For Immediate Release
Friday October 1, 2004
Contact: Dave Gibson, 518-377-1452
Howard Zahniser Award for Wilderness Stewardship
Goes to Former DEC and APA Commissioners
Lake George, NY - The Association for the Protection of the Adirondacks will convey its annual Howard Zahniser Adirondack Award to former NYS Environmental Conservation Commissioner Peter Berle and former Adirondack Park Agency member Peter Paine. Throughout their careers, both have taken active steps to uphold the "forever wild" clause of the New York State Constitution. Both have also contributed greatly to the establishment of Wilderness areas within the New York State Forest Preserve and to the long-term stewardship of these wild lands. The award is named after Howard Zahniser, author of the National Wilderness Act. The ceremony will take place at the Ft. William Henry Hotel during the National Wilderness 40th Anniversary Conference in Lake George on Monday evening, October 11, 2004.
Peter Berle: As a member of the NYS Assembly from 1968-1974, Peter Berle played a critical leading role in creating the Adirondack Park Agency and environmental statutes which the Agency implements in the Park. As New York State Environmental Conservation Commissioner from 1976-1979, Berle strengthened Wilderness stewardship within the New York State Forest Preserve. As President of National Audubon Society from 1985-95, he championed Wilderness and wildlife habitat protection across the nation. In 1989, Governor Cuomo named Peter Chairman of the Commission on the Adirondacks in the 21st Century which made important recommendations for Adirondack Park governance, human and natural communities. As director and host of public radio's "The Environment Show" he has reported on every environmental issue that has engaged the nation. Peter and his wife Lila farm in western Massachusetts.
Peter Paine: As an original and the longest-serving member of the NYS Adirondack Park Agency (1971-1995), Peter Paine was principal draftsman of the Wild, Scenic and Recreational Rivers Act and of the Adirondack Park State Land Master Plan. He fought for Wilderness designations and for sound planning guidelines for the entire Adirondack Forest Preserve. Peter conceived of and embraced the master plan's unifying theme: that the protection and preservation of the natural resources of these state lands is paramount. Peter continues to serve in leadership positions with organizations such as the Adirondack Nature Conservancy and Land Trust, where he was past Chair, the New York State Nature Conservancy, where he is Trustee emeritus, and the Lake Champlain Committee. He and his wife Patty make their home in Willsboro, NY.
Howard Zahniser was executive secretary of the Wilderness Society from 1945 until his death in 1964. The Wilderness bill that he authored went through 66 drafts and was signed by President Johnson in 1964. Zahniser modeled the Wilderness bill after the "Forever Wild" clause of the New York State Constitution. Today, the Wilderness Act protects 106 million acres in the United States as Wilderness by law. That figure does not include any lands of the three million acre, New York State Forest Preserve in the Adirondack and Catskill Parks.
Prior recipients of the Howard Zahniser Adirondack Award are Daniel R. Plumley, Harold A. Jerry, Jr.; Arthur M. Crocker; Chuck Scrafford; Jim Papero; Clarence Petty; George Davis; David Sive; David L. Newhouse; and Patricia Rudge.
The Association for the Protection of the Adirondacks is hosting the National Wilderness Conference, and a partnership of the following national organizations has planned the event: the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry (ESF), Friends of the Clearwater, International Journal of Wilderness (IJW), Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), Sierra Club, Wilderness Society, and Wilderness Watch.
The Association for the Protection of the Adirondacks is a non-profit, member-supported organization founded in 1901 to protect the Forest Preserve and defend the "forever wild" clause of the NYS Constitution. The Association is dedicated to sustaining the ecological integrity and mutual well being of the natural and human communities of the Adirondack Park. The Association promotes strategies to realize the potential of the Park as a world model of integrated conservation in wild and lived-in landscapes.