The new budget for fiscal year 2025 funds key priorities for the Adirondack Park, but falls short on making key long-term investments in land protection and climate change.
The new State Budget for fiscal year 2025 (FY25) was wrapped up in the third week of April and it includes funding for critical programs in the Adirondack Park. Protect the Adirondacks advocated for state support for a number of critical programs. This budget is largely a status quo budget that does not include major new programs or new funding priorities across the state or for the Adirondack Park.
The Environmental Protection Fund (“EPF”), 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, remains stable at $400 million for FY25. PROTECT is pleased that the final State Budget does not include in the EPF the $25 million line item that the Governor had originally proposed as a source of funding to cover personnel services. PROTECT joined hundreds of groups across the state to oppose paying for agency staff in the EPF.
The EPF includes $39.5 million for Open Space Protection. PROTECT had lobbied for a higher amount given that the state is in the midst of planning a new Open Space Conservation Plan and has committed through the 30 by 30 legislationto protect 30% of New York State by 2030. PROTECT’s analysis of this effort showed that the State needs to protect another 3.2 million acres to meet the goals of the 30 by 30 legislation. The $39.5 million in funding from the EPF won’t get the State very far towards the goal of protecting 30% of New York State. Land protection funding is also provided to support land trusts in New York and for conservation easements on agricultural lands. There is also $4 million for the State to acquire lands in DEC Regions 1, 2 and 3.
The other major part of the EPF that PROTECT lobbied for is the State Lands Stewardship Account, which funds trail construction and management actions on state lands across New York, including the Forest Preserve. The Stewardship account was funded at $47 million, with $10 million earmarked for Adirondack and Catskill Visitor Safety and Wilderness Protection. This account includes $2 million of funding for the Survey of Climate Change and Adirondack Lake Ecosystems (SCALE) study.
The EPF also includes $1.25 million for the Timbuctoo Summer Climate and Careers Institute at SUNY ESF’s Newcomb campus. There is also $1 million for the four visitor centers at the Paul Smith’s Visitor Interpretive Center, the SUNY Environmental Science and Forestry Adirondack Interpretive Center, the ADK High Peaks Information Center, and the Catskills Visitor Center, and $1.5 million of funding for the Adirondack Loj Road resurfacing project. The Adirondack North Country Association’s Adirondack Diversity Initiative received $420,000.
The State Budget allocates $100,000 of funding to the Adirondack Watershed Institute at Paul Smith’s College that conducts water quality monitoring and invasive species management throughout the Adirondack Park, and $100,000 to the Atmospheric Sciences Research Center at the Whiteface Mountain field station. The Budget also includes $500,000 of funding for Cornell’s New York State Hemlock Initiative to control hemlock wooly adelgid, $3.8 million for SmartGrowth grants, nearly $35 million for climate change mitigation programs, and $18.5 million for invasive species programs.
One area left out of EPF fundings is a line for $1 million for the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) to conduct the carrying capacity study required for the Saranac Chain of Lakes. This study is long overdue and badly needed.
The budget restored the Clean Water Fund to $500 million. This funding is important for various municipal water and sewer infrastructure projects across the Park, and for small but meaningful projects that improve or replace individual septic systems near waterbodies.
Another major shortfall in the new budget is that there are no major financial investments in climate change mitigation or new programs to fully implement the New York State Climate Action Plan.
Overall, the FY25 State Budget is positive news for the Adirondacks. PROTECT will continue to advocate to the Governor’s office and the Legislature to increase funding for existing programs and land acquisition, and to add new funding for the required carrying capacity study, and for innovative initiatives that address road salt reduction, affordable housing, and diversity in the Park.
