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In-Depth Information
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 “A
State Snowmobile Plan & the Local Economy: Worth Commenting”
- By Carol W. LaGrasse, Reprinted from the New York Property
Rights Clearinghouse, Vol. 14 No. 2 (PRFA, Early Summer 2010)
A new snowmobile plan for the area in the vicinity of Lake
Pleasant in Hamilton County, known by DEC and APA as the Jessup
River Wild Forest, is touted as facilitating a “connector"
between communities that stops the use of a popular established
route that is too deep in the forest for the environmentalists‘
taste. However, the “connector” dead
ends at the Piseco Community Hall, not exactly a snowmobile destination,
while prohibiting the use of Oxbow Lake to reach the Oxbow Inn
and Oxbow Hotel and eliminating short spurs that make it possible
for local residents to get to the trail.
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- “A
Letter to Residents and Legislators of the Adirondack Park”
- By James N. O’Rourke, Sr., Lake Pleasant, N.Y. 12108
Referring to the Town of Lake Pleasant and the Village of
Speculator in Hamilton County,World War II veteran and former
town supervisor James N. O’Rourke, Sr., describes
the decline in this thriving community after the Adirondack Park
Agency came into existence in 1973.
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 “Statement Opposed
to the Rerouting Snowmobile Trails in Jessup River Wild Forest”
- By Carol W. LaGrasse, PRFA, June 16, 2010
The proposed plan to reroute snowmobile trails in the Jessup
River Wild Forest does not satisfy the Adirondack Park Agency
law’s requirement for balance. The elimination of
trails, lake crossings, and spurs will threaten one of the few
surviving businesses in Lake Pleasant, the Ox-Bow Inn on Route
8.
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- Letter
to U.S. Representative Scott Murphy about importance of Federal
Fair Housing Act to deal with Adirondack housing issue, by Carol
W. LaGrasse, Property Rights Foundation of America, Inc., February
15, 2010
Letter by Carol W. LaGrasse follows up August 2009 letter
personally presented to Rep. Scott Murphy, and further urges
him to bring the federal Fair Housing Act to bear on the APA
and DEC obstruction of access to housing.
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- “Hunting
Camps to be Saved on Champion Conservation Easements”
- By Carol W. LaGrasse, PRFA, January 2010
Over ten years after Gov. George Pataki announced that all
298 hunting camps on the former Champion International lands
would have to be removed, the DEC has issued a revised conservation
easement to allow 200 camps on the easement lands to remain in
perpetuity. This will continue the long-standing cultural and
social tradition of allowing people to enjoy local hunting and
fishing clubs in the Adirondack region, according to DEC. The
original plan was “a mistake,” the lands
and forests director said.
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- “APA Re-votes: Waters
& Underlying Land of Lows Lake Are Not Classified”
- By Carol W. LaGrasse, PRFA, November 14, 2009
According to the APA’s vote in September, the
waters and underlying land of Lows Lake on the border of Hamilton
and St. Lawrence Counties would be classified as “wilderness”
and “primitive” because the underlying
land is state-owned and most of the surrounding land was state-owned.
This would have been the first such determination where all of
the surrounding land was not state-owned. However, one of the
votes was invalid and the APA reconsidered the decision at its
November meeting. At this meeting, every commissioner was present
and all of the State agency designees sided with the opponents
of the classification. In addition, one of the governor-appointed
commissioners who had favored the classification reversed his
position. The new vote was 7 to 4 in favor of approving the land
use classification for the area around Lows lake, but not the
lake itself.
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 “The
Meaning of the Champlain-Adirondack Biosphere Reserve”
- By Peter J. LaGrasse, Chairman, Stony Creek Board of Assessors,
Thirteenth Annual National Conference on Private Property Rights
(PRFA, Lake George, N.Y., October 17, 2009)
The meaning of the Champlain-Adirondack Biosphere Reserve
is made clear by a study of the technical literature of proponents
and a map study of the state acquisition of land in the Adirondacks
since the designation in 1989. The core area, reserved to be
without human influence, is defined as all of the state-owned
land. The areas between the state-owned land in 1989 are rapidly
being filled in with fee simple state acquisitions and state
purchases of conservation easements. The Biosphere Reserve designation,
which is under UNESCO auspices, is at the heart of the goal to
depopulate the region.
