Environmental shake-up: Gibson ousted as head of Protect the Adirondacks

Phil Brown broke the story over at the Adirondack Explorer that veteran conservationist David Gibson has been asked to step aside as executive director of Protect the Adirondacks.

This is the newly formed group created last year from a merger of the Residents Committee and the Association for the Protection of the Adirondacks.

Gibson has been a prominent and respected leader in the environmental community since 1987.

In an interview with NCPR today, he was frank about the fact that he didn’t resign his post willingly:

I signed on to be executive director and was doing that job to the best of my ability. The board had obviously a different point of view and wanted different leadership. Protect still hasn’t hit a year yet in its existence. So that’s a decision they made and I’m adjusting to a new role. Hopefully that will be a successful adjustment.

Gibson will stay on with the organization as ‘senior conservation advisor.’ But another long-time activist, Ken Rimany, has been let go.

Tomorrow during the 8 O’clock Hour, we’ll hear from Gibson about the shake-up and we’ll talk with Beth Collins, spokesperson for Protect’s board of directors.