Carol W. LaGrasse, from Positions on Property, Vol. 2, No. 3, Jul. 1995

The Northern Forest Lands Campaign

Short-term goals: a. Begin acquiring 10 new wilderness preserves totaling approximately 7,000,000 acres from private owners for federal and state government ownership. Estimated direct cost $3 to $8 billion, depending in part on land trust involvement, plus indefinite tax revenue loss.
b. Establish drastic regulation of forestry industry
 Mid-term goals: a. Establish Four-state Federal Land Management Commission over remaining 15-21 million acres private land.
b. Acquire more private land.
c. International treaty
d. Federal wolf reintroduction study.
 Long-Range goal: Eliminate forestry and other human use of 26,000,000 acre Northern Forest Lands shown on map, plus approximately 4,000,000 acres in Vermont and New Hampshire not shown, including entire Champlain-Adirondack U.N. Biosphere Reserve

Chart showing NFL covering most of ME, northern VT, NH & NY

Unmasking the “Great Northern Forest Campaign”

The Dishonest “Call to Action”

“A Region Under Siege”
“Unfortunately the Northern Forest we know is being lost.
“The first alarm bells rang in the late 1980s when a million acres of industrial forest land were sold in a leveraged buyout to a foreign investor...
“Large scale clearcutting and forest liquidation also continue. From northern Maine to the small communities of Vermont’s Northeast Kingdom, people see clearcutting, highgrading and herbicides degrading the forest. In many towns, it will be generations before the woods again provide good jobs or a peaceful afternoon’s respite.
“Development of favorite lakeshores and choice open land cuts off the tradition of public access. It is harder and harder for local residents and visitors to find places to hunt, fish and relax. An entire way of life is in peril.” (1)

(1) John Sheehan (Adirondack Council) from “The Northern Forest” Jan. 1995, Northern Forest Alliance

The Truth

The forests of New York and northern New England have largely regrown since the turn of the century. As far as the eye can see, stretch forest-covered mountains.
After the northern economy declined for nearly a century, the New York economy began to recover in the 1960’s and 1980’s. But environmentalists led by key Northern Forest Lands consortium leaders saw to it that the Adirondack Park Agency strangled the economy, contrary to their display of mock “concern” for local residents or “access.”

The “big three” Northern Forest Alliance leaders

The National Audubon Society - Annual Budget = $37 million (1991)
Under former president Peter A.A. Berle, made the superzoning of 3 million acres of private land in Adirondacks a national campaign, calling for 2,000 acre per house zoning and 650,000 acres State acquisition of private land. Teamed up with Adirondack Council whose spokesman wrote Northern Forest Lands campaign literature.
The Sierra Club - Annual Budget = $40 million (1991)
Leading Campaign for “7th-Generation” Constitutional amendment to destroy Fifth Amendment private property protections.
Leader of national “Eco-Region” campaign.
Sierra Club Legal Defense Fund currently has 150 active lawsuits against private property, forestry and business including eight lawsuits to stop logging in Western National Forests and several to stop forest product manufacturing.
The Wilderness Society - Annual Budget - $18 million (1990)
Uncompromising national advocate of grandiose wilderness areas, now redefined as continuous “wildlands” comprising hundreds of millions of acres each by “conservation biologists.” A key organizer and fiscal agent (a sort of money launderer to hide the source) for Environmental Grantmakers Association (W. Alton Jones, Pew Charitable Trust, Bullitt Foundation), who funded and directed the Ancient Forest Campaign in the west, which destroyed community after community.
Unholy Tactics
Likely methods of expanded land condemnation
Industry coerced to donate land as “mitigations” and to act as a strawman for U.S. Forest Service in same way as land trusts.
Inverse condemnation of private forest holdings via environmental lawsuits over “pollution” and endangered species.

The “Northern Forest Lands” Grab

Size: 25,800,000 acres
NY: 7,600,000 acres officially (incl. 6,000,000 public & private in Adirondack Park)
VT: 2,000,000 acres
NH: 1,200,000 acres
ME: 15,000,000 acres

Boundaries: “Defined” by map but no clear definition
Private land: 21,800,000 acres
Government land: 4,000,000 acres, mainly in NY

“The Northern Forest Alliance” consortium

Adirondack Council
Appalachian Mountain Club
Appalachian Trail Conference
Association for the Protection of the Adirondacks
Conservation Law Foundation
Defenders of Wildlife
Environmental Air Force
Garden Club of America
Green Mountain Club
Green Mountain Forest Watch
Maine Audubon Society
National Audubon Society*
National Wildlife Federation
Natural Resources Council of Maine
Natural Resources Defense Council
New Hampshire Wildlife Federation
New York Rivers United
Residents’ Committee to Protect the Adirondacks
RESTORE: The North Woods
Sierra Club*
Student Environmental Action Coalition
Trust for Public Land
Vermont Audubon Council
Vermont Natural Resources Council
Vermont Land Trust
Wilderness Society*
* consortium leaders

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