RCPA: a clarification

Last week, we aired a story and wrote here that an environmental group called the Residents Committee to Protect the Adirondacks was “defunct.” After feedback from the RCPA’s board and membership, we agree that our coverage warrants clarification.
We first reported last winter that a financial crisis had caused the Residents Committee to lay off staff. The organization’s executive director, Michael Washburn, stepped down, citing an inability to pay his own salary.
The RCPA then agreed to merge with another organization called the Association for the Protection of the Adirondacks; subsequently, the RCPA shut down its website.
The new group — called Protect the Adirondacks! — will be led by the AFPA’s board president and executive director. It will also be headquartered at the association’s headquarters in Niskayuna.
When the consolidation is complete, both the AFPA and the RCPA will cease to exist as independent organizations.
Members of the Resident’s Committee board will continue to serve in leadership positions within the new group. The RCPA’s old headquarters will remain open as a satellite membership office, and some RCPA programs and litigation are expected to continue.
In a letter to NCPR, RCPA board president Robert Harrison wrote:
“This consolidation has created one organization in which the whole is truly greater than the sum of its parts.”