Adirondack Park US India Exchange Tour Brian Houseal, Director - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

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Adirondack Park US India Exchange Tour Brian Houseal, Director - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Jan 17, 2023 606 likes •1.35k views

Adirondack Park US India Exchange Tour Brian Houseal, Director Adirondack Ecological Center The Adirondacks; Contested Terrain Its no damn Park, its where I live and where I work History Current Management Common

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Adirondack Park

US – India Exchange Tour

Brian Houseal, Director Adirondack Ecological Center

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The Adirondacks; Contested Terrain

“It’s no damn Park, it’s where I live and where I work”

  • History
  • Current Management
  • Common Ground Alliance
  • Adirondack Ecological Center
  • Future?
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Ad iro nd a ck Pa rk & No rthea stern US

Washington, DC Quebec, Canada

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Pre-Revolutionary War

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Erie Canal 1840 New York - The ‘Empire State’

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Adirondack Park Contested Land

  • History
  • Adirondack Council
  • Common Ground Alliance
  • Bob Marshall Wildlands Complex
  • Q & A
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Current Management

  • Adirondack Forest Preserve decreed in 1894
  • Adirondack Park Agency established in 1974 – regional land use planning agency
  • UNESCO Champlain – Adirondack Biosphere Reserve approved in 1994.
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The Adirondack Park

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A Mixture of Public and Private Lands

Adirondack Park Agency

  • Land use and economic

development plan for 3.2 million acres of private lands: resource management, industrial, rural use, low intensity and moderate intensity and hamlets.

  • Assistance to communities for

APA-approved local plans.

  • Administer federal Wetlands and

Wild, Scenic & Recreational Rivers Acts.

  • Regulation and enforcement.
  • Approval of DEC UMPs
  • Dept. of Environmental Conservation
  • Care and custody of 2.6 million

acres of Forest Preserve.

  • Preparation of Unit Management

Plans (UMPs) – 38 units.

  • Monitoring and enforcement of

850,000 acres of state-held conservation easements on private lands.

  • Any potential loss of Forest

Preserve lands requires a Constitutional Amendment.

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Trail Mix

Within the ‘Blue Line’ boundary of the Park:

  • 11 Counties
  • 103 Towns
  • Multiple agencies whose regions do not correspond

to the Park’s boundaries: DOT, DOE, ESDC, etc. and treat the Park as any other region of the state. = conflicting mandates & frustrated local residents who feel disenfranchised by bureaucracy & political process controlled by the Capitol in Albany and NYC.

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A shared vision: an Adirondack Park with clean water and air and large core wilderness areas surrounded by working farms and forests, and vibrant local communities.

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Challenges

  • Confronting climate change
  • Large landscape conservation
  • Revitalizing local communities
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Confronting Climate Change

Work to protect Adirondack forests and water from pollution produced in other regions and locally.

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.

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Improve and streamline Adirondack governance.

Large Landscape Conservation

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Landscape-level or Ecosystem-Based Management

  • Integrates ecological, social, and economic goals and recognizes humans

as key components of the ecosystem.

  • Considers ecological- not just political- boundaries.
  • Engages multiple stakeholders in a collaborative process to define

problems and find solutions.

  • Is concerned with the ecological integrity and the sustainability of both

human and ecological systems.

  • Uses an adaptive management approach in the face of resulting

uncertainties

  • Core areas – connectivity - permeability
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Mountain Lion Red Wolf

Occasional Visitors or Extirpated?

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Large wetland complexes

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pitcher plants

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Revitalize Local Communities Encourage planning, smart growth and Forest Preserve integration.

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Common Ground Alliance

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Where we were: “Adirondack groups would rather fight than win.”

Ross Whaley, APA Chair, c. 2005

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SEEKING COMMON GROUND

  • Initial participants met in February 2006:

– Town of Inlet Supervisor: JR Risley – Central Adirondack Partnership – 21st Century: Lani Ulrich – Adirondack Council: Brian Houseal “Can we find solutions that benefit the Park’s communities, their economies, and the environment?”

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Process

  • Address only issues that we agree to;
  • If one party does not agree, the issue does not

get on the table;

  • Work to build communications and trust

among participants who may have traditionally disagreed;

  • Widen the number of participants from key

sectors.

