The APA and the Adirondack Council

When I started reporting yesterday morning's story about ties between the Adirondack Park Agency, a state regulatory agency, and the Adirondack Council, an independent environmental group, I was largely ignorant of the facts.

I didn't realize that of the eight members of the public appointed to the APA commission, three are former Council board members.

That's a lot of voting power.

After interviewing a wide array of sources -- both on and off the record -- I'm convinced that there's no conspiracy here, no deliberate effort to "stack" the APA board.

The three individuals with past ties to the Council, APA chairman Curt Stiles (former vice-chair of the Council's board), enforcement committee chair Cecil Wray, and Richard Booth, chair of the park policy and planning committee, all strike me as smart, ethical and devoted to the Adirondack Park.

They all have complex and varied backgrounds, ranging from academia to the corporate world to environmental activism. None are defined by their ties to the Council.

And APA officials are adamant in their claim that the Council doesn't enjoy special access to these or any other commissioners.

But the question remains: Is it appropriate for so many of the board's voting members to have that particular item -- a leadership role with one green group -- on their resumes?

Interviewed by NCPR, Blair Horner, with the New York Public Interest Research Group, was ambivalent.

It's noteworthy when a regulatory agency has such close ties to one group, according to Horner. He points out that a diversity of opinions and representation is usually better.

But he also notes that the three board members were appointed by two different governors -- one Republican and one Democrat -- and confirmed after review by a Republican-controlled Senate.

What's more, the APA board also includes sitting members who maintain ties to other interests, including local government (Frank Mezzano and William Thompson) and resort development (Arthur Lussi).

No one questions their ethics or judgments because of those relationships. So why should the Council connection be any different?

What we do know is this: The Adirondack Council has emerged as a uniquely influential group with ties to politicians in both the Democratic and Republican parties. (Two former Pataki era officials now sit on the Council's board.)

Is the Adirondack Park well served by the Council's unprecedented role inside the Blue Line?

Your comments and opinions are welcome below.

Sandy Weill, North Country seasonal, isolated

Sandy Weill and his wife Joan emerged over the last decade as perhaps the ultimate example of the wealthy seasonal Adirondacker.

Their North Country philanthropy extended to Paul Smiths College, North Country Public Radio, and beyond.

But as the chief architect of Citigroup, the Weills also find themselves living in the shadow of the biggest financial meltdown since the Great Depression.

(Weill was also largely responsible for repealing post-Depression regulations designed to avoid another implosion.)

In a lengthy profile on Sunday, the New York Times paints a portrait of the Weills as largely isolated from the world they once helped to define.

“The most important thing to my husband was his reputation, ” says Mrs. Weill, who still feels angry at the portrayal of him in the press. “There are a few people I want to kill, but I am not going to name names.”

According to the article, Weill made an effort to return to Citi in a leadership role after the crisis began, but was rebuffed.

“I had 50 years of experience,” he says. “I think I was a pretty good student of the markets, and the business. I had a good feel of things. I felt that just because I retired didn’t mean my brain went to mush. Maybe I could help.”

No one responded to his offers.

The rejection stung. Citigroup had for so long been central to his life. It was hard to accept that he had no control or influence over it anymore. “It’s very hurtful. Even though he says, ‘No, no, it’s fine,’ ”says Joan Weill, his wife of 54 years. “I know him. The company means so much to him. It was his baby.”

The article points out that the Weills have maintained their devotion to philanthropy, and many of the trappings of their lifestyle, including a home on Upper Saranac Lake.

Read the full treatment here.

Saranac Lake village justice censured

New York's local court system is notoriously troubled. More evidence came this week with the formal censure of Paul Herrmann, a justice in Saranac Lake's village court.

Here's the summary from the New York state Commission on Judicial Conduct:

In a determination dated December 15, 2009, the Commission found that Judge Herrmann refused to accept a plea agreement because he wanted a disposition that would bring revenue to the Village, and that he engaged in improper political activity.

The 'improper' political activity involved nominating a Democratic candidate for a village trustee race in Saranac Lake.

In an interview with Nathan Brown at the Adirondack Daily Enterprise, Herrmann said he wasn't sure whether he would challenge the ruling.

He also indicated that he plans to run again for the elected office in March 2010.

Here's how Brown summarizes the severity of the Commission's ruling:

Censure is more severe than admonishment, which is also made public, but not as severe as removal or forced retirement. Commission proceedings are only made public if one of these determinations is made, unless the judge waives confidentiality.

The determination says Herrmann "states that as a result of these disciplinary proceedings, he will refrain from such political activity and improper public comments in the future and that he is more sensitive to the proper role of a judge."

