2025: A look back on our actions and impact in the Park

Advocacy

PROTECT has been leading efforts to add Whitney Park—a 36,000-acre expanse of largely undeveloped wilderness in the heart of the Adirondack Park—to the Forest Preserve. Whitney Park is a keystone piece of privately-held land in the Hamilton County that borders the William C. Whitney Wilderness Area, and contains 22 lakes and ponds, over 100 miles of undeveloped shoreline, and is lightly developed with thousands of acres of continuous high forest canopy. Our Paddle for Wilderness in September showcased to Governor Kathy Hochul the incredible opportunity the State has to protect this vital missing piece for the Forest Preserve, and a missing link for historic public canoe routes through the Park. In October, Governor Hochul expressed an interest in the State purchasing around 32,000 acres for the public Forest Preserve. The property was under contract to be sold to a private Texas-based real estate developer who publicly announced plans to transform the site into a luxury golf resort on 4,000 to 5,000 acres of the tract, but the developer has reportedly cancelled its contract to buy the property. PROTECT supports the State purchasing the property to add it to the Forest Preserve. We released an analysis showing that much of Whitney Park is unsuitable for development and we will scrutinize all development proposals and plans carefully.

Leigh Hornbeck with the yellow paddle at the Paddle for Wilderness on Forked Lake where we honored Pete and Ann Hornbeck and called on Governor Hochul to protect Whitney Park.

During the New York State Budget process, PROTECT advocated for funding for management of the Forest Preserve and for various Adirondack Park initiatives. We submitted budget testimony to the Legislature in writing and in person. We worked with other Adirondack organizations to host the Adirondack Park Environmental Lobby Day for volunteers and activities to speak with Legislators and staff about needed funding for vital programs including land protection, invasives species control, Forest Preserve Stewardship and visitor centers, the Survey of Climate Change and Adirondack Lake Ecosystems, and support for important Adirondack institutions, such as the Adirondack North Country Association’s Adirondack Diversity Initiative, Paul Smith’s College Adirondack Watershed Institute, Adirondack Experience, SUNY ESF Newcomb Visitors Interpretive Center, SUNY’s Environmental Science and Forestry’s Timbuctoo Institute, and Cornell’s New York State Hemlock Initiative.

Senator Pete Harckham and Executive Director Claudia Braymer with students at the 2025 Adirondack Park Lobby Day.

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 increase from $400 million to $425 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 was funded at a new historic high of $425 million and included $50 million for state land stewardship, $10 million for Adirondack and Catskill Park visitor safety and wilderness protection projects, and many other programs. $1 million was included for conducting a carrying capacity study of the Saranac Chain of Lakes. DEC has yet to use the funding to undertake a carrying capacity study. PROTECT has asked for court relief to require DEC to complete the mandatory study.

PROTECT was at the forefront of educating the public and supporting a successful vote “YES” campaign for Proposal 1, the amendment to Article 14 of the New York State Constitution. This amendment authorizes the continued use and improvement of certain facilities at the Mt. Van Hoevenberg Olympic Sports Complex, previously constructed by ORDA. The amendment permits the State to use up to 323 acres of Forest Preserve land within the Mt. Van Hoevenberg complex for a range of winter sports-related activities and infrastructure. These include trails, buildings, water lines, and parking areas. To facilitate this, the amendment provides an exemption from the constitutional prohibition on tree-cutting within the Forest Preserve, as mandated by the “Forever Wild” clause of Article 14. As a compensatory measure, the amendment also requires the State to acquire and add at least 2,500 acres of new land to the Adirondack Forest Preserve. These lands must be of equal or greater value than those being utilized and are subject to legislative approval. This amendment is necessary to retroactively authorize previously unlawful development at the Mt. Van Hoevenberg site and ensure that ongoing improvements—funded by hundreds of millions in State investment—comply with the State Constitution. The proposed amendment was approved by the voters in a statewide vote in November 2025.

Existing biathlon shooting range at Mount Van Hoevenberg that is now authorized by the Constitutional amendment passed in 2025.

PROTECT worked alongside other wildlife organizations to advocate for the 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). We worked with other advocates and the bill’s sponsors to make some changes to the language and the bill passed the Assembly Environmental Conservation Committee but unfortunately stalled in the Senate.

Board Member Sid Harring with Claudia Braymer and Christopher Amato at Wolf Lobby Day, May 2025, in Albany.

ROTECT strongly supported a new bill providing a financial incentive for private landowners to maintain wild forest lands, which are critical for reducing the impacts of climate change. State law currently provides real property tax reductions for landowners who manage fifty or more acres of their land for timber production pursuant to a timber management plan approved by DEC. Landowners who meet these criteria are eligible for a real property tax exemption of up to 80 percent of the assessed valuation of the lands. The new bill, supported by several organizations and sponsored by Senator Rachel May and Assemblymember Dr. Anna Kelles, expands the existing real property tax incentive to landowners who place at least ten acres of forested property under a conservation easement that ensures that the land will be permanently conserved as wild forest and prohibits the cutting, removal or destruction of trees on the tract (with certain exemptions such as DEC-approved actions to address invasive species). The bill also authorizes State assistance to municipalities that lose real property tax revenues as a result of landowners enrolling in the program by tapping into State revenues generated by the real property transfer tax to offset lost real property tax revenues.

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. 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. We pushed back on DEC’s plan to evaluate potentially significant adverse impacts from open space protection in its update to the Open Space Conservation Plan.