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Long Lake – July 2007 “We the People…”

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Blue Print for the Blue Line

“Sustainable communities in a high quality natural environment”

  • Acid Rain
  • Global Climate Change
  • Invasive Species
  • Land Use Change
  • Telecommunications
  • Community Housing
  • Aging Infrastructure
  • Main Street Revitalization
  • Energy Development
  • Entrepreneurial

Development

  • Transportation
  • Effective Governance
  • Property Taxes
  • Heath Care
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What we have learned

  • Adirondack communities are

struggling for economic survival and need private sector employment

  • pportunities that move us

into a 21st century economy

  • State agencies are well-

intended but may have policies that do not correspond to our small rural communities

  • “Grassroots regionalism”

is occurring due to the efforts like those of the Common Ground Alliance – reaching across traditional divides

  • The Adirondack Park needs

a comprehensive plan that envisions a better future for

  • ur communities and

includes the full spectrum of economic components

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Adirondack Ecological Center Vision for the Future

AEC mission: To understand the Adirondack ecosystem through research and education. The Adirondack Park: one of the world’s foremost experiments in conservation and sustainability

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The Adirondack Park

AEC AEC

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Adirondack Ecological Center

  • A base of operations for research and

education on the natural and cultural systems of the Northern Forest.

  • SUNY/ESF Newcomb campus: 15,000 acres
  • Visitor Interpretive Center
  • Masten Retreat House
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Research

  • ALTEMP:

– 65+ years of research incorporated into 30

  • ngoing monitoring efforts of over 100 physical,

chemical & biological attributes – Real-time data (Arbutus, met station, geospatial) – Intensive biological studies since 1930’s by ESF Roosevelt Wildlife Research Station – Long-term forest inventory, silviculture & management experiments – Data from 200+ studies maintained

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ESF Adirondack Research Agenda

  • Adirondack Long Term Ecological Monitoring
  • Large Landscape Conservation & Local People
  • Climate Change Impacts, Resiliency & Adaptation

Options

  • Forest, Wildlife & Water Resources for a Sustainable

Economy

  • Mine Reclamation & Ecological Restoration
  • Community Participatory Planning & Conflict

Resolution

  • Opportunities to Involve Students, Faculty, and Partners
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Education

  • AEC Academic Engagement:

5 faculty – 10 courses, 14 graduate advisees, 4 undergraduate advisees, 6 interns in 2012-13

– Research methods: Understanding the Adirondack Ecosystem – Environmental Ethics and Culture: Perspectives on the Adirondack Park – Sustainable Development: An Adirondack Park Case Study – Using Past Experience to Inform Future Management: Synthesizing the Park – Forest Ecology – Winter Mammalian Ecology

  • ESF Faculty use of AEC/Newcomb:

Chemistry, Environmental & Forest Biology, Environmental Resource

Engineering, Environmental Studies, Forest & Natural Resource Management, Landscape Architecture, Paper & Bioprocess Engineering, Ranger School, Sustainable Construction Management & Engineering

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Outreach Moving Science to the Public & Policy

  • Adirondack Interpretive Center
  • Interpreting ESF Knowledge to K-12 & general public
  • Northern Forest Institute
  • Solutions for professional resource managers, elected
  • fficials, other decision makers
  • Working to solve real-time issues for the

Adirondacks & beyond…

  • e.g., acid rain, climate change, large landscape

conservation, community sustainability, etc.

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Partnerships

  • Non-ESF Colleges & Universities using AEC:

Ex: Antioch, Clarkson, Colgate, CUNY, McGill, NC State, Paul Smiths, Queens, Rutgers, SUNYs, SU, U of Georgia, U

  • f Maryland, U of Minnesota, UVM, U of Western Ontario,

Vassar, Washington State U

  • Agencies:

Ex: Adirondack Park Agency, Biodiversity Research Institute, Dept. of Environmental Conservation, Nature Conservancy, NYS Energy Research & Development Authority, USGS, USFWS, Wildlife Conservation Society, &

  • thers
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This is one of the best protected landscapes in the country, but is it protected enough?

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Contact information

  • Brian Houseal blhouseal@esf.edu

State University of New York College of Environmental Science & Forestry – SUNY/ESF – ESF/Adirondack Ecological Center

  • NYS Adirondack Park Agency
  • NYS Department of Environmental Conservation
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Thank you. Please come visit. Questions?