The Adirondack Council recently released its 45th annual State of the Park Report which gives thumbs up or down to policies and actions taken over the past year by local, state and federal officials affecting the 6-million-acre region.
Report author John Sheehan tells WAMC North Country Bureau Chief Pat Bradley that there is a need for renewed advocacy and broader engagement after this year’s report found rapid changes in policies that are weakening environmental protections.
John Sheehan: Some things happened this year that haven't happened before and were disappointing to us in some ways, including some policy decisions that were made regarding the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act and the State Environmental Quality Review Act, both being made behind closed doors during budget negotiations rather than in open debate.
That's troubling to us and something that we wanted to take time to take note of and to remind people that the way to overcome that sort of thing is with a broader coalition of people who won't stand for it. So, we're hoping that we make progress on that front as well as on many conservation issues this year.
Bradley: Can you go through some of the highlights?
John Sheehan: We were happy with the funding this year for major Adirondack projects and for community support. There is a good amount of funding for new wastewater and water treatment systems. Grants to communities are very important to make sure that those things get done and to make sure that the burden of clean water is not solely on the taxpayers of the individual communities involved. Everybody working toward wastewater treatment systems in the Park are doing a service to the other folks downstream at the same time. We want to recognize that and make sure that they have the state support necessary to make that all happen.
At the same time, we saw some policy changes that we weren't happy with. We just talked about the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act and the State Environmental Quality Review Act both being weakened during the legislative session in ways that were disappointing to us.
At the same time, we think that there are some positives to report as well including continued funding for the survey of Adirondack Lake Ecosystems, which is a multi-year effort to assess how climate change is affecting the same lakes that we've been studying for decades to determine the outcome from acid rain, and for the Timbuktu Project, which brings kids from New York City up to the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry campus in Newcomb every year to learn about climate and get a sense of what the Adirondack Park is all about and maybe choose a career in wilderness protection at the same time.
So there are some good things happening and some disappointing things on the state level.
Bradley: John Sheehan, at the federal level we've recently seen some rollbacks, most pointedly rollbacks to emissions regulations that could bring back acid rain and such. Are the federal policies a greater threat to the Adirondacks than some of the negative items you found in New York State?
John Sheehan: Well, New York is an important player in climate but it can't do it on its own. So federal leadership is really more important than state leadership in this case, though we consider both to be priorities.
We've been very disappointed with what the federal government has undone on climate change in the last two years and very disappointed with the changes that have been made in terms of emissions controls and emissions monitoring, which is slowly being defunded by the federal government. New York has filled some of that gap by picking up some of the research efforts that were being funded with federal dollars in the past but we can't do it all in New York and it really does require a nationwide system.
So, we're going to work to try and keep those facilities open in other states, especially those around us who can give us a sense of what the regional impacts of air pollution are, and also continue to work toward better monitoring of climate and more emissions controls on greenhouse gasses. It's important that we get a handle on that as soon as possible. And the current trend towards support for fossil fuels, when they really don't need any support, seems to be a waste of resources and a misdirection of the public effort.
Bradley: John Sheehan, the State of the Park report has been issued for 45 years, and most years you have written it.
John Sheehan: That's right.
Bradley: Over the years, what has changed and what's remained similar for how the agencies, the state, the federal government responds to the issues affecting the Park?
John Sheehan: Some topics come up over and over again. You know, acid rain I kind of got sick of talking about after a while. But you know, that's just the beginning of the sign that you've started to make an impression on the public.
When I started, State of the Park was a four-page black and white pamphlet that we sent out as sort of a supplemental newsletter every year. The current version looks more like a magazine.
We've done our best over the years to try and simplify the way people interact with the publication. Essentially, it's a thumbs up and thumbs down on specific decisions that we felt had an impact on the Park over the past year. We really wanted it to be for every New York citizen who could see what was happening in the Park that they own a piece of and understand why it's a place that needs their attention and protection long term.
Bradley: That was John Sheehan speaking about the Adirondack Council’s latest “State of the Park” report, which is available on the Adirondack Council’s website.
