{"id":7315,"date":"2013-02-07T15:40:18","date_gmt":"2013-02-07T20:40:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/?p=7315"},"modified":"2013-03-06T12:16:11","modified_gmt":"2013-03-06T17:16:11","slug":"breaking-apa-will-vote-on-new-clear-cutting-rules","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/2013\/02\/07\/breaking-apa-will-vote-on-new-clear-cutting-rules\/","title":{"rendered":"Breaking: APA will vote on new clear-cutting rules"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

Photograph of a clear-cut with some white pine remaining as seed stock near Speculator in the southern Adirondacks, provided by Lyme Timber (Used by permission)<\/p><\/div>\n

The Adirondack Park Agency will bring a measure to the board of commissioners next week which, if approved, would establish an easier process for landowners and loggers seeking to clear-cut timber stands larger than 25 acres.<\/p>\n

The measure sparked controversy earlier this winter, when Adirondack green groups blasted the proposal.<\/p>\n

It was withdrawn from consideration at the APA meeting in January.<\/p>\n

The latest draft of the “general permit” has been changed substantially.<\/p>\n

The new version would limit the streamlined process only to those landowners whose lands are covered by a certified sustainable forestry plan approved by the APA.<\/p>\n

Currently the APA’s list of approved certification regimens includes only two organizations:\u00a0 The Forest Stewardship Council and the Sustainable Forestry Initiative. <\/span><\/p>\n

The Adirondack Council, Adirondack Wild and Protect the Adirondacks are still expected to oppose the new policy.<\/p>\n

But the revamped guidelines are drawing support from the Audubon Society.<\/p>\n

Supporters of the change argue that most landowners in the Park who use clear-cut logging are currently harvesting stands smaller than 25 acres, with almost no APA oversight.<\/p>\n

They believe that the new general permit would entice more woodlot managers to seek sustainable forest certification, adopting standards that are superior to those required by the Park Agency.<\/p>\n

But one sticking point that is likely to resurface next week is the lack of a clear system for notifying the public or adjacent landowners when a clear-cut is proposed to the APA.<\/p>\n

Under the latest draft of the guidelines, notice of the clear-cutting general permit request will be posted on the APA’s website, but no pro-active measures will be taken to alert neighbors of the property slated for harvest.<\/p>\n

The new measure also fails to impose any new regulatory oversight over clear-cuts under 25 acres in size.<\/p>\n

According to numerous sources, these smaller but still aggressive clear-cuts have damaged the quality of commercial forest stands in many parts of the Adirondacks.<\/p>\n

NCPR will have more on this story tomorrow morning here on NCPR.org, as well as on the air during Morning Edition and the 8 O’clock Hour.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Adirondack Park Agency will bring a measure to the board of commissioners next week […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[22],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7315"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7315"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7315\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7317,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7315\/revisions\/7317"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7315"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7315"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7315"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}