The Post-Star offers local government some advice: no raises

Here's how the Glens Falls Post-Star frames the question of local government boards giving themselves raises:

Any politicians who propose pay raises for themselves while laying off workers and denying raises to others is simply just ... what's the word? ... unbelievable.

Yet some members of the Glens Falls Common Council are tentatively testing the waters for such a pay raise.

The editorial does wrestle with a nagging concern for many local boards: convincing people to work long hours in a controversial, often heated environment, for little pay.

Raising a councilman's $10,000 compensation by $300, as a 3 percent raise would do, isn't going to get any better candidates. If you want a better class of candidates to consider running, you'd have to double that pay, not bump it up by a couple hundred dollars.

What do you think? Should local officials earn more? Less? Should symbolic issues like this matter to voters? Comments welcome below.

Stephen Colbert hits the skids in Lake Placid

Comedian and political satirist Stephen Colbert was in Lake Placid over the weekend. He compared riding with the US Olympic bobsled team to riding in a Thunderbird jet fighter.

Here's the AP treatment:

With the crowd at the finish line chanting his name, Colbert hopped into the third [bobsled crew] slot normally manned by Steve Mesler and tucked in tight between Justin Olsen and brakeman Curtis Tomasevicz.

About a minute later, Colbert emerged unscathed but breathing hard.

"Having won today's competition, you are today the fastest in the world at this," Colbert said to Holcomb and his team.

"I had to pick the fastest team. Thank you. It felt like I was being hit in the head with ice hammers. It was like losing the worst snowball fight of your life."

 

A crisis in North Country transportation

This morning's NCPR newscast offers a fascinating snapshot of the North Country's regional transportation woes.

Two vital regional bridges are at the point of collapse -- the Crown Point bridge on Lake Champlain is already closed and the Batchellerville bridge over Great Sacandaga Reservoir is likely not far behind.

The St. Lawrence Seaway's traffic load is down 30%.

A massive drop in fuel sales at the Lake Clear airport means local residents in Harrietstown will have to subsidize the airport there with a 13% property tax levy increase.

Looming in the background? Debates over the future of the "rooftop highway" and improvements to the crucial border crossings into Canada.

What do you think? Will the Federal stimulus start answering some of these questions? Does the state (and maybe local officials) need to allocate more dollars for infrastructure and fewer dollars for job and social service programs?

Is there a danger that our already remote region will see even fewer transportation options in the future?

Breaking: Plane crash near Newcomb; wreckage found

The Glens Falls Post Star first reported this morning that a small plan had gone down in the Santanoni Range in the town of Newcomb in the Adirondacks.

The Plattsburgh Press-Republican is now reporting that the pilot is Dan Wills, a flight instructor from Malone.

The status of Wills and his unidentified passenger is not known. According to the P-R a search and rescue operation is underway.

The plane apparently departed Saratoga on Sunday. We'll update this story this evening on All Before Five.

The fourth estate in the Adirondack-North Country

I attended part of a fascinating gathering yesterday in Blue Mountain Lake: journalists from across the North Country coming together to talk about the challenges of writing and reporting in small, far-flung towns.

The event was organized by the Adirondack Center for Writing and the Blue Mountain Center.

There were some amazing presenters (I'm flu-buggy, so I didn't get to spend as much time with them as I would have liked) including veteran Will Doolittle (who writes now for the Glens Falls Post Star) and Michael Hill, who works out of Albany but covers a lot of North Country stuff.

Also on-hand was John Warren, who founded the Adirondack Almanack blog.

The journalism world is in freefall these days, but my sense for a while now -- re-enforced by yesterday's gathering -- was that our region is experiencing something of a renaissance.

The Post Star just won a Pulitzer. The Adirondack Daily Enterprise has its strongest stable of reporters and editors that I've seen in my ten years here.

Regional papers in Watertown and Plattsburgh are devoting a lot of serious reporting time to the Adirondack region.

We also have two brilliant regional magazines -- Adirondack Explorer and Adirondack Life -- that offer very different reads.

What else? Mountain Lake PBS has one of the most aggressive local production schedules of any small public television station in the country.

We have great commercial radio news teams scattered around the region, along with NCPR and VPR (which does great Champlain Valley coverage).

I'm leaving a lot of folks out -- from Denton Publications in Etown to the Malone Telegram -- but you get the point.

For a region that boasts a total population well under half a million, that's a lot of ink being spilled.

What do you think? When you pick up your newspaper in the morning (or tune in your TV or radio station) are you hearing the kind of news that you want? If not, what would you like to see or hear that's different?

Comment below.

Nellie Staves passes away in Tupper Lake, age 92

A friend in Tupper Lake rang me today to say that Nellie Staves has passed away. She was a long-time leader in the local property rights and sportsman movement.

The Adirondack Daily Enterprise has a nice preliminary write-up on their website this afternoon.

