Preliminary List of Species Native Within the Adirondack Park
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Adirondack Park US – India Exchange Tour Brian Houseal, Director Adirondack Ecological Center
Transcript of Adirondack Park - WordPress.com · Engineering, Environmental ... U of Western Ontario, Vassar, ......
Adirondack Park US – India Exchange Tour
Brian Houseal, Director
Adirondack Ecological Center
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?
A d i r o n d a c k P a r k & N o r t h e a s t e r n U S
Washington, DC
Quebec, Canada
Pre-Revolutionary War
Erie Canal 1840
New York - The ‘Empire State’
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.
The Ad i rondack Park
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.
.
Improve and streamline Adirondack governance.
Large Landscape Conservation
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?
Large wetland complexes
pitcher plants
Revitalize Local Communities
Encourage planning, smart growth and Forest Preserve integration.
Common Ground Alliance
Where we were:
“Adirondack groups would rather fight than win.”
Ross Whaley, APA Chair, c. 2005
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.
Long Lake – July 2007 “We the People…”
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
The Ad i rondack Park
AEC AEC
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
This is one of the best protected landscapes in the country, but is it protected enough?
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
Thank you.
Please come visit.
Questions?
