, and Assemblymember Chris Burdick, requires sellers of properties served by a septic system to provide buyers with information on how to obtain a NYS Department of Health pamphlet that educates owners about septic system maintenance. That bill was passed by the Legislature, was signed into law by Governor Hochul in September, and goes into effect on July 1, 2025.

A title insurance bill that we supported authorizes the Attorney General’s Office to accept title insurance from a title insurance company that has already researched the property’s chain of title. Having this authority will accelerate the state’s process for conserving land, which is critical to meeting the State’s conservation goals as set forth in the 30 by 30 law passed in 2022, as well as to meet the State’s goals in the Climate Action Plan and to expend funds approved by the People in the Environmental Bond Act for land conservation. The bill passed the Senate in 2024, but the Assembly failed to pass it.

The Climate Superfund Act (S.2129B-Krueger/A.3351B-Dinowitz) passed the Legislature in 2024. The purpose of this bill is to establish a climate change adaptation cost recovery program requiring companies that contributed significant greenhouse gas emissions to bear a share of the costs of infrastructure investments required to adapt to climate change. This bill was signed by Governor Hochul at the end of December. Several other bills of interest did not pass in 2024, including a bill requiring electrification of planes, trains and boats, the NY Home Energy Affordable Transition (NY HEAT) Act, and the packaging reduction and recycling infrastructure act.

The Adirondack Road Salt Reduction Task Force final report was finally released in September 2023. The report was strong in documenting the pollution of lakes and residential wells along heavily salted road corridors. The report identified options for experimental road salt applications and pilot-studies to use less salt, employ substitutes, and to use new types of equipment or techniques for winter road management and de-icing. The State Department of Transportation undertook a few pilot studies in the winters of 2023 and 2024, but the State did not make meaningful progress in 2024 on reducing road salt usage in the Adirondacks.

DEC is currently updating the State Wildlife Action Plan (SWAP), which must be updated and submitted to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in 2025 to secure continued federal funding for wildlife conservation. The first step in the SWAP update is DEC’s preparation of a Species Status Assessment (“SSA”) for each species that is or may be imperiled in the State. PROTECT submitted comments on the draft SSAs prepared by DEC. PROTECT’s comments focused on four mammal species (Canada lynx, cougar, moose and wolf) and four bird species (American three-toed woodpecker, bay-breasted warbler, Bicknell’s thrush, and red-headed woodpecker) that are either present in low or declining numbers in the Adirondack Park or that formerly had breeding populations in the Adirondacks but are now rare. PROTECT urged DEC to provide increased protections for these at-risk species. PROTECT provided comments on DEC’s proposed regulations implementing the State’s Endangered Species Act. PROTECT commended DEC’s proposed regulations for providing crucial protections for imperiled species and their habitat, and offered suggestions for clarifying and improving several regulatory provisions.

PROTECT submitted comments on DEC’s draft Bobcat Management Plan, which would govern management of the State’s bobcat population for the next 10 years. PROTECT criticized the draft Bobcat Plan as lacking any basis in reliable bobcat population data and attempting to establish hunting and trapping seasons in the absence of harvest-independent data concerning the status, distribution, and population trends of bobcats in New York. PROTECT urged DEC to withdraw the draft plan and to collect scientifically reliable population data before preparing a revised management plan.

PROTECT submitted comments on DEC’s proposed regulations for implementing the amendments to the Freshwater Wetlands Act (“FWA”) that were signed into law in April 2022. PROTECT’s comments strongly supported DEC’s proposed regulations, but noted that some provisions in the regulations should be modified. PROTECT suggested changes to provisions in DEC’s draft regulations governing their applicability, as well as changes to provide greater protection to vernal pools. PROTECT also prepared and submitted a letter to APA on behalf of several environmental groups urging APA to prepare updates to its wetland regulations to implement the new FWA provisions. APA administers and enforces the FWA in the Adirondack Park.

PROTECT manages the best Independent Public Oversight Program in the Adirondacks. In 2024, PROTECT reviewed thousands of pages of materials and filed over 50 comment letters, which are all posted under Public Comments on our website. These comments and our independent watch-dog reviews cover a range of issues involving DEC, APA, the Olympic Regional Development Authority (ORDA), the Department of Transportation (DOT), and the dozens of local town, village, and county governments that review and approve private land development.