According to the newspaper, Staves first moved to Long Lake in 1949 to work as a cook at a logging camp at Whitney Park.

The Tupper Lake Free Press ran an article honoring staves on her 90th birthday a couple of years ago.

Staves was head of the fish and game club for Franklin County, led the Adirondack Conservation Council, and was a volunteer at the Wild Center.

Her passing follows closely on the death of Fran Betters, the outdoorsman and guide from Wilmington who was honored last weekend.

The North Country as biotech frontier? Surprisingly, yes.

We've been reporting this week on the surprising vitality of Saranac Lake's Trudeau Institute, where more than 140 people work to advance immunological research.

Three new research teams have just arrived; six more teams are being planned.

These are high tech, cutting-edge jobs: the kind of employment that most small towns would kill to recruit.

It turns out Saranac Lake isn't unique.

The North Country region has a surprisingly strong foundation in biotech and biomedical, industries that fly mostly under the radar.

Hospitals are the largest private sector (albeit non-profit) companies in the North Country, and they're perennially hungry for nurses, doctors and lab techs.

Some of these facilities have become magnets for patients from outside the area (Canada, mostly) seeking specialized care.

We also have thriving research and manufacturing companies, from the Bionique Testing Labs (Saranac Lake) to Akrimax Pharmaceuticals (Rouses Point) to NuMED (Hopkinton) to AngioDynamics (Glens Falls).

This might startle you: A 2004 study by the state of New York found that there were 45 firms in the region that fell under the "bio/pharma" category.

They produced a total of 1,944 jobs. Check out this conclusion, reached by the researchers:

The North Country showed the greatest regional specialization of any part of the state, with three and one-half times more employment in the industry than would be expected from national level data.

Surprising, eh? In a region that we associate more with cows, tourists and trees, a lot of our best jobs come from this very next-generation industry.

The bad news is that since 2004, we've lost some companies -- and we nearly lost the Rouses Point plant.

That's a sign that this industrial sector needs more attention, and more coherent planning and coordination.

We have a regional tourism council. Why not a regional biotech consortium?

This would allow for better networking among professionals who can feel isolated in this rural area.

It would also help give the global industry a clearer picture that this is a place where top notch research and manufacturing are happening now.

The fantastic news is that we have the education and research institutions -- from Paul Smiths College to St. Lawrence and the SUNY campuses -- to support the industry.

We also have schools like North Country Community College that are perfectly positioned to train locals in the kinds of lab and technical skills needed to work in these facilities.

These are resources that most rural communities just can't muster.

The bottom line? Unlike most of rural America, the North Country is tentatively (and organically) building the kind of economy that will survive the death of traditional manufacturing.

We should redirect the resources necessary -- government grants, tax incentives, etc. -- to build on that success.

Dick Cheney visits Adirondacks

The Tri-Lakes were buzzing over the weekend about former VP Dick Cheney's visit to the Adirondacks on Friday.

According to the Adirondack Daily Enterprise, Cheney was at Camp Topridge on Upper St. Regis Lake for a retreat being held by the conservative American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research.

The event was hosted by Harlan Crow, described by the paper as a Texas real estate mogul.

This from the Enterprise:

The former vice president underwent spinal surgery last week in Washington; several people at the airport Friday saw him walking with a cane.

The Trials of Sandy Lewis

Sandy Lewis, the former Wall Street scion who reinvented himself as an organic farmer in Essex County, has emerged as one of the most interesting and provocative figures in the North Country.

In the 1980s, Lewis was chased out of Wall Street by none other than Rudy Giuliani, and later granted a full pardon by President Bill Clinton.

His banishment by the Securities and Exchange Commission was finally overturned by a Federal judge a few years ago.

More recently, Lewis challenged the Adirondack Park Agency in court over its attempt to enforce zoning regulations on his farm (the case involved housing for his workers) -- and won decisively.

Lewis is now suing to recoup his legal costs from the battle, demanding more than $200,000.

Over the years, he has also engaged his neighbors and his community in various legal wrangles.

In the process, Lewis has drawn praise from farm advocates and some property rights supporters.

He has also remained an influential voice on the economy, publishing a widely discussed op-ed in the New York Times in June.

But his role has been blurred by his distinctly confrontational and occasionally caustic style.

Last month, he held an anti-APA press conference which, according to the Plattsburgh Press Republican, was "punctuated with profanity and shouting."

Lewis regularly dispatches emails to reporters and community leaders full of personal attacks, some of them caustic.

In a missive sent today, Lewis appears to mock Governor David Paterson's visual impairment:

"Can you help the sightless?" he writes. "How about it? A little charity, please. Blind leading the blind?"

Lewis has also accused his neighbors, other farmers, and local officials of various crimes including murder, conspiracy, incest and flagrant disregard for environmental laws.