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 “Victory:
Old Mountain Road Opened to Motor Vehicles” - By James
McCulley, President, Lake Placid Snowmobile Club, Lake Placid,
N.Y., Thirteenth Annual National Conference on Private Property
Rights (PRFA, Lake George, N.Y., October 17, 2009)
Jim McCulley’s first-hand account of his successful
battle to restore motorized use to Old Mountain Road between
Keene and Lake Placid brings the entire history to life. This
is the first time DEC has been forced in court, both in the Essex
County Supreme Court and in the DEC Administrative Court, to
open up a town road that the agency tried to close.
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 “Righting
the APA/DEC Access Policy” - By Ted Galusha, President,
Adirondackers for Access, Warrensburg, N.Y., Thirteenth Annual
National Conference on Private Property Rights (PRFA, Lake George,
N.Y., October 17, 2009)
In 1998, Ted Galusha and other disabled individuals filed
suit in federal court and immediately won an injunction opening
the roads, trails and areas that the DEC officers drove on to
access the Adirondack Forest Preserve and illegally arrested
them on for using motorized vehicles. After three years of fighting
in court, they had a consent decree, signed by the judge as a
court order on July 5, 2001. This speech is a heart-rending litany
of the myriad ways that the state has chosen not to comply with
much of the consent decree and the Americans with Disabilities
Act.
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- “The
Adirondack Park Agency Idea” - By Carol W. LaGrasse,
President, Property Rights Foundation of America, Inc., Thirteenth
Annual National Conference on Private Property Rights (PRFA,
Lake George, N.Y., October 17, 2009)
The idea of the Forest Preserve changed from one of protection
of the forest in the late nineteenth century to assure a benefit
to the state as a whole (primarily the protection of the flow
of water to assure commercial navigation on the Erie Canal and
the Hudson River) while extending fair policy to the local people,
to the current state policy of radical preservation, massive
state land acquisition, and a systematic program to cause the
depopulation of the local people in a vast region many times
the size of the original Forest Preserve.
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 “APA
Classifies First Water Body - Lows Lake Mainly ‘Wilderness’”
- By Carol W. LaGrasse, PRFA, September 20, 2009
The Adirondack Park Agency asserted a new power in September
by classifying a water body for the first time, in this case
designating Lows Lake in the town of Long Lake as mainly “wilderness.”
In addition to designating the waters and bed of the lake as
largely “wilderness” and also “primitive,”
the agency decided that the shores of lakes do not have to be
entirely owned by the State of New York for the lake itself to
be classified and so managed, as long as the bed of the lake
is owned by the State.
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- “Statement
in Opposition to the Reclassification of Lows Lake and Vicinity”
- By Carol W. LaGrasse, PRFA, August 25, 2009
The proposed classification of Lows Lake itself (the actual
waters of the lake) as wilderness is a new power grab by the
APA, which has never before classified the waters of a lake.
Acting Executive Director James Connolly called it a “progression
in the way it deals with water bodies.” This six-page
statement shows how the illegalities and injustices in this group
of classifications exemplify the bias against seaplanes and the
like and favoritism toward canoers, kayakers, and hikers, who
are the political clientele of the wealthy who control the APA.
Environmental considerations are not a factor.
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 “Statement in
Opposition to the Lows Lake Classifications and Reclassifications”
- By Susan Allen, August 28, 2009
This succinct one-page statement covers a range of reasons
why the Lows Lake Classifications and Reclassifications should
not be approved. For instance: “Dams, roads and private
inholdings contradict the description of the area as ‘wilderness.’”
Bias is indicated by the DEC’s plan to increase the
number of campsites for canoers, whereas campsites for hunters
and families in the forest preserve are being greatly reduced.
