Public Lands Policy

Spotlight News – DEC proposes to remove bald eagle from “threatened” list

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Spotlight News – DEC proposes to remove bald eagle from “threatened” list

Eastern Hellbender will be increased in protection from special concern to threatened species, while the Bald Eagle will no longer be threatened but will be of special concern. I think this is good from a species protection perspective -- we should only be protecting those needed to be protected, and adding and removing species based on their recovery or loss.

The Hollow – Allentown, NY an isolated Adirondack community north of Conklingville and Sacanadaga Lake (1975)

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Early in the 19th Century two families, the Allens and Kathans, settled in the Southern Adirondack Mountains of New York State. By 1960's their descendants had isolated themselves in a remote hollow high in the mountains. Below lay the great Sacandaga Valley. Its rich lands rapidly filled with farms, factories and mills.

By the end of the century, the Allens and the Kathans had intermarried: all the residents in the Hollow were related. Because of their isolation, misunderstandings developed between them and the outside world.

The economic disasters of the 1930s shut down the factories and mills. In 1932 the Sacandaga River was dammed, flooding the fertile valley below the Hollow. Forced from their homes, the valley residents sought employment elsewhere, but the Allens and Kathans chose to remain up in the mountains.

More information on the Hollow.

Also, see this New York Times article about the Hollow from 1993:

On a small mountain ridge known as the Hollow, in the foothills of the Adirondacks, indoor plumbing was first installed six years ago and many people still do not have telephones.

There may be a few signs of modernization in the area, which social workers call the Appalachia of the North: Subsistence farmers no longer keep animals inside their homes. Sales people sometimes venture in now. And more parents are sending their children to school, although they say heavy snow on the mountain roads often keeps them from reaching classes during the long winters.

Still, most people in the Hollow, home to several hundred descendants of two farming families that settled here in the early 19th century, continue to make their living as the woodsmen and trappers they have been for nearly 200 years, selling firewood or serving as guides. Few apply for social services, and the authorities rarely intervene in their lives. There are no officials, no leaders, elected or otherwise, in the Hollow, which is 35 miles north of Saratoga Springs and is in the town of Day in the northwestern corner of Saratoga County, bordering Warren County.

The location of Allentown can be found on Google Maps.

NY State spends millions on Frontier Town, but horse riders don’t like it – newyorkupstate.com

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NY State spends millions on Frontier Town, but horse riders don’t like it – newyorkupstate.com

NORTH HUDSON, N.Y. -- Frontier Town, the state’s newest Adirondack campground, opened June 28 with promises to be a “unique, world-class” facility for traditional tent campers, RVers and equestrian campers alike.

So far tent campers and RVers have embraced Frontier Town. Horse riders not so much.

“It’s a lovely facility, but it’s just not well-designed for horse campers,” said Dan Gruen, trails council chairman for the New York State Horse Council, who visited the campground when it was finished and said he has spoken to more than dozen campers who’ve been there since.

Van Ho trees were cut on Forest Preserve, too | News, Sports, Jobs – Adirondack Daily Enterprise

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Van Ho trees were cut on Forest Preserve, too | News, Sports, Jobs – Adirondack Daily Enterprise

Tree cutting to make way for new amenities at the Mount Van Hoevenberg Olympic Sports Complex has not only happened on town land but also on the state Forest Preserve.

The state constitution says the Forest Preserve must be forever wild and that timber may not be sold, removed or destroyed, but a court interpretation from 1930 gives state agencies leeway for some exceptions.

The cutting was later pared down to 1,500 trees, a number that both Protect and the Adirondack Council still opposed. But both organizations agreed not to sue the state as long as the DEC and ORDA would help to prepare, and support, a constitutional amendment.

A constitutional amendment requires approval by the state legislature twice, with an election in between, and then by a majority of all voters in a statewide referendum.

The proposed amendment would essentially authorize certain activities at Mount Van Hoevenberg similar to those already allowed at Gore and Whiteface downhill ski areas, according to Bauer.

A Declining Species –

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A Declining Species –

Amphibians are among the most imperiled animals on earth, with almost half of all species declining, and, according to a new UN report, about 40% are now at risk of extinction. Some estimates are that the current rate of amphibian extinctions range anywhere from 211 to over 45,000 times faster than what is considered “normal” in the 300 million years amphibians have existed. The reasons for these extinctions vary, with habitat destruction and the spread of chytrid fungus, as well as other pathogens being major factors. Here in the Great Northern Forests, we are very fortunate in that none of our reptile or amphibian species have gone completely extinct in recent centuries (so far as anybody knows). But there have been extirpations (localized extinctions), and plenty of species are losing numbers and territory. While most of Vermont’s 22 species of frog and salamander remain common, there is good reason to believe we have lost at least one species so far, and it was practically gone before we even knew it existed here.