In the interest of full disclosure, Lewis is convinced that my own reporting about his case (which can be heard here) is biased and inaccurate.

(He has described me variously as "a college drop-out" -- which is true -- and "corrupted.")

Through all of his battles and melodramas, Lewis has shown himself to be incredibly bright and tenacious; he also has deep pockets.

To the delight of some and the consternation of others, he seems certain to be a colorful, controversial, and influential fixture on the North Country's landscape for years to come.

New York's Coastal Highway

I've spent a lot of time this summer driving what I think of as New York's "Coastal Highway." (Details of the route are below.)

Having touristed a lot of America's scenic highways, I'm convinced that there are few that match this stretch in the North Country for magnificent views of mountain and water.

It begins in Lake George Village and runs through some of the wildest forest and mountain country in the east. You catch magical glimpses of the lake and its iconic views.

Bolton Landing offers a great stop-off point.

At Ticonderoga, you can stroll over the covered bridge, visit the Fort and maybe catch an encampment.

Continuing north, you drift into brilliant views of Lake Champlain and the Green Mountains.

The architecture along the route is first-rate, with old mining-era mansions around Port Henry, a couple of Revolutionary War-era forts, and cool churches.

The route also links some fantastic hiking trails, including Split Rock -- and some of the best birding turf in the East.

Foodies will find first-rate eateries (the Hot Biscuit in Ticonderoga), bakeries (Dogwood Bakery in Wadhams) and fine dining (the Normandie club in Westport).

After Westport, the intimate Lake Shore Road winds toward Essex, with its newly vibrant downtown.

Paddlers looking for a stop? Try the Ausable Marshes or the Boquet, or the big lake itself. Valcour Island is a must-paddle.

Then it's on to Plattsburgh and Rouses Point, where Lake Champlain and its pleasures are always close at hand.

A ferry ride across the north end of the lake is a perfect way to cap it all off.

The route will be at its finest in a few weeks as the colors start to turn -- and infinitely less crowded than highways on the Vermont shore.

So if you're looking for a great local staycation, here's my prescription for the weekend drive:

Take the stretch of 9N that runs from Lake George Village to Westport. From Westport, loop along the Lake Shore Road to Essex and then jump onto Rt. 22 to Keeseville.

After that, it's Rt. 9 and 9b through Plattsburgh and on to Rouses Point. Remember to drive slow and stop often...

Freud in the Adirondacks

Leon Hoffman has a fun piece in the New York Times about Sigmund Freud's trip to the U.S. a century ago.

It turns out a pivotal part of the Great Man's single journey to America took him to Keene Valley in the Adirondacks.

According to Hoffman, Freud spent time in the North Country with James Jackson Putnam, who had a camp here.

Putnam was a Harvard professor and one of the proponents of psychotherapy in America.

Freud marveled at Putnam Camp, “where we had an opportunity of being acquainted with the utter wilderness of such an American landscape.” In several days of hiking and feasting, Putnam and Freud cemented a strong bond.

I know it sounds a little provincial -- regional pride and all that -- but it's hard to overstate the importance the Adirondacks have enjoyed in the cultural and intellectual life of this nation.

It turns out there's actually a book about "Putnam Camp," published in 2006 by George Prochnik.

Carl Jung was there, too, as was William James. Here's an account from the New York Times Book Review:

Freud proved something of a wet blanket, disdaining the sailor outfit worn by Putnam’s teenage cousin and lagging on the group’s vigorous hikes. His private goal, of seeing a porcupine, was fulfilled in part — he found a dead one. Jung was jollier and made a better impression, but it was Freud who gained Putnam’s admiration.

Local stewardship?

When I report on environmental regulations -- in the Adirondack Park and beyond its blue-line border -- I hear a pretty common refrain:

Locals do it better. North Country folks have stewarded the land for generations and they care deeply about its welfare.

From farmers to local government officials, they decry 'big government' interference and environmentalist meddling.

This message has a deep appeal. We like to think that the people most intimately connected to a gorgeous landscape like this one would care most deeply about its preservation.

But I hiked into the Hammond Pond Wild Forest this morning, in the Champlain Valley, and found garbage strewn in the campsites.

Beer cans, Snickers wrappers, the remains of broken tents. It was bleak. I found t-shirts hanging from trees and battered old boats tossed along the shore.

I'm convinced this isn't the kind of junk that tourists bring in. This is us. A reflection of our attitudes and, yes, our carelessness.

I think similar doubts are growing about the farming community in the Champlain Valley, where pollution from dairy herds continues to spark algae blooms at the north end of the lake.

(VPR reported recently that algae blooms are so severe and frequent that they're bringing down home values on waterfront property...)

I love the idea of a hyper-local environmental movement, one that respects local culture and accomodates the needs of our regional economy.

