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Conservation Update

 

Parks Commissioner to Sign Plan to Protect Allegany State Park

State Parks Commissioner Carol Ash will be signing a new Master Plan for Allegany State Park on Wednesday (July 21). The final Master Plan designates nearly 85 percent of the park as Park Preservation areas, giving this natural treasure the highest possible protection and ensuring it will be enjoyed for generations to come.

This is a major victory for ADK because the Master Plan incorporates the Club’s recommendation for protecting the park from development and exploitation. Last year, at the beginning of the planning process, ADK proposed Park Preservation designation to protect Allegany State Park, and the Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation included our proposal in the draft Master Plan. Our lobbying efforts in support of the plan were greatly helped by the many ADK members in western New York who spoke out for the park.

At 65,000 acres, Allegany State Park is the largest park in the OPRHP system and a popular destination for ADK members in the western part of the state. Allegany boasts spectacular scenic beauty, vast stretches of mature forests and a wide variety of flora and fauna. Each year, the park attracts about 1.5 million visitors and generates more than $60 million in economic activity for the region.

Under state law, Park Preservation Areas must be maintained in a near-wilderness state. The Park Preservation Area designation provides the best possible protection against private-sector oil and natural gas exploration in Allegany State Park. Allegany is vulnerable because the state does not own the subsurface mineral rights in some parts of the park. The designation should help prevent the kind of destructive drilling practices, clear-cutting and extensive road construction that can be seen just across the border in Allegheny National Forest.

The signing ceremony will at 11 a.m. in the lobby of the Administration Building at the park.

Allison D. Beals

Director of Government Relations and Conservation

Adirondack Mountain Club

301 Hamilton St.

Albany, NY 12210

(518) 449-3870

allison@adk.org