It has been more than three years since New York’s highest court struck down DEC’s plans to build a network of hundreds of miles of “Class II Community Connector Snowmobile Trails” in the Forest Preserve that violated Article 14 of the New York Constitution, the famed “Forever Wild” clause. PROTECT’s win catalyzed reform efforts in DEC’s management of the Forest Preserve. DEC formed the Forest Preserve Trails Stewardship Working Group, which is comprised of stakeholders in the Adirondack and Catskill Parks from local government, trail building groups, and conservation organizations including PROTECT, and has been slowly making progress.

Throughout 2023 DEC worked with the Working Group to develop a new Commissioner’s Policy on “Forest Preserve Work Plans,” which governs the planning and implementation of management activities such as trail work, bridge construction, campsite and parking lot construction, among other things. Significantly, the new Work Plans are supposed to focus on ensuring compliance with the Forever Wild clause. However, as DEC used the new Work Plan format in 2024 we saw varying levels of Article 14 analysis included in the Work Plans prepared by DEC staff. Unfortunately, some of the Work Plans have little to no discussion explaining how certain proposals, such as for tree cutting, comply with the Forever Wild clause. We commented on many of these draft Work Plans, urging DEC to improve the analysis of Article 14 issues. One of the Work Plans that we objected to strenuously involved DEC’s proposal to cut more than 13,000 trees atop Prospect Mountain at the southern end of Lake George.

In 2024, the Working Group focused on revising DEC’s trail standards. DEC drafted new design standards for all trails — hiking, biking, cross-country skiing, horseback riding or snowmobiling. These standards create a series of trail classes with varying limits on trail tread widths, trail corridor widths, heights of cleared area, and the types of bridges and drainage technologies to be used, among other things. Development of new trail standards has been a major challenge for the Working Group and for DEC. A formal draft of these new trail standards should be released for public comment soon.

One major downside to new trail design standards is that DEC and the Adirondack Park Agency (APA) are stubbornly insisting that they can still build and manage extra-wide snowmobile trails, despite the 2021 court decision that found these trails violate Article 14. With a slight modification in trails design standards by one foot, to change trails widths from 9 to 12 feet to 8 to 12 feet, DEC is claiming with a straight face that the ever-so-slightly narrower snowmobile trail will pass constitutional muster. We will continue to press for DEC-APA to abide the constitution.

DEC continued to work with OTAK, an environmental consulting firm, to develop the first Visitor Use Management (VUM) plan in the Adirondacks for the central High Peaks Wilderness Area. PROTECT participated on a Stakeholders group to provide feedback on the development of this plan. While this effort had promise as a way for DEC to improve its management of visitor use to protect these popular mountain hikes, the process has yet to produce a viable plan. VUM is widely used by the National Park Service and the Forest Preserve would benefit from its use in the Adirondacks.

The State is now in the fourth year of work on the new Cascade Mountain Trail that will run four miles from Mount Van Hoevenberg Winter Sports Complex Visitor’s Center to the summits of Cascade and Porter mountains. This trail is sustainably designed to withstand heavy public use. While it will follow a longer route to reach the summit of Cascade Mountain, it will be easier for hikers to walk on a trail with an even trail tread, gradual elevation gain, and intact corridor. This trail is expected to open in 2025. This follows the very successful sustainable trail constructed on Mount Van Hoevenberg.

 

This fall, APA released proposed amendments to the Adirondack Park State Land Master Plan (SLMP). Many of the proposed changes have the potential to weaken the SLMP’s protections of the Forest Preserve, especially in Wilderness Areas. We are particularly concerned about the discretion being given to DEC to allow motor vehicles known as Other Power Drive Motor Vehicles (OPDMDs) on the Forest Preserve without abiding by the limitations in the current SLMP. APA’s proposed SLMP amendments are yet another indicator that APA has lost focus on its mission to protect the Park’s natural resources. We submitted an extensive comment letter to APA and worked with other Adirondack groups to submit a joint letter to APA and to the Governor.

