Find Us Online
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Adirondack Council
- Website
- http://www.adirondackcouncil.org
- Contact Name
- Tyler Frakes
- Contact Email
- tfrakes@antispamadirondackcouncil.org
- Location
- Elizabethtown, NY
- Past Grants
- 2009 · $30,000
- 2008 · $30,000
- Grand Total
- $60,000
Established as a not-for-profit environmental group in 1975, the Adirondack Council has been the leading advocate for preserving and protecting the open space resources of New York State's six million acre Adirondack Park and helping to sustain the natural and human communities of the region. With members in all 50 states, the Council is funded solely by private individuals and foundations and recieves no government funding.
Mission: To ensure the ecological integrity and wild character of the Adirondack Park.
Vision: An Adirondack Park with clean water and air and large wilderness areas, surrounded by working farms and forests and vibrant local communities.
To achieve our vision for the Adirondack Park, we:
Educate: educating the public and policy makers to build support for Park protection
-steady media presence on local, regional, state and national levels
-publications on environmental and conservation issues affecting the Adirondack Park
Advocate: focusing on the biggest threats to the ecology and wild character of the Park - urging rules, regulations, policies, legislation, funding and programs to:
- reduce air pollution
- prevent fragmentation and development of large blocks - of working forests
- restore and protect water quality
- protect public land from over use and abuse
- protect private land from inappropriate develpment
Monitor: scrutinize policies to ensure the Park's protection and appropriate uses
- ensure the "foreverwild" clause of New York State
- evaluating information
- negotiates compromises through solutions-oriented dialogue
- offer expertise and fact-based knowledge
Sue/Litigation: taking legal action to uphold the constitutional protections, agency regulations and policies established to protect the Adirondack Park
- adjudicatory hearings
- lawsuits
The Adirondack Council tackles many issues that have not only a direct impact on the Adirondack Park, but also have national and international impacts, specifically acid rain and global climate change. The Council's advocacy efforts focus on current threats to the wild character and ecology of the Adirondacks, including: shoreline development and water degradation, forest fragmentation, motor vehicle usage in pristine areas, telecommunication towers on ridgelines and open agricultural lands.
Working hand in hand with other organizations and state agencies, the Adirondack Council helps secure state and federal funding for conservation, environmental projects, and community revitalization. The Council plays a critical role at the Adirondack Park Agency (APA), the agency responsible for overseeing private land use and development, by participating in the public process of reviewing and commenting on an average of 360 development proposals per year. By working closely with the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation, the Council ensures positive stewardship of publicly own Forest Preserve in the Adirondacks. The Council is also the most effective line of defense protecting the Park from any proposed state legislation that might threathen the natural resources of the region. Offering constructive criticism to proposed bills before the legislature each year, the Council strives to uphold New York State's constitutional protection provided for the Adirondack Park under Article XIV - the "forever wild clause."