But the proof is in the campsite at the end of your weekend getaway. Does it look tidier than it did when you arrived?

Or are there TP blossoms hanging from the witch hobble?

How about the creek that runs through your farm and into the lake? Does it smell like a creek or like a farm sewer?

I think the bottom line is pretty simple: If we want to avoid more "outside interference" we have to show that we can do better.

More woes for S Lake-Placid Catholic schools

Roman Catholic schools in Saranac Lake and Tupper Lake have been struggling to boost enrollment this summer.

Local parishes have organized to try to keep the important schools healthy and vibrant, despite a declining number of kids.

Now, Anne Bayruns, principal at both schools, has been arrested for allegedly driving under the influence of alcohol.

Here's the Adirondack Daily Enterprise treatment today:

The principal of the Tri-Lakes area's two Catholic elementary schools has been charged with driving with a blood-alcohol content over twice the legal limit....

Bayruns told the Enterprise Monday evening she had a few drinks but didn't think she was intoxicated.

"I think I was fine," Bayruns said. "I didn't feel like I was (intoxicated) at all."

The charges are misdemeanors.

A test for residential wind power in the Adirondacks

The Adirondack Park Agency meets on Thursday in Ray Brook. Topping the agenda are two wind power projects proposed for the towns of Essex and Indian Lake.

These aren't wind farms; they're small residential turbines. This from the APA release:

Both applicants propose the installation of wind-powered turbines to generate electricity for their existing single family dwellings.

The proposed tower in Essex is 65-feet tall with nine foot diameter turbine blades for a maximum overall height of 70 feet.

The proposed tower in Indian Lake is 105-feet tall with 18 foot diameter turbine blades for a maximum overall height of 115 feet.

Key issues include visibility and compliance with the Agency’s Tall Structures and Towers Policy.

Residential wind power is increasingly popular in the North Country. Regulatory wrinkles still make this a pretty challenging choice.

It'll be interesting to see how these projects shape up.

APA chairman draws fire

This spring, APA chairman Curt Stiles unlocked a gate to the seasonal Lake Lila road and drove with his party to a public camping area.

He told reporters that he found the key under a rock near the gate.

Critics of the Park Agency -- particularly those unhappy with some of Stiles' votes against motorized recreation in the Adirondacks-- say the move reflects hypocrisy and elitism.

Here's Steve Piatt, writing in the New York Outdoor News.

Consider: a guy who plays a lead role in deciding who goes where and how within remote areas of the Park, who has time and time again taken firm stances against motorized access, 'finds' a key to a gate, helps himself and then drives into an area which at the time - the gate is opened later in the year - was closed to motorized access.

This is a guy who should be taking the parking spot furthest away from any trailhead, who should be following park regulations to a T and, when in doubt, erring on the side of caution.

Stiles hasn't been ticketed or fined. According to the Adirondack Daily Enterprise, state officials determined that no laws had been broken.

Here's Stiles' own take, given to the Enterprise:

"I don't know whose key it was, but it certainly fit the lock," Stiles said. "I went in and registered like you should - didn't trespass. Somebody may have said, 'you probably shouldn't have gone through the gate,' but I certainly didn't get a ticket or anything else."

At the Ironman in Lake Placid

Just checking the political blogs today, and I ran across this, about contestant Matt Long. He's the son of Conservative Party Chairman Mike Long, and his story is remarkable. Keep an eye out.

A pie that takes-the-cake

Here's my recipe for Rhubarb-Strawberry-Rosemary Pie. It won the pie contest at the Saranac Lake Rhubarb Festival last Saturday. If you still have some rhubarb in the garden or freezer – give it a try!

I used Ina Garten's pie crust recipe and won’t mess with perfection. I tweaked it by adding a tablespoon of orange zest.

Some tips from Ina: First, the butter, shortening, and water must all be very cold. Second, let the dough sit in the refrigerator for 30 minutes before rolling (bakers call this "relaxing" the dough). Finally, don't stretch the dough when you're placing it into the pan.

12 tablespoons very cold unsalted butter

3 cups all purpose flour

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1 tablespoon sugar

1/3 cup very cold vegetable shortening

1 tablespoon orange zest

6-8 tablespoons ice water (about 1/2 cup)


Directions:


1. Dice the butter and return it to the refrigerator while you prepare the flour mixture.


2. Place the flour, salt, and sugar in the bowl of a food processor fitted with a steel blade and pulse a few times to mix.


3. Add the butter and shortening.


4. Pulse about 12 times, until the butter is the size of peas.


5. With the machine running, pour the ice water down the feed tube and pulse the machine until the dough begins to form a ball.


6. Dump out on a floured board and roll into a ball.


7. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.