PROTECT submitted extensive comments to APA on the application by Barton Mines, LLC (Barton), sought to significantly expand its mountaintop open pit mine in the Town of Johnsburg, Warren County. The mine is located on Ruby Mountain directly adjacent to the Siamese Ponds Wilderness Area. Specifically, the proposed expansion will destroy an additional 26 acres of the Critical Environmental Area that provides a buffer between the Barton Mine and the Siamese Ponds Wilderness Area; significantly expand the existing massive waste dump that is already 73 acres in size and over 2,200 feet in height and which will be visible from numerous public hiking trails in the Forest Preserve; and will exacerbate the noise and dust impacts already being experienced from current mine operations. PROTECT also pointed out that APA has failed to comply with the State’s Climate Act because the Agency has not considered the project’s climate impacts. When APA approved the project in November, it included some conditions in response to our comments that will help to mitigate the impacts of the mine’s expansion. As of the end of 2024, DEC had not yet approved the Barton mining application.

 

In the Town of Moriah, PROTECT has been urging DEC and APA to take action to compel a whiskey maker to control emissions from its storage facilities that are coating nearby homes, cars, signs, and fencing with a black mold known as “whiskey fungus.” The company, WhistlePig Whiskey, owns and operates 13 warehouses in the small community of Mineville. PROTECT has asked the APA and DEC to enforce their permits to stop WhiskeyPig from contaminating nearby properties. Neither agency has taken action.

On Chazy Lake, PROTECT submitted comments to APA on an application for development of a 257-site campground with associated amenities on an undeveloped 146-acre parcel bordering Chazy Lake. PROTECT pointed out numerous significant deficiencies in the application. This project seeks to bring thousands of people to a relatively small and sparsely developed lake, doubling the number of people that currently live on and recreate on Chazy Lake, and does not include a phasing plan even though the application states that the project will be developed in phases.

PROTECT also fought, along with other environmental groups, against the excessive number of boat slips proposed for the marina project on Lower Fish Creek Pond. The new landowner (the same owner of the marina on Lower Saranac Lake) sought approval to construct 92 motorboat slips using large piers extending 160 feet, 172 feet, 188 feet and 196 feet from the shoreline. Unfortunately, that project was approved by both APA and DEC.

 

PROTECT is also scrutinizing several other proposed development projects, including the major “Stackman” subdivision proposal in the Town of Jay, a new subdivision proposal in the Town of Lake Luzerne, and a large resort proposal in the Town of Cairo adjacent to the Windham-Blackhead Range Wilderness area of the Forest Preserve in the Catskill Park.

As of the fall of 2024, at least eight waterbodies, including Lake George, have used the aquatic herbicide ProcellaCOR EC to control invasive Eurasian watermilfoil (EWM). Despite our repeated calls for an adjudicatory hearing on the use of this relatively new herbicide, APA never held one. PROTECT continues to be concerned about the use of ProcellaCOR and its potential for long-term impacts on the ecosystem, especially where it is applied in the same waterbody year after year. EWM must be controlled with sustained, active management and we do not believe that ongoing chemical herbicide treatments is the answer. The scientific follow-up studies by the Lake George Association after chemical treatment in Lake George are yielding important information. We urge lake associations and managers to develop robust lake management plans that include a variety of non-chemical tools to address the multitude of threats facing Adirondack lakes.

PROTECT continues to monitor actions by the APA and DEC to incorporate an assessment of GHG emissions for major projects as required by the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA). PROTECT urged both agencies to start assessing upstream and downstream GHG emissions associated with the major subdivision proposal in Jay and the Barton Mines expansion project in Johnsburg. Despite the fact that both are major projects that will increase GHG emissions, neither DEC nor APA have required or performed the GHG analysis required under the CLCPA.

Legal Action

Protect the Adirondacks takes legal action when necessary, when we believe the law has been broken and all other advocacy efforts and remedies have been exhausted. Going to court is always the last move on the board. In the past year, we’ve been involved in four lawsuits.

With other petitioners, PROTECT is challenging the approval of a major marina expansion on Lower Saranac Lake, specifically over APA’s decision that installation of a series of new docks in regulated wetlands did not require a wetlands permit. APA had required a wetlands permit for years and then reversed course. The Court dismissed part of the case, but we requested that the Judge reconsider the dismissal and we are awaiting a decision from the Court.

In 2023, PROTECT sued the DEC and APA over their decision to refurbish nearly one mile of a motor vehicle road in the southern High Peaks Wilderness Area. In September 2024, the Supreme Court, Albany County, granted a motion by APA to dismiss PROTECT’s complaint as time-barred. We have filed a notice of appeal of Supreme Court’s decision with the Appellate Division, Third Department. We have until April to perfect this appeal.