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- “Is
There an Adirondack Awakening?” - By Carol W. LaGrasse,
April, 2009 (Reprinted from the New York Property Rights Clearinghouse,
Vol. 13, No. 1)
The extreme policies of the Adirondack Park Agency, Department
of Environmental Conservation, and Governor David Paterson are
arousing opposition that has been brooding for years. Local citizens
and officials are expressing mounting anger about the state’s
regulatory impositions; prosecutions of landowners; obstruction
of economic development; unbridled state land acquisition; impeding
and closing of travel, recreational access and campgrounds; and
the attempted imposition of unbearable real estate taxes.
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- “State
Acquisitions for Adirondack Forest Preserve Have Monumental Hunting
Impact” - Two-page flyer published by Property Rights
Foundation of America, Inc., February 8, 2009
The Department of Environmental Conservation misleads the
public about the purpose of land acquisitions for the Forest
Preserve. State ownership does not to increase access, as claimed.
This flyer summarizes ten years of DEC’s actions
to impede and close hunting access; eliminate hunting camps;
lock out snowmobilers, ATV’s, and motorized vehicles;
and close roads and state campsites. A roster of major land acquisitions
is also included.
Requires Adobe
Acrobat Reader
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- “Warning:
Strict New APA Hunting and Fishing Cabin Regulations”
- Flyer (Publ. Property Rights Foundation of America, Inc., February
8, 2009)
The jurisdictional exception for 500 sq. ft. or less hunting
and fishing cabins under Resource Management that was negotiated
into the APA law in 1973 is being watered down by imposing regulations
that are tighter than the law, so that it will be harder to build
a non-jurisdictional hunting and fishing cabin in the future.
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- “Governor’s
Tax Cap Threatens 125-Year-Old Covenant to Pay Local Taxes”
- By Carol W. LaGrasse, Property Rights Foundation of America,
Inc., February 12, 2009
When the New York State Legislature established the Adirondack
Forest Preserve, the Legislature followed the recommendations
of the official commission, which concluded that because the
protection of the forest “would be chiefly for the
benefit of the rest of the State,” the State should
“hereafter bear taxes upon its lands in the Adirondack
region.” It may take 125 years, but with control
of much of the land, preservationists control the tax base and
future.
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- “Governor’s
Proposed State Tax Cap Would Be A Tax Outrage” - By
Carol W. LaGrasse, Property Rights Foundation of America, Inc.
Reduced size version (pdf) of advertisement that appeared in
the Adirondack Journal, January 31, 2009
A cap on the State payment of property taxes to localities
within the 6,000,000-acre Adirondack region would gradually cause
a damaging and destructive shift of the tax burden to the already
restricted and weak local economies. Fair play demands that the
Legislature’s long-established doctrine to pay local
taxes be upheld.
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- “Statement
in Opposition to Issuance of Tax-exempt Bonds to Finance The
Nature Conservancy Acquisition of the former Finch, Pruyn &
Co. Lands” - By Carol W. LaGrasse, President, Property
Rights Foundation of America, Inc., December 2, 2008 (Public
Hearing held by the Colorado Educational and Cultural Facilities
Authority, City of Glens Falls, N. Y.)
The proposed issuance of $45 million in tax exempt bonds by
the Colorado authority to refinance The Nature Conservancy’s
borrowing to acquire the 160,540 acres of Finch, Pruyn &
Co. lands in the Adirondack “Park” should
be disapproved by the IRS because the transfer of this acreage
in fee simple and perpetual conservation easements will foreclose
forever the development of these lands, further desiccating the
economy and future of the communities. About 100 square miles
of the tract, the finest timber producing land, would be transmitted
in fee simple to become part of the “forever wild”
Forest Preserve, where logging would be prohibited.
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 “Comments
on Granting The Nature Conservancy Tax-exempt Loan to Pay for
the Purchase of Finch Pruyn land in the Adirondacks, New York
State” - By Peter J. LaGrasse, Chairman, Stony Creek
Board of Assessors, December 2, 2008 (Public Hearing held by
the Colorado Educational and Cultural Facilities Authority, City
of Glens Falls, N. Y.)