8. Cut the dough in half.


9. Roll each piece on a well-floured board into a circle, rolling from the center to the edge, turning and flouring the dough to make sure it doesn't stick to the board.


10. Fold the dough in half, place in a pie pan, and unfold to fit the pan.


11. Repeat with the top crust.


Okay, now my recipe for the rhubarb, strawberry, rosemary filling:


3 cups fresh rhubarb, cut into ½ inch pieces


3 cups fresh strawberries, hulled and diced


1 1/2 cups sugar


1/3 cup minute tapioca


1 tsp orange zest (yes, there’s some in the crust, too)


1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh rosemary


1 egg


Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In a large bowl, combine all the
filling ingredients, tossing to coat the rhubarb and
strawberries with sugar. Let this mixture amalgamate while you
prepare the pie crust dough. I used a ten inch, deep-dish
glass pie pan. (Put any extra dough and filling into ramekins
for rhubarb potpies!)


Roll out the bottom crust layer and drape it over the pie pan.
Let it extend about a ½ inch over the rim.


Fill the pie with the rhubarb, strawberry, rosemary mixture.
Brush the edge of the bottom crust with beaten egg so the top
crust will adhere. Top with the second crust and crimp the
edges along the outside. Brush the entire top with egg wash
and sprinkle with sugar. Cut four or five slits in the top crust.


Bake for about an hour until the crust is browned and juices
begin to bubble out.

DEC vs. APA? And what does it mean for Lowes Lake?

Researching my article for the Adirondack Explorer about the lingering tensions over the State Land Master Plan was a fascinating journey.

But telling that kind of tale is tough. For one thing, it's wonky.

Everybody understands a debate over where and when someone can ride their snowmobile or land their floatplane in the Park.

But digging into a 40-year-old bureaucratic debate over a set of regulations commonly known as "The Slump"?

Hardly the stuff of which dramatic stories are made.

But in this case I found that there were some compelling themes.

A massive and still controversial philosophical shift in the state's approach to the Adirondack Park.

Lingering resentment over the lines of authority and decision-making inside the blue line.

And a deep cultural tension between the Department of Environmental Conservation -- which has historically recruited its people locally -- and the Adirondack Park Agency, which has tended to bring in outsiders.

One other aspect of this story that's tough: People don't like to speak publicly about conflicts like this.

What broke the story was a series of former state officials, from APA board member Peter Paine to former DEC staffers who wanted to recount their experience.

Finally, a thought about 'what it means'.

My research left me convinced that the DEC has some legitimate concerns about the State Land Master Plan.

Rather than try to work around those concerns, maybe it's time for state officials to say clearly that they think the SLMP needs reform in Albany.

A case in point is Lowes Lake. Some DEC officials clearly think that Lowes isn't good material for a wilderness classification.

For one thing, the lake is man-made. It has a massive dam, roads, homes on the shore, a Boy Scout camp, motorboats...

But the SLMP designation established decades ago is unambigious: Lowes is meant to be managed as a primitive/wilderness canoe destination.

Rather than try to shoe-horn floatplane flights in for another few years, state officials should consider an open debate over the lake's future.

The time is ripe for this to happen.

Hearings are underway over a final land designation for Lowes.

Thanks to some political horsetrading between DEC and APA, state officials are leaning heavily toward a 'wilderness' classification.

Do DEC officials really think that's the right way to go? I'm not so sure.

APA and Ski Bowl boosters win one in North Creek

The now-defunct Residents Committee to Protect the Adirondacks sued the APA in 2006 over a unit management plan that cleared the way for the North Creek ski bowl interconnect project.

The Department of Environmental Conservation and the Olympic Regional Development Authority were also named in the suit.

The project aims to tie the local ski bowl to the Gore Mountain resort area for the first time, with a new ski lift and trails.

The RCPA argued that New York state failed to complete a full environmental review that factored in the impact of the ski development on state land and the nearby Front Street condo project.

Environmentalists also argued that the project exceeded the legal limits for development on Adirondack forest preserve set out in the State Land Master Plan.

In a ruling dated July 13th, state Supreme Court Justice Michael Lynch rejected those arguments and dismissed the suit.

...this Court has determined that the State respondents' determination that the proposed developemnt would not degrade the physical, biological and social resources of the area was rationally based...

This represents another big step for boosters of the North Creek ski development project.

Old Forge roundtable - got questions, comments?

On July 1st, Martha Foley and I will host a live, hour-long discussion in Old Forge, with Lani Ulrich -- a community organizer and activist and a member of the Adirondack Park Agency Board -- and Elizabeth Folwell, with Adirondack Life Magazine.

It's part of the Adirondack News Bureau's 10th Anniversary -- and we'll be talking about three broad themes:

-The future of Adk communities
- The changing face of the conservation movement
- The way the media covers life in the Park.

