Peter Bauer, Executive Director. Peter Bauer is the Executive Director of Protect the Adirondacks, a position he has held since 2012. He has been working in various capacities on Adirondack Park environmental issues since the mid-1980s, including stints as the Executive Director of the Residents’ Committee to Protect the Adirondacks (1994-2007) and FUND for Lake George (2007-2012), as well as on the staff of the Commission on the Adirondacks in the Twenty-First Century (1989-1990). He also worked at Adirondack Life Magazine (1987-1988). He served as Chair of the Town of Lake George Zoning Board of Appeals and has served on numerous advisory boards for management of the Adirondack Park and Forest Preserve.
Peter has written numerous pieces on Adirondack Park public policy matters and issues in the Adirondack Almanack and New York Almanack. He contributed chapters to various books and testified in front of the State Legislature, helped to pass major legislation and budget items, helped defend the Forever Wild clause in the NYS Constitution, and has been involved in a range of Adirondack Park and Forest Preserve issues for nearly three decades. He is one of the founders of the Adirondack Lake Assessment Program, and helped to author reports 20% in 2023: An Assessment of the New York State 30 by 30 Act (2023), The Adirondack Park and Rural America: Economic and Population Trends 1970-2010 (2019), The Myth of Quiet, Motor-free Waters in the Adirondack Park (2013), and Rutted and Ruined: ATV Damage on the Adirondack Forest Preserve (2003). Peter has degrees from SUNY New Paltz and the University at Albany.
Peter has two grown children and lives in Blue Mountain Lake with his wife Cathleen. He enjoys a wide variety of outdoor recreational activities throughout the Adirondacks, and is a member of the Blue Mountain Lake Volunteer Fire Department.
Claudia Braymer, Deputy Director. Claudia Braymer is the Deputy Director of Protect the Adirondacks, a position she has held since 2023. Before joining PROTECT, Claudia worked for more than ten years in the private practice of law specializing in the areas of environmental law, zoning and planning, real estate, and municipal law. She has represented environmental groups, community activists, and individual landowners before local municipal boards and state agencies, including the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) and the Adirondack Park Agency (APA). Claudia was one of the attorneys for Protect the Adirondacks in the historic Article 14 case that found that the extra-wide Class II trails in the Forest Preserve approved and constructed by DEC and APA violated the Constitution. Claudia was a co-author of 20% in 2023: An Assessment of the New York State 30 by 30 Act (2023).
Claudia’s hiring was part of a staff succession plan and she will take over as the Executive Director of the organization at the end of 2024. Claudia has a degree in Environmental Resource Management from the Pennsylvania State University. She studied several areas of natural resources science, and after graduation worked as an environmental consultant for Booz Allen Hamilton in Arlington, VA. She also played rugby for the U.S. Women’s Rugby Team from 2005 to 2010, participating in two World Cups during that time. Braymer has a law school degree from Albany Law School.
Braymer serves as a co-chair of the Adirondack and Catskill Forest Preserve committee of the Environmental Law Section of the New York State Bar Association. Braymer lives in Glens Falls with her husband Ryan and their two children. They enjoy hiking, canoeing in their new Hornbeck, and exploring wilderness areas across the Adirondacks.
Christopher Amato, Conservation Director and Counsel. Christopher Amato is the Conservation Director and Counsel of Protect the Adirondacks, a position he has held since 2022. He leads conservation and advocacy efforts for Forest Preserve protection and management, monitoring and intervening in private land development, and natural resource protection. Chris has a long history of involvement with Adirondack Park issues, beginning with his work as a Staff Attorney at the Adirondack Park Agency (APA), as Deputy Commissioner for Natural Resources at the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC), and as an attorney in private practice and with EarthJustice where he represented Protect the Adirondacks and other advocacy groups. Most recently, Chris worked as Senior Counsel in the New York State Senate Majority Counsel’s Office. Chris has degrees from Skidmore College and Albany Law School.
Chris lives with his partner Ann in Delmar, outside of Albany, and has two grown children. He is an avid cyclist, hiker, and paddler.