News stories tagged with "adirondack-nature-conservancy"

(02/12/10) Three years after the Nature Conservancy bought tens of thousands of acres of timberland from the Finch Pruyn paper company, the company is buying some of the land back near the town of Indian Lake. The sale is part of a complex plan to return some of the land to private ownership, or to ownership by local towns. Chris Morris has our story.

Also yesterday, an environmental group called the Open Space Institute announced that it had acquired a conservation easement on 1400 acres in Essex County.
The deal will prevent future commercial or real estate development on a section of forest that includes the shore of Butternut Pond and part of Poke-O-Mmoonshine Mountain.
The land will remain in private ownership. But the conservation easement was donated to the green group by the family of Eric Johansen. Logging will still be allowed on the property.

(01/22/10) State officials have confirmed that a plan to add more than sixty thousand acres of land to the Adirondack forest preserve is on hold until the state budget crisis has passed. The massive project, known as the Finch, Pruyn deal, was hailed by Department of Environmental Conservation Commissioner Pete Grannis when it was unveiled in 2007. The state's decision leaves the Adirondack Nature Conservancy holding more than $80 million of debt. Environmentalists were angered by this week's decision. But as Brian Mann reports, some critics are questioning whether the project should go forward at all.

(01/14/10) A report published last weekend in the Glens Falls Post-Star raised allegations that the Adirondack Park Agency had conspired illegally with an environmental group. According to the article's sources, state officials schemed with the Adirondack Nature Conservancy, hoping to force a Clinton County man to sell his property. They say the goal was to add John Maye's land to the state Forest Preserve. North Country Public Radio's Brian Mann has been investigating the charges. He found no evidence that any collusion or wrongdoing took place.

(03/30/09) The Nature Conservancy announced today the sale of 92,000 acres of forest land to a Dutch-based pension fund called ATP. ATP is affiliated with the RMK Timberland Group.

The property is part of the massive Finch, Pruyn timber deal launched by the Nature Conservancy in 2007.

The deal will include conservation and limited recreation easements, allowing "some recreational access to places that have been off-limits to the public for at least a century."

Tune in for details this evening during All Before Five.

(10/13/08) Last month, the Adirondack Nature Conservancy announced that it had inked a deal to buy Follensby Pond, near Tupper Lake. The pristine lake was once the site of the fabled "Philosopher's Camp," visited by Ralph Waldo Emerson. The Nature Conservancy paid $16 million for the property. The group hopes the 14,000-acre parcel will eventually be purchased by the state of New York and added to the forest preserve. Follensby has been off-limits to the public for more than a century and it could be months or even years before hikers and paddlers are allowed into the area. But last week, Brian Mann was invited to spend an autumn day paddling Follensby Pond. He was the first journalist to visit the property and sent back this exclusive audio postcard.

(08/05/08) In the deepest valleys of the Adirondack Mountains, scientists are exploring forests and wetlands that have been hidden away for decades. Researchers with New York state and the Nature Conservancy are surveying tens of thousands of acres of land acquired last year as part of the massive Finch-Pruyn deal. Discoveries made this summer will shape conservation and timber harvesting in the Adirondacks for decades. Here's part one of Brian Mann's two-part report.

(01/08/08) The agreement last year that will preserve 161,000 acres of Finch Pruyn Paper company land is so large that it's reshaping the debate over conservation and economic development in the Adirondacks. The Adirondack Nature Conservancy engineered the $110 million purchase. Over the next four months, the green group will produce a management plan for the huge tract, which spreads over six counties and dozens of towns. The conservancy hopes to quickly sell much of the land and conservation easements to the state, at a price tag that could top $50 million. Other parcels will be sold for private development or to timber management companies. Brian Mann spoke at length about the project with the Adirondack Nature Conservancy's executive director, Mike Carr. Carr says there won't be a public process for the Finch, Pruyn project--no public hearings or formal comment period. But the Nature Conservancy is reaching out to as many local residents and officials as possible before next spring.

(01/07/08) The Nature Conservancy deal with Finch, Pruyn, announced last summer, has drawn criticism and accolades. Local government leaders have questioned its impacts on communities, while green groups in the region heralded the acquisition as one of the biggest environmental coups of the last half-century. The architect of the project is Mike Carr, executive director of the Adirondack Nature Conservancy. Carr lives in Keene Valley and has deep family roots in the North Country. Overnight, the Finch, Pruyn deal made him into one of the most influential men in the region. The decisions he makes over the next few months will resonate far beyond conservation, affecting a half-dozen Adirondack communities, as well as local economies. Some of the 161,000 acres will go into the forest preserve, but other pieces will continue in timber production or be sold for private development. Mike Carr sat down recently to talk at length about his expanding role with Brian Mann. This is the first part of their conversation.

(01/07/08) State Senator Betty Little has joined North Country Assemblywoman Teresa Sayward in calling for a moratorium on state land purchases in the Adirondack Park. Martha Foley has details.

(03/28/06) In a rare twist, a pro-environment group is selling a big chunk of Adirondack Land back into the private sector, for $2.5 million. The Adirondack Nature Conservancy announced yesterday that they'll sell more than 600 acres of land in Newcomb to the Tahawus hunting and fishing club. The property includes a remote mountain valley and 115-acre Zack Lake. The valley is surrounded by forest land owned by the Finch Pruyn timber company, based in Glens Falls. The land won't be opened to the public, but it will remain on the local tax rolls. The forest and the lake will also be protected by a permanent conservation easement. The Zack Lake property is so remote that it wasn't surveyed until 1899. It was first owned by great camp developer William West Durant. Nature Conservancy director Mike Carr told Brian Mann that several factors convinced his organization to put the property on the open market.