You're welcome to be there -- and we hope you'll listen -- but we'd also love to hear any particular questions or ideas or comments in advance.

I know it's a big, general question: but this is your chance to pontificate, sound-off, whatever.

Comments welcome - or show up July 1st at the Old Forge Library. Live broadcast starts at noon.

Ukelele god comes to Saranac Lake

Our sound and tech guy, Joel Hurd, turned me on to the fact that Jake Shimabukuro is playing at Will Rogers in Saranac Lake on June 20th.

Shimabukuro is sort of to the ukelele what Bela Fleck is to the banjo. Check out the link to a Youtube performance in Central Park here. It's pretty amazing.

Shimabukuro's website is here. Joel says he'll have a profile during the 8 O'clock Hour later this week, so stay tuned for that.

A new breed of wolf in the Adirondacks?

The growing scientific consensus looks something like this:

In the 1800s, red wolves -- the naturally-occurring species in the Northeastern US -- were hunted to extinction.

Habitat was fragmented by farmers and new, sprawling communities.

Coyotes slunk in from the west, interbreeding cheerfully with the surviving red wolf populations.

The hybrids that resulted are clever, adaptable, and seem to co-exist perfectly well with humans.

They also look and act a lot like wolves: They're big, they hunt deer in packs, and boy do they howl.

(Our farm in Westport is ringed by a forested creek and there are evenings when it feels a little like the Baskervilles around here...)

So what are you seeing out there? And are you satisfied that we have a new, "natural" wolf-like critter completing the food chain?

Or do we still yearn for "pure" wolves of a bygone era?

Another North Country school threatened with closure

We've been discussing a new report from the AATV that highlights the region's aging population and big demographic problems facing the region's schools.

Today, the Adirondack Daily Enterprise reports that yet another of the region's schools -- St. Agnes Parochial in Lake Placid - will close this summer if enrollment doesn't incresase.

"Right now enrollment is sitting at about 37, and that's not enough for the parish to be able to carry the school," [Principal Anne ]Bayruns said.

She told the Enterprise that the school needs a minimum of 50 to survive; a parents' meeting is planned for Monday, June 15th, in the St. Agnes cafeteria.

This year was the school's fiftieth anniversary. Heart-breaking to see another institution go...

Old as the hills: are Adirondack towns aging dangerously?

Another pressure point for Adirondack communities is their rapidly aging populations. The Adirondack Park Regional Assessment -- released this month -- made this prediction:

Park residents average just under 43 years of age, older than any state for median age. By 2020, only the west coast of Florida will exceed the Adirondacks as the oldest region in America.

The survey found a lot of texture within that picture. The most populous chunk of the Park -- the Tri-lakes -- now averages just 36-38 years old.

That's a shade older than the New York state average, but those communities are faring fairly well population-wise, holding steady or even growing.

There's a minor baby boom underway around the town of Essex, where locals just held a fundraiser for their collective daycare.

So there are glimmers of fresh demographic energy out there.

But Newcomb and Morehouse already have populations that average 50+, and a bunch of other towns are graying fast, averaging 47-49 years old. Those are dangerous horizons.

When most of your people are too old to have babies, you run the risk of, well, running out of babies.

These numbers raise a bunch of questions that Adirondack communities will have to start wrestling with:

-Are services in place to care for an increasingly aged society?

-Is there a way to begin recruiting new Adirondackers?

-Are jobs the answer? Better broadband access? What services or other enticements do young people need these days to lure them out of the cities and suburbs?

-With more residents on fixed incomes, how do we manage rising property taxes?

Here again from the Assessment:

The rising median age results in an increase in elderly residents who generally require more services than they produce. Volunteer-based emergency-service providers are having difficulty attracting younger members...

A growing exodus in the 20-35 year age grup creates other concerns. This important generational link is in decline and with it, a reduction in the infant and pre-school population.

This decrease is being offest by an increasing 50+ age group creating the illusion of a stable population in the park. Unless conditions are changed to retain and attract young adults, a decline in the park population is inevitable.

Education Revolution in the Adirondacks?

The new Adirondack Park Regional Assessment Project is out -- and it's fascinating. Check out my interview today with Brian Towers, head of the AATV which sponsored the study.

The next few days, I plan to mine information from the study and present some of it here; and hopefully get some conversation going about what this snapshot of the Park tells us.

The first headline for me in the numbers is education and the mounting cost of running small rural school districts. From the Executive Summary:

School enrollments in the park have decreased by 329 students annually throughout the current decade, which is equivalent to the loss of one average size Adirondack school district every 19 months.

And here again:

From 1970 to 2007 the number of teachers in Adirondack school districts increased by 34 percent, while the student population dropped by 31 percent.

