While we talked about Governor
Cuomo’s passion for the Adirondacks in class, one of the lead commissioners of
the Adirondack Protection Agency recently accused Governor Cuomo of risking the
future of the Park. Richard Booth, a professor who has sat on the APA
commission for nearly a decade, is known as the most knowledgeable APA
commissioner. Booth was a lawyer for the Agency and the State Department of
Environmental conservation during the mid-1970’s and is now a professor of
environmental policy and land-use law at Cornell. During the march APA meeting,
Booth launched a broadside against new changes being made to the State Land
Master Plan, the regulatory playbook that shapes management of the forest
preserve in the Adirondacks. Booth stated that Governor Cuomo and his staff are
steadily weakening laws that protect the Park’s wilderness and primitive areas.
Although
Booth admits the recent changes are modest, he believes that they are the first
step toward bigger changes and that they demonstrate Cuomo’s manipulation of
the APA. Governor Cuomo’s changes allow bicycles in primitive areas for the
first time and also allow motorized vehicles to be used by state workers to
maintain some trails in the Park. According to Booth, no governor in New York
state has chosen to force the Park Agency to weaken the master plan until now. Booth, and some other APA commissioners,
believe that Cuomo’s administration is manipulating the process, forcing the
agency towards instituting Cuomo’s changes. Booth also accused Cuomo of
controlling the APA’s access to information. Some of Booth’s claims may be
tested in court; similar charges were brought against Cuomo when earlier this
year, green groups sued the Cuomo administration for their behind-the-scenes
influence in the management plan for the Essex Chain lakes. Although Cuomo is seen as a positive influence
on the Park, Booth’s claims, coming from such a leading expert, shed some light
on the governor’s possibly detrimental decisions about the future of the
Adirondacks.
Sources
Mann, Brian. “Top APA Commissioner Says Cuomo Undermining
Adirondack Protections”. North Country Public Radio; March 21, 2016. Web.
Accessed April 3rd, 2016.
I'm sure that Governor Cuomo's actions are part of a larger plan to make the Adirondacks more economically productive. However, if he risks the integrity of the natural areas by allowing people to degrade the routes, then he jeopardizes the future economic viability of the Adirondacks. It's also important to note that not every part of the Adirondacks must be an economic center. Rather the lands could be preserved for the sake of preservation.
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