PRESS RELEASE

 

For Immediate Release:                                Contact:

Tuesday, February 12, 2008                               Paul Ertelt, (518) 449-3870,

                                                                       paulertelt@adk.org

ADK Opposes Proposed Environmental Protection Fund Sweep, Urges Lawmakers to Invest in Wild Lands 


Adirondack Mountain Club Executive Director Neil F. Woodworth urged lawmakers today to provide adequate funding to take advantage of a unique opportunity to protect thousands of acres of wild land in the Adirondacks.


“New York is currently facing more land acquisition opportunities than at any other time in the state’s history,” Woodworth said.


Woodworth urged lawmakers to increase the open space and land acquisition account in the Environmental Protection Fund (EPF) to $100 million a year. The Executive Budget would provide $66 million for open space and state park acquisition, an $11 million increase over last year, and the unspent balance of EPF land acquisition appropriations is $67 million. But over the next two years, the state is expected to need at least $200 million for Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) land acquisition projects and $100 million for Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation (OPRHP) land acquisition projects.


In addition, Woodworth asked legislators to consider amending Part B of the Transportation, Economic Development, and Environmental Conservation Article VII language to create a new EPF category authorizing the use of the EPF to pay approximately $4.5 million annually in interest on Clean Water State Revolving Fund  bonds over the next 20 years. This would allow DEC to bond about $70 million for open space projects under the Clean Water State Revolving Loan Fund.


Important open space projects around the state include state acquisition of the Lassiter, Clerical Medical, and Finch, Pruyn tracts in the Adirondacks; the Big Indian Plateau tract in the Catskills; Hemlock and Canadice Lakes owned by the City of Rochester, the last of the undeveloped Finger Lakes; and the AVR project on Long Island. 
   
The Adirondack Mountain Club (ADK) supports the Governor’s proposal to provide $110 million in capital funding for state park improvements, including $8 million for DEC campground improvements. But Woodworth called on the Legislature to restore the EPF land stewardship account to last year’s level of $22 million. The Governor’s proposal would cut that account to $5 million, a 78 percent reduction.  


“Given the fact that OPRHP is receiving approximately $100 million in bonded capital to care for 350,000 acres of parkland, it is reasonable and equitable for DEC to receive at least $22 million to care for the 4.5 million acres of land it manages, in addition to the $8 million in capital funds for campground improvements,” Woodworth said. 
The state land stewardship account is critical to protecting natural resources and accommodating public use and enjoyment of public lands. The stewardship account provides funding for traditional EPF stewardship projects for the Forest Preserve such as natural resource inventories, land planning, Americans with Disabilities Act compliance and backcountry trail work.


ADK strongly opposes the proposed $200 million sweep of EPF money for General Fund relief over the next four fiscal years, which would increase the total of swept funds to more than half a billion dollars.


“The EPF was statutorily intended to be a locked box dedicated to funding environmental projects,” Woodworth said. “This year, such a large sweep of unspent EPF money is more likely to negatively impact important environmental programs than in previous years.”  


The Adirondack Mountain Club, founded in 1922, is a nonprofit membership organization dedicated to protecting the New York State Forest Preserve and other wild lands and waters through conservation and advocacy, environmental education and responsible recreation.  


Click here to read ADK's budget hearing testimony.