One more correctional facility on State land in an Adirondack Forest Preserve County is set to close in early 2026. In 2024, 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. Since then two other facilities in Forest Preserve counties closed: Great Meadow facility in Washington County and Sullivan facility in Sullivan County. Under state law, the only way that these six facilities 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 was no movement on an amendment in 2025.

Mount McGregor is a closed correctional facility located on State lands in Saratoga County adjacent to the Historic Grant Cottage. A Constitutional Amendment is needed to rehabilitate Mount McGregor’s buildings and grounds.

A 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 the basics of a septic system and its maintenance. That bill was passed by the Legislature, was signed into law by Governor Hochul and went into effect on July 1, 2025.

Sellers will have to provide buyers with information on how to obtain the NYS Department of Health pamphlet that educates owners about septic system maintenance. The bill went into effect on July 1, 2025.

We supported a title insurance bill that would have authorized 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 did not pass the Legislature in 2025, but in November 2025, Governor Hochul and Attorney General Letitia James announced an agreement to start using title insurance as a tool for land transactions.

There was no legislative progress on road salt reduction in 2025. The Adirondack Road Salt Reduction Task Force final report, released in September 2023, contained strong docuentation of 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 (DOT) 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. In 2025, DOT says it is committing to expanding the road salt reduction techniques across the State.

In 2025, the Senate confirmed Governor Hochul’s two new nominees to the APA Board: Jose Almanzar, an environmental attorney and Rush Holt, Jr., a scientist and former Congressman. The Senate also confirmed the renominations of current APA Board members Zoe Smith, Benita Law-Diao, Dan Wilt, Mark Hall and Ken Lynch. Mark Hall was selected by the Governor to become the Chair of the APA Board. PROTECT continues to monitor the APA Board and to work on a multi-year, nonpartisan effort to re-imagine and strengthen the APA Act. We are gathering information from stakeholders and engaging with members of the New York State Legislature and their staff to discuss pathways for reform. These efforts aim to align ecological protection with economic opportunity—ensuring that the Adirondack Park thrives for generations to come.

PROTECT Board Members Roger Gray, Robert Glennon and Barbara Rottier attending an APA meeting.

Overall, the 2025 legislative session had a couple of wins, but there is more work to do in 2026. Several bills of interest did not pass in 2025, including a bill requiring electrification of planes, trains and boats, the NY Home Energy Affordable Transition (NY HEAT) Act (except for the real of the “100-foot rule”, which subsidized new natural gas hookups within 100 feet of an existing line), and the packaging reduction and recycling infrastructure act.

DEC is currently updating the State Wildlife Action Plan (SWAP), which must be updated and submitted to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to secure continued federal funding for wildlife conservation. PROTECT submitted comments on the draft species status assessment prepared by DEC and we submitted additional 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. In our most recent comments, we urged DEC to reinstate the common loon to the SWAP. Downward trends in reproductive success and continued threats to this species and its habitat warrant inclusion.

PROTECT and several environmental groups have urged APA to prepare updates to its wetland regulations to implement the new Freshwater Wetlands Act (FWA) provisions that went into effect in 2025. APA administers and enforces the FWA in the Adirondack Park. To date, APA has not updated its wetlands regulations, leaving the wetlands in the Park potentially less protected than wetlands anywhere else in the State.

PROTECT manages the best Independent Public Oversight Program in the Adirondacks. In 2025, PROTECT reviewed hundreds if not thousands of pages of materials and filed nearly 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.

PROTECT continues to submit detailed comments to APA on private land development proposals that expose these regulatory failures. We are urging APA to enforce its own statutes, integrate current ecological science into project review, and adopt a more precautionary and conservation-minded approach to land use planning. We have submitted our Petition to intervene in APA’s adjudicatory hearing for the controversial proposal to site a howitzer firing range in the Town of Lewis in the Adirondack Park. Ultimately we hope that this adjudicatory hearing, the first held by APA in 14 years, will lead to the APA Board denying the proposed project.

DEC is moving forward with plans to remove Debar Lodge and its associated complex of structures from the shore of Debar Pond in the northern Adirondacks. As part of this process, DEC indicated that intends to develop a new Unit Management Plan (UMP) for the Debar Mountain Complex. DEC has determined that it has neither an operational need for the existing buildings nor the resources to properly manage them. As such, the agency proposes to clear the site of all structures and restore the area to a wild forest condition. We urge DEC to follow through on its stated commitment to remove these unconstitutional structures and restore the Forest Preserve at Debar Pond to its rightful wild state.

It has been four year 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. DEC with input from the Working Group drafted 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. We continue to look for DEC to release the standards for official public comment.

In 2023, the Working Group deeveloped 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. We continue to monitor the Work Plans prepared by DEC staff and comment on them to DEC when we see problems. Some of the Work Plans still have little to no discussion explaining how certain proposals, such as for tree cutting, comply with the Forever Wild clause. In 2025, we commented on a draft Work Plan for a downhill mountain bike race course at Whiteface Mountain that was constructed without DEC approval. DEC issued a Notice of Violation to ORDA and required a corrective action plan.

Construction of mountain biking race course on Whiteface Mountain

DEC’s draft Visitor Use Management (VUM) plan for the central High Peaks Wilderness Area has yet to be released to the public.

The entire 34-mile Adirondack Rail Trail is now complete and open for recreational use. It has been wildly popular and we will continue to monitor how the trail and the Forest Preserve are sustaining the new level of use. We continue to believe that the success of the Adirondack Rail Trail makes a real case for the creation of the Hudson River Rail Trail in Saratoga, Warren and Essex Counties.