Using the example of the eradication of development potential
in a selected section of Stony Creek by TNC’s planned
sale to the State of New York of either conservation easements
or fee simple title, the chairman of the board of assessors of
the Town of Stony Creek explains his opposition to the grant
of the tax-exempt bonding bailout of The Nature Conservancy to
reduce its cost of borrowing to acquire the former Finch Pruyn
lands.
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- John Maye Personal Statement
Against Tax-exempt Bonds for The Nature Conservancy - Transcript
from public hearing held by the Colorado Educational and Cultural
Facilities Authority at City Hall, Glens Falls, N.Y., December
2, 2008
After John Maye and his wife moved into their camp, The Nature
Conservancy approached the couple several times to sell their
property, but they weren’t interested. “The
Nature Conservancy was aware of the conjured up violations by
APA and DEC to force the sale of my property…March 28, 2008
my total maximum penalty was $2,962,000…” The
enforcement penalty was dropped after four years, but the toll
on his health remains great.
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- Letter in Opposition to
Tax-exempt Bonds for The Nature Conservancy to Acquire Land in
the Adirondacks - By Howard Aubin, Councilman, Town of Black
Brook, N.Y., E-mail to Frederic H. Marienthal, Attorney for Colorado
Educational and Cultural Facilities Authority, November 25, 2008
Requirements of IRS Code Sec. 147 for local government approval
have not been met. In addition, The Nature Conservancy contacted
an elderly couple this summer to buy their property and when
the couple refused to sell, the Adirondack Park Agency threatened
the couple with a $2.962 million fine. “Giving such
a bond to the Nature Conservancy only helps them to terrorize
more people within the Adirondacks.”
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- “Colorado
Tax-Exempt Bonds for TNC’s New York Land-Grab”
- By Carol W. LaGrasse, PRFA, November 2008
The Nature Conservancy is looking to the Colorado Educational
and Cultural Facilities Authority to rescue it from the level
of interest payments it is experiencing on $45 million that it
borrowed to acquire 160,540 acres of forestland in the Adirondacks
from paper manufacturer Finch, Pruyn and Co. to flip to the state
as “Forever wild” Forest Preserve and
conservation easements.
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- “Stop
Strangling the North Country” - by Carol W. LaGrasse
(PRFA, March 18, 2008)
The Governor should reject the privately negotiated land deal
between the DEC and The Nature Conservancy to acquire 57,699
acres of productive land that was formerly owned by Finch, Pruyn
and Co. of Glens Falls for the “forever wild”
Adirondack Forest Preserve and 73,627 acres of conservation easements,
the bulk of the rest of the Finch, Pruyn land. Adding these vast
acreages to the 3 million acres of Forest Preserve and nearly
700,000 acres of DEC conservation easements will further squeeze
the economy and future of the North Country
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- “A
Sound, Consistent Policy” - “Worth Commenting”
By Carol W. LaGrasse, PRFA, January 2008
Since 1886, the State has paid real estate taxes on its Adirondack
Forest Preserve, now amounting to three million acres contained
within the six million-acre “Blue Line”
of government and private land in northern New York, because
the State-owned lands provide a statewide benefit of, first,
watershed protection, and, additionally, more recently, environmental
preservation envisioned by statewide residents. The economic
sacrifice of the 100-plus towns and villages in the Adirondacks
has been recognized for over a century, as well. Legal action
to end these tax payments, in Dillenburg vs. State of New
York, is not justified.
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- “‘Smart
Growth’ to the Rescue” - By Carol W. LaGrasse (PRFA,
July 27, 2007)
The Spitzer Administration announced on July 17 that it was
setting aside $1 million for “smart growth”
planning to revitalize the economy of the Adirondack region.
