Adirondack Park - WordPress.com · Engineering, Environmental ... U of Western Ontario, Vassar, ......
Transcript of Adirondack Park - WordPress.com · Engineering, Environmental ... U of Western Ontario, Vassar, ......
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?
Adirondack Park
Contested Land
o History
o Adirondack Council
o Common Ground Alliance
o Bob Marshall Wildlands Complex
o Q & A
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.
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.
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.
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.
Challenges
• Confronting climate change
• Large landscape conservation
• Revitalizing local communities
Confronting Climate Change
Work to protect Adirondack forests and water from pollution produced in other
regions and locally.
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
Mountain Lion
Red Wolf
Occasional Visitors or Extirpated?
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?”
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.
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
What we have learned
• Adirondack communities are struggling for economic survival and need private sector employment opportunities 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 our communities and includes the full spectrum of economic components
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
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
Research
• ALTEMP:
– 65+ years of research incorporated into 30 ongoing 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
ESF Adirondack Research Agenda
• Adirondack Long Term Ecological Monitoring
• Large Landscape Conservation & Local People
• Climate Change Impacts, Resiliency & Adaptation Options
o Forest, Wildlife & Water Resources for a Sustainable
Economy
o Mine Reclamation & Ecological Restoration
o Community Participatory Planning & Conflict
Resolution
o Opportunities to Involve Students, Faculty, and Partners
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
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
officials, 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.
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
of 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, &
others
Contact information
• Brian Houseal [email protected]
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