News stories tagged with "finch-pruyn"

(03/22/11) The Adirondack Nature Conservancy has emerged in recent years as one of the largest owners of timberland in the North Country.

The green group uses certified logging methods designed to protect rivers and other sensitive ecosystems.

But a landowner in Essex County is accusing the Conservancy's tree-cutters of damaging a certified trout stream.

As Brian Mann reports, state officials have opened an investigation. more

(02/17/11) In his budget unveiled earlier this month, Governor Andrew Cuomo maintained the state's Environmental Protection Fund at more than $130 million. Green groups praised the decision and say they hope some of the money will be used this year to expand the Adirondack forest preserve.

The Nature Conservancy wants to sell tens of thousands of acres to the state, lands that were once part of the Finch timber property. Now one of the most prominent local government groups in the Park is trying to rally opposition to the plan.

The Adirondack Local Government Review Board passed a strongly-worded resolution last month. The resolution urges the Governor to cancel additional land purchases in the Park until the state's fiscal crisis is over. But the Review Board's campaign represents a break with the stance taken by dozens of local communities in the Park, which have supported the project for years.

In the first of a two-part special series, Brian Mann reports that some town leaders say they still want the Finch conservation project to go forward. more

(05/13/10) The Adirondack Park Agency was created in 1971. In the decades since, a debate has raged over how the Park should be managed.

Specific issues change from year to year. But the basic battle lines over conservation, property rights, and economic development have long seemed carved in stone.

But now some observers say the budget crisis in Albany is changing all that, throwing into doubt some of the core ideas about the Park and its future. Brian Mann has our special report.

(05/13/10) The Open Space Institute has helped to engineer some of the most important land conservation deals in the Adirondack Park over the last decade.

OSI financed the Tahawus purchase, which protected parts of the southern High Peaks. The group also helped fund the massive Finch, Pruyn deal worth more than $110 million.

But OSI executive director Joe Martens, who also heads the Olympic Regional Development Authority board, says the fiscal crisis in Albany is changing the rules for how the Park should be managed. Martens spoke in depth with NCPR's Adirondack bureau chief, Brian Mann.

(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.

(07/31/09) This week, North Country Public Radio has been looking at the changing economics of big land purchases, in the Adirondacks, Vermont and across the Northeast. Land prices are down, making big parcels more affordable. But state budgets and private donations are down, too, meaning there are fewer dollars to spend on land conservation. State Senator Betty Little, from Queensbury, says it's time to re-evaluate whether more land purchases make sense, given New York state's massive budget shortfalls. Little is lobbying for additional parcels of the Finch, Pruyn land to be sold to logging companies - with conservation easements - rather than added to the Adirondack forest preserve. She spoke with Jonathan Brown.

(02/16/09) The head of the Adirondack Nature Conservancy says he thinks it'll be at least three years before his group completes a series of transactions with the state that will protect tens of thousands of acres of former Finch-Pruyn timberlands. Martha Foley has more.

(08/06/08) Huge conservation deals over the last decade have protected nearly a million acres of land in the Adirondacks. The deals allow timber harvesting to continue. But scientists say they also protect crucial habitats and eco-systems. In part two of his report on the Finch, Pruyn easement negotiated by the Adirondack Nature Conservancy Brian Mann sends an audio postcard from a bog near Blue Mountain Lake.

(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.