But the Adirondack region already suffers from the groundbreaking
1973 smart growth-style Adirondack Park Agency Act. The economic
difficulty of the of the 12-county Adirondack region is caused
by the State Adirondack Park Agency’s radical land
use controls and the State’s voracious appetite for
land, driving up the price of real estate beyond local means
and leaving little land for any practical use.
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- “DEC’s
Insidious Disregard for the People—Comments on DEC Draft
Wilcox Lake Wild Forest UMP”- By Carol W. LaGrasse,
President, Property Rights Foundation of America, March 2, 2007
DEC’s insidious disregard for the people is exemplified
by its treatment of Stony Creek and environs. The proposed Draft
Unit Management Plan for Wilcox Lake Wild Forest should be discarded.
The plan should be re-drawn under new assumptions, with the local
culture, economy, history, and the community included as salient
factors in a plan that respects the local people.
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- “Disabled Apartheid-DEC’s
Betrayal and Discrimination” - By Carol W. LaGrasse,
Hearing Statement on DEC Lake George Wild Forest UMP, Queensbury
Town Hall, December 13, 2006.
DEC has betrayed the visionary effort of the disabled to open
up access to the Forest Preserve to people with disabilities
and people who are not athletic, by virtually closing down the
popular family recreation area on the Hudson River in Warrensburg,
which was established on land acquired from Niagara Mohawk, while
keeping open the most limited facilities exclusively for the
disabled.
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 “Land Acquired
- But Wait, Access Closed” - By Carol W. LaGrasse (Reprinted
from the New York Property Rights Clearinghouse, PRFA,
Summer 2006)
New York State’s announcements when acquiring
vast tracts of private land for the Forest Preserve promise more
access for the public, but over decades, more recently over a
very short time, the campsites and access roads are being closed
and the land is being cut off from hunters and other recreational
users that do not fit the mold approved by extreme environmentalists.
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 “Our
Hike on the Threatened Road to Whitehouse-A Photo Story, April
11, 2006” - by Carol W. LaGrasse (PRFA, June 2006)
In order to enlarge the Silver Lake Wilderness, the State
Department of Environmental Conservation proposes to deliberately
destroy the West River Road, a town highway leading to the historic
site of Whitehouse on the West Branch of the Sacandaga River
in Wells, N.Y. Two fine steel suspension footbridges will be
deliberately allowed to deteriorate, locally cherished old stone
chimneys at the ghost town will be lost, and large, active campsites
enjoyed since at least 1962, when the State acquired the land,
will be deliberately destroyed. Access to a nineteenth century
cemetery will be cut off.
- “The
Cemetery at Whitehouse” - Photo Story by Carol W. LaGrasse
(PRFA, June 2006)
The DEC’s radical eradication of highways closes
down access to cherished cemeteries, so that descendants and
local people who would like to visit, pay their respects, and
maintain the graveyards are stymied.
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Photo Gallery |
- Our walk to a small graveyard along an old Indian Lake
town road barricaded by New York State Department of Environmental
Conservation (DEC) to enlarge the Adirondack Forest Preserve
wilderness shocked us with the realization that DEC is eradicating
roads, trails, and history.
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- “Statement
- Wilcox Lake Wild Forest” - By Peter J. LaGrasse, Captain,
Stony Creek Emergency Squad, & Chairman, Stony Creek Board
of Assessors, DEC Meeting, Thurman Town Hall, March 8, 2002
Harrisburg Road should be cleared through beyond Moosewood
Club and Baker’s Clearing to Wells, other roads cleared,
and a network of roads created for pickup trucks, which are what
people drive to go fishing, ATVs for recreation, emergency use
vehicles, and ambulances.
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- “Statement
- Wilcox Lake Wild Forest” - By Carol W. LaGrasse, President,
Property of America, DEC Meeting, Thurman Town Hall, March 8,
2002
Swaths of open area should be cut as fire breaks. Ancient
highways should be opened and trails widened for fire protection
vehicles. Waite Road and other old roads should be opened to
access State land. The State should reverse its anti-ATV policy.
Cemetery access should be respected. The State’s
environmental review should include the cultural and economic
impacts, not just biological aspects.
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