The 2022 annual meeting of Protect the Adirondacks was held at the John Brown Farm in Lake Placid on Saturday, July 16th. The meeting was widely attended by 75 members and provided an overview and update on accomplishments over the past year and major priorities for the year ahead.
The day started with refreshments and coffee by Green Goddess of Lake Placid. Chuck Clusen, Chair of Protect the Adirondacks, welcomed everyone and started the meeting. The Board and staff were introduced and the group was welcomed to the John Brown Farm by historic site manager Brendan Mills.
David Quinn, PROTECT’s Treasurer, provided an overview of the 2021-22 finances for the most recent fiscal year that ended on June 30th. Michael Wilson and Barbara Rottier, of the Board Governance Committee, reported on the 2022 Board of Directors election. Between the vote of the members in attendance and the proxy votes, the membership elected to 3-year terms Roger Gray, of Albany, NY; John Nemjo, of Saratoga Springs; Peter O’Shea, of Fine, NY; David Quinn, of Saratoga Springs, NY; Barbara Rottier, of Vermontville, NY; and, Chris Walsh, of Saratoga Springs, NY.
Protect the Adirondacks honored Elizabeth Thorndike and Peter Paine for their decades of work to protect and defend the Adirondack Park through their work on the Adirondack Park Agency Board, service with many non-profits, in land protection and climate change, and in fostering research on major public policy issues facing the Adirondack Park. Elizabeth Thorndike was in attendance, but Peter Paine was traveling out west. Bob Glennon, former Executive Director of the Adirondack Park Agency (APA) introduced Liz Thorndike, who addressed the group on the need for strong long-term protections for the Adirondack Park.
The group adjourned after the Zahniser Award and ate a buffet lunch, which was followed by a talk from social historian Amy Godine, who is the curator of the “Dreaming of Timbuctoo” exhibit at the historic John Brown Farm. Godine talked about the findings in her book, to be published in 2023, The Black Woods, that chronicles the formation, experiences, and legacy of the dozens of black families who arrived in the North Country in the 1850s as part of an effort to provide 120,000 acres of Adirondack wilderness to 3,000 Black New Yorkers in order to expand voting rights and expand the numbers of black farmers.

Amy Godine talks to the crowd about the “Dreaming of Timbuctoo” exhibit at John Brown’s Farm and her work to research the history of black families who arrived in the Adirondacks and North County in the 1850s as part of a massive project to expand black landowning farmers.
The meeting broke up after a tour of Dreaming of Timbuctoo.” Make sure that you attend the annual meeting in 2022.