The Adirondack Council has released a VISION 2050 plan offering recommendations on how to manage the 6 million acre park in New York including its ecology and the communities throughout it. WAMC's Jim Levulis spoke with the Council’s Executive Director Willie Janeway about the impetus behind the publication.
Janeway: The nationally significant Adirondacks are at threat, their future is not secure. And the threats to the clean water and the communities and wilderness of the Adirondacks are not the threats of 50 years ago. They are new threats, like climate change and overuse and air and water pollution, fragmentation of natural habitat. And there is a clear need to address those threats to nature and to people, so the park as a resource for all New Yorkers and beyond, can thrive for another 100 years instead of just trying to survive. So to accomplish that, it's critical to have a vision of where the Adirondack Park should be in 2050, for communities and for nature. And there's been a real void in state agencies doing long range planning. They haven't had the capacity and the directive to do that. And so the council has stepped in. And while this is an Adirondack Council publication, it reflects what we have heard from conservation professionals, local government leaders, people who work in the state, and it reflects common aspirations for the Adirondacks realizing their full potential.
Levulis: And what are some what are some of the primary aspects of that full potential? What should the Adirondack Park look like in 2050?
Janeway: By 2050, the Adirondack Park should have a fully staffed and funded Adirondack Park Agency with all the different state and local agencies working together as one team with well-funded and good science informing decision making, with better quality, higher paying jobs, and with better management and protection of wilderness.
Levulis: And as you mentioned, a key part of meeting the goals laid out in this plan is the Adirondack Park Agency, which is a state agency. From the council's viewpoint, what does an ideal Adirondack Park Agency look like?
Janeway: An ideal scenario, the Adirondack Park Agency and the other sister agencies of the state and local agencies and authorities are working together off the same playbook. That people are coming together and not fighting over let’s do more for the environment here and more for the economy there. But recognizing the interdependence of the human and environmental needs and working together rather than working across purposes. A unified updated state vision for the Adirondacks, and then realization of that, which will require a major new investment. It's also based on a recognition that the status quo is harming the viability of the economy for small communities in the park. There are not the jobs that people need. And the status quo has environmental conditions, falling short of what they need to be in water quality being degraded. And with threats like climate change, incremental actions here and there are mostly window dressing. There's a need for a much more transformational change. So 50 years ago, a park agency was put in place to address certain threats. There have been issues. There's an opportunity now to bring 21st century expertise and science to bear where the park agency is representing all the stakeholders together for the park.
Levulis: And obviously in August there was a change in Albany. Governor Kathy Hochul coming in taking over for former Governor Andrew Cuomo. Those changes that you outlined, that you and the council would like to see occur, do you think those could happen under a Governor Hochul administration?
Janeway: We prepared these recommendations. There's one vision and three different pillars communities, ecology and management. There's more than 240 different recommendations, not with an eye towards what was politically possible at any particular moment, but an eye toward what was needed by the year 2050. The coincidence of there now being a new governor, new administration provides an incredible opportunity right now to reimagine and invest in the Adirondacks and the federal support for climate corps and for actions on climate change and infrastructure and broadband creates an opportunity much faster than we would have otherwise thought would happen. We're hopeful with regards to Governor Hochul embracing many of these recommendations as hers.
Levulis: And, you know we're speaking the same week that the $1.2 trillion federal infrastructure package was signed into law. Is there any sense from the Council's viewpoint how that package might impact the Adirondack Park?
Janeway: So the management of the park has been underfunded for years, both in terms of funding for communities and jobs and funding for clean water and the environment. The federal funding signed by the president on Monday could be a huge piece of the strategy to implement programs that would be critical for moving energy Park forward for everybody. So we're excited about that. And coupled with new state actions, that could go a long way towards a down payment on building a better Adirondack Park.
Levulis: And is the hope then also that the larger $1.85, currently, trillion social services and also climate package that's further being discussed in Congress that that could also help the Adirondack Park?
Janeway: Yes, the “Build Back Better” would be a great complement to the infrastructure in terms of the funding and resources that it would provide for conservation and communities around the country and here in the Adirondacks. You're absolutely right. As could the Clean Water Jobs, Cuomo call the Mother Nature Bond Act, which is proposed for the bout in New York State in November of 2022. Governor Hochul has proposed increasing that to a $4 billion bond act. That could be another important piece, along with complimentary funding to boost the number of rangers, make the park more welcoming and inclusive and more diverse.
Levulis: We've been talking about the present time and the future as well. Now the Adirondack Council's 2020 VISION plan that was put together in the late 1980s, it focused a lot on land acquisition and preservation. Have those goals been realized?
Janeway: The 1980s recommendations have been partially, more than 50% of those recommendations, have been realized. And the success of those recommendations were not because it was the Adirondack Council to put them out. It was because of the diverse stakeholders and experts in and outside of the state that informed the recommendations, so they were good smart recommendations. And there's still room to do more protection on some of those. At the same time, the need to address climate change and new threats. So looking forward, the 2020 recommendations from the 1980s still stand. And there's new recommendations now to layer on top of those. All together create more successful conservation of clean water cleaner and the environment and more viable, more vibrant and more diverse communities for humans.
Levulis: And I wanted to go back to our conversation about the Adirondack Park Agency, the VISION 2050 plan calls for the Adirondack Park to be managed by a singular entity. You spoke about that a little bit before. Do you think that that entity is the Adirondack Park Agency or would it be a federal entity, something else?
Janeway: New York State has a long tradition of the state being the leader for the Adirondack Park and a reimagined strengthened Adirondack Park Agency is the right leadership on this. There are opportunities for federal funding and other support, you made reference to some of the legislation in Washington this week. But the leadership has been best when it has come from the state with sensitivity to local stakeholders and supervisors who live and work inside the park and sensitivity to the world class wilderness that we hold in trust for future generations. And I want to close by thanking all those who worked with the Adirondack Council in putting together these recommendations to carry the park forward successfully. For a wilderness, for wildlife and for human communities in the 21st century, so that the Adirondacks can be preserved for everybody forever.
The Adirondack Park Agency did not respond to a request for comment on the Council’s plan.
