New York Buys Forest Land in the Adirondacks for $17 Million
12/24/97
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Headline: New York Buys Forest Land in the Adirondacks for $17 Million
Source: The Associated Press
Date: 12/24/97
Author: Joel Stashenko
Copyright: The Associated Press
ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) - The state agreed to buy almost 15,000 acres of forest land
in the heart of the Adirondack Mountains, protecting it from a proposed luxury
housing development.
Conservationists considered the land a critical connecting piece between four
other huge parcels of public land, and Gov. George Pataki called the parcel
the ``crown jewel'' of the Adirondacks.
``This purchase is a priceless gift from this generation of New Yorkers to
those who will follow us,'' Pataki said Monday.
The state will pay $17.1 million to Whitney Industries for the land which
includes the 8-mile-long Little Tupper Lake, believed to be the largest
privately owned lake east of the Mississippi River. There are nine other lakes
or ponds on the site and 26 company buildings.
Whitney Industries, owned by socialite Marylou Whitney, considered developing
the land. But environmentalists pressed the Pataki administration to buy up
the Whitney property and add it to the state's ``forever wild'' holdings in
the Adirondack Park.
``For us, this is the biggest land acquisition ever by the state of New
York,'' said Neil Woodworth, a lobbyist for the Adirondack Mountain Club.
As part of the deal, the Adirondack Land Trust, a private group, will pay $3
million to Whitney Industries in exchange for its pledge not to develop an
additional 36,000 acres for 10 years.