According to the survey, our student-teacher ration was 20:1 in 1970; it's 10:1 now.

"Survey results illustrate that schools in the Adirondack Park serve as the core of local employment and represent the center of community life [but] there is rising pressure for districts with 1,000 students or less to consolidate..."

Only 7 districts wholly or substantially within the Park have more than 1,000 kids in their schools.

With our aging population and the property tax crisis, these numbers suggest that a revolution is coming in the way we look at education in the Adirondacks.

What do you think? Big changes ahead? How will this affect you as a taxpayer? As a teacher? As the parent of a kid in public school?

Controversial Essex farmer predicts more economic gloom in NY Times

Salim "Sandy" Lewis is best known in the North Country for his on-going battle with the Adirondack Park Agency and NY's Attorney General.

But his take on the economic crisis -- co-authored with William Cohan -- is dominating the blogosphere today with its prediction of more trouble ahead.

The headline: "The Economy Is Still At The Brink."

Mr. Lewis was once viewed as one of the most gifted, if also troubled, investors on Wall Street. He was convicted on stock manipulation charges in the 80s, then pardoned by Bill Clinton.

Here's the nut of their argument:

The storm is not over, not by a long shot. Huge structural flaws remain in the architecture of our financial system, and many of the fixes that the Obama administration has proposed will do little to address them and may make them worse.

Read more from the Times here; and read NCPR's coverage of his legal wrangling with the APA here.

Press-Republican: Jewish cemetery vandalized in Saranac Lake

Kim Smith Dedam is reporting this afternoon that the Jewish section of the Pine Ridge Cemetery in Saranac Lake was vandalized over the Memorial Day weekend. A dozen graves, some historic, were toppled.

Saranac Lake police are investigating, according to Kim's report:

Some of the memorials in Hebrew Memorial Cemetery are historic, including one stone placed by Lake Placid residents Dr. and Mrs. Bartholomew Ring that is dedicated to 25 of their relatives who died in Nazi concentration camps during the Holocaust.

The Ring stone was among those vandalized.

Landmark legal case could open Adk trails & roads to motorized recreation

Jim McCulley has been battling the DEC for years over their attempt to ticket him for driving a truck on part of the Jackrabbit Ski Trail between Lake Placid and Keene.

The DEC threw in the towel today, dismissing the ticket against McCulley and acknowledging that the road was never properly condemned.

McCulley has been a proponent of increased motorized recreation in the forest preserve and this case may give his side a big stick to wield in future battles.

The DEC appears to be conceding that hundreds of miles of town-owned roads through the Adirondacks could be legally open.

Translation: Wilderness and primitive areas may now have motorized routes punched deep into their remotest valleys.

The ramifications of this are still being sorted out. Chris Knight will have a full report tomorrow morning during the 8 O'clock Hour.

A future without prisons?

The Plattsburgh Press-Republican has must-read editorial today, describing the history of the North Country's prison system and predicting a murky future.

"We're probably going to have to close prisons," Sen. Betty Little, Stafford's successor, admitted during an interview last week with the Press-Republican Editorial Board.

She suggests closing Sing Sing, which sits on valuable land on the Hudson River in Westchester County, because the land could be put to better use.

Nevertheless, a battle for survival is very likely going to be waged by Little and others as budgets and changing prison populations exert their weight.

The P-R's editorial team urges local leaders to begin planning for a different (read: fewer prisons) future in the post-Rockefeller drug law era.

Camp Gabriels near Saranac Lake goes dark in July. So what do you think? Can our towns survive without all those Corrections Officer jobs?

Bordeaux vs. Budweiser: Magazine looks at North Creek growth

Rob Gurwitt with Governing magazine took an in-depth look at rural gentrification in the latest issue -- and he used the Johnsburg/North Creek region as his case study. It makes for fascinating reading and a good starting point for conversation.

There are people in Johnsburg, New York, who still won’t set foot in the Tannery Pond Community Center, even though it was built in part for them. The local theater production of a play about Picasso and Einstein didn’t seduce them. The monthly gallery shows hold no interest. Nor do the movies, chorale concerts or dance performances — not for the working-class people in this small town in New York’s North Country, nestled in the Adirondacks, four hours north of Manhattan.

What do you think? Folks in the Gore Mt. Region: Does Rob capture your hopes? Your concerns?

Mystery foot rattles Tupper Lake

The Adirondack Daily Enterprise is reporting that folks in Tupper Lake were afraid that they'd found a child's foot on the playground on a softball field at LP Quinn Elementary school.

The good news: It wasn't a child. The bad news: It was the hind leg of a young black bear.

Tupper Lake Central School District Superintendent Seth McGowan said the foot was mostly just bones with a little flesh attached. In the dark, the remains could have easily looked like a human foot, he said.

Yikes.