News stories tagged with "land"

(06/21/11) Beginning and veteran farmers will gather in the Champlain Valley on Saturday for a chance to network, learn and socialize. The event, at the historic Whallonsburg Grange in Essex, will feature food, music and the screening of a documentary that focuses on a new generation of young farmers.

Todd Moe talks with Hudson valley farmer Severine von Tscharner Fleming, a co-founder of the National Young Farmers Coalition, one of the groups sponsoring Saturday's gathering. She also directed the documentary The Greenhorns, a film about the young farmer movement.

(01/20/10) Governor Paterson's budget plan would slash also tens of millions of dollars from environmental and land conservation programs. In the proposal unveiled yesterday, state officials say new land purchases in the Adirondack Park should be suspended at least through 2012. The news comes at a time when the Adirondack Nature Conservancy is hoping to sell more than 50,000 acres of timberland to the state. Martha Foley has details.

(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.

(01/13/09) Governor Paterson's administration has unveiled its new Open Space Plan for New York state. This is the document that shapes much of Albany's conservation agenda. The new draft plan aims to shift the focus away from major land purchases. The 2009 version puts more weight on climate change and healthy communities. The new document comes at a time when two landmark conservation deals are still being hammered out in the Adirondacks. They include the Follensby Pond tract near Tupper Lake and the massive Finch, Pruyn project--both spearheaded by the Adirondack Nature Conservancy. Adirondack bureau chief Brian Mann talked about the Open Space plan with Martha Foley.

Note: Public hearings on the Open Space plan will be held in the North Country this month, with sessions in Ray Brook and Watertown on January 22.

(12/26/08) The state of New York is appealing a landmark decision issued this fall in a case that pits a North Country farmer against the Adirondack Park Agency. Salim "Sandy" Lewis won the suit, which centered on his plan to build worker housing on his farm in the town of Essex. The APA and the state attorney general are now fighting to overturn the decision. Brian Mann has details.

(12/22/08) For the first time since the 1800s, the state of New York wants to cap property tax payments on forest preserve land in the Adirondack Park. The proposal would cost school districts and local governments in the North Country millions of dollars a year. It was unveiled last week as part of Governor David Paterson's controversial budget-cutting package. As Brian Mann reports, the property-tax measure is sparking outrage from groups across the political spectrum.

(12/02/08) As New York's fiscal crisis deepens, much of the debate in Albany has focused on schools and healthcare. But Governor David Paterson has also proposed using part of the Environmental Protection Fund, or EPF, to help close the budget gap. In the past, that money has been used to finance big conservation deals in the Adirondacks. Green groups want the state to buy tens of thousands of acres of forestland and add it to the Park's forest preserve. But as Brian Mann reports, a growing number of critics say land purchases should wait until New York's economy recovers.

(02/20/08) Less than a week after the state unveiled a plan to add more than fifty thousand acres of the former Finch, Pruyn land to the Adirondack forest preserve, the Spitzer administration has unveiled the purchase of another big chunk of land. State officials say New York has acquired nearly 7000 acres of land around Tahawus, in the Essex County town of Newcomb. Brian Mann has details.

(09/21/07) The Nature Conservancy is selling more than fifteen thousand acres of land in the central Adirondacks. The $1.8 million deal involves five lakes and ponds and a half-dozen small mountains in the towns of Long Lake and Webb. As Brian Mann reports, the Nature Conservancy says the property will still be protected from further development.

NOTE: Story corrected at 11:50 am. more

(12/22/06) Governor Pataki yesterday announced details of the deal to protect another 51,000 acres of forestland in St. Lawrence County. According to the agreement, the state will pay $6.5 million for a conservation easement from global timber firm Rayonier. Martha Foley has more.