For Immediate Release
May 23, 2008
Contact: David Gibson, 518-377-1452

Environmentalists Sue State Over Illegal Floatplane Use on Lows Lake

ALBANY, N.Y. -- The Adirondack Mountain Club (ADK), the Association for the Protection of the Adirondacks, the Sierra Club and the Residents’ Committee to Protect the Adirondacks filed a lawsuit in state Supreme Court in Albany on May 29. The suit asks the court to compel the state Department of Environmental Conservation to ban floatplanes on Lows Lake in the Adirondack Park.

The lawsuit was filed because DEC has failed to abide by legal commitments it made in 2003 to eliminate floatplanes on the wilderness lake. In January of that year, the DEC commissioner signed a unit management plan (UMP) for the area that committed DEC to phasing out floatplane use of Lows Lake over five years. The five-year window expired at the end of January, but DEC has not promulgated regulations to ban floatplanes. According to the Adirondack Park State Land Master Plan, which is part of the state Executive Law, “preservation of the wild character of this canoe route without motorboat or airplane usage is the primary management goal for this primitive area.”

For Immediate Release
May 23, 2008
Contact: David Gibson, 518-377-1452
Dan Plumley, 576-4430

Bauer, Brinkley Honored at Annual Meeting in Lake Placid

Peter Bauer received an Adirondack Achievement Award this past week from the Association for the Protection of the Adirondacks. Bauer was recognized for his many achievements during 13 years as Executive Director of the Residents’ Committee to Protect the Adirondacks. The award was presented at AFPA’s 107^th annual meeting in Lake Placid.

Bauer was particularly recognized for his:

• Detailed fact-finding and analysis about development trends in the park, including the critical 2001 publication Growth in the Adirondack Park: Analysis of Rates and Patterns of Development.
• Challenge to state agencies to honor their responsibilities for the protection of the Park’s natural resources and the NYS Forest Preserve, including litigation against the State when necessary.
• Ability to inspire and activate the passion of thousands of people living inside the Adirondack Park to speak up and work for the health and well being of their lakes and ponds, forests and communities.

For Immediate Release
Contact: David Gibson, 518-377-1452

Organizations seek permission to join lawsuit to support state land tax payments to local government;AFPA asserts that annual payment of taxes on the forest preserve is an inviolate, permanent commitment to Adirondack and Catskill local governments from the people of NYS Read news release

For Immediate Release
Contact: David Gibson, 518-377-1452
Dan Plumley, 518-576-4430

EMAIL ACTIVIST -- ACTION ALERT

For Immediate Release
Contact: David Gibson, 518-377-1452
Dan Plumley, 518-576-4430

Association calls for State to act swiftly and boldly to protect 130,000-acre arc of wildness in the heart of the Adirondacks

Keene and Niskayuna, NY -- The Association for the Protection of the Adirondacks today called on Governor Eliot Spitzer and Environmental Conservation Commissioner Pete Grannis to acquire as much as 130,000 acres of the former Finch, Pruyn lands for the publicly owned Forest Preserve.