Under the Adirondack Park State Land Master Plan and the Saranac Lakes Wild Forest Unit Management Plan a carrying capacity study has been long required on the Saranac Chain of Lakes. In 2024, PROTECT filed a lawsuit against DEC asking the Court to require DEC to conduct the mandated carrying capacity study for the waterbodies in the Saranac Chain of Lakes. The study is necessary to evaluate the environmental and social impacts of visitor overuse of these water body, which is all the more important as APA has recently approved major expansions of a commercial marinas on Lower Saranac Lake and Lower Fish Creek Pond. We are awaiting a decision from the Court.

PROTECT worked with the Adirondack White Lake Association and PACE Environmental Law Clinic on a case challenging APA’s issuance of a permit for the White Lake Granite Quarry, despite significant community concerns, without first holding an adjudicatory public hearing. We lost at State Supreme Court and in an appeal to the Appellate Division, Fourth Department. Scores of nearby property owners sought to have the impacts of this new mine independently evaluated through an adjudicatory hearing.

Sound information is critical to the debate over the future of the Adirondacks. Objective research leads to good public policy. PROTECT is dedicated to bringing sound, reliable information that is scientifically verified to the ongoing public debate over the future of the Adirondack Park and the many challenges facing the region.

2024 was the 27th year of the Adirondack Lake Assessment Program (ALAP), which is a partnership between Protect the Adirondacks and the Adirondack Watershed Institute (AWI) at Paul Smith’s College. ALAP has three primary objectives to: 1) collect long-term water quality data on individual lakes and ponds in the Adirondack Park; 2) provide long-term trend data on individual lakes and ponds for local residents, lake associations, property owners and local governments to help organize water quality protection efforts; and 3) assemble a profile of water quality conditions across the Adirondacks. ALAP has relied upon trained volunteers who collect water samples and information that is analyzed by the scientists at AWI. ALAP data is pivotal to making the public case for reducing road salt pollution in the Adirondacks.

In 2024, PROTECT undertook an analysis of APA’s operations, including a review of the number of Board meetings, the number of days, and the attendance of Board Members. Our analysis showed a noticeable decline in the overall functioning of the APA Board. This has been manifested in the lack of Board meetings for multiple months during the past years, the reduction in the time that Board meetings last, the lack of APA Board committee meetings, and the increasing delegation to APA staff of project review functions. We found that in every category that we analyzed the numbers have declined over the last 20 years, with the most marked declines occurring from 2009 to 2024. In addition, by June 2025, every single appointed APA Board Member’s term will be expired, so there is an incredible opportunity to appoint a group of strong, diverse and environmentally minded candidates to the Board. Having qualified and dedicated Members is essential to APA’s ability to carry out is mission of protecting the natural resources of the Adirondack Park.

Protect the Adirondacks regularly published opinion and educational articles on topical issues on our website and at the Adirondack Almanack and New York Almanack/New York History websites. We also published op-eds, letters to the editor, guest commentaries, and post to various social media platforms like Facebook and Threads.

Our online hiking trail guides is a popular feature of our website. This guide lists 100 terrific hikes from across the Adirondack Park, and outside of the busy High Peaks Wilderness, that offer hikers great rewards that showcase the vastness and diversity of the Adirondack landscape. These hikes lead through great forests to mountains, waterfalls, bogs, and remote lakes. The online trail guides include descriptions, trail directions, pictures, and maps that detail the hike and provide information about protecting the natural resources and wild areas of the public Forest Preserve and Adirondack Park and how to be prepared for a good hike by practicing “Leave No Trace” hiking etiquette.

 

Peter Bauer has worked in Adirondack Park environmental conservation and advocacy for 35 years, and has served with dedication for more than 12 years as the Executive Director of Protect the Adirondacks. After carrying the baton of conservation and working with dozens of leaders and groups across the Adirondack Park on behalf of PROTECT, Peter is passing the baton to Claudia Braymer as part of the organization’s leadership transition strategy. Claudia, who started as Deputy Director in early 2023, shadowed Peter throughout 2024 – learning the ropes of Adirondack advocacy both within and outside of the Adirondack Park.