New World Mining District - Photo: Alex Diekmann
Yellowstone Protection - A number of newspapers picked up the story out on Montana about TPL’s purchase of the final industrial mining claims within the New World mining district. My favorite discussion of the issues and history surrounding the 1990′s controversy over mining on Yellowstone’s borders, is a post by Kurt Repanshek on the National Parks Traveler blog.
Among the post’s other attractions, it includes a map showing the location of the mining district along the famous Beartooth Highway, one of the nation’s great alpine roadways.
The piece also quotes Alex Diekmann, who in addition to being a TPL project manager, is a crackerjack photographer — witness the image above.
Conservation Funding in New York - The Gotham Gazette is carrying a long article summarizing the recent conservation funding controversy in New York state.
Singling out the state parks and environment for symbolic belt-tightening, Gov. David Paterson last month pressured the state legislature into accepting steep and disproportionate cuts to conservation funding in exchange for reopening 55 shuttered parks and historic sites in time for the Memorial Day weekend.
With the budget two months late and negotiations stalled, the governor chose an area representing less than one quarter of a percent of the total budget to launch his strategy of forcing cuts through temporary budget extender bills needed to keep the state operating.
In a move that has troubling implications for the future of the city and state’s environment, legislators were cornered into choosing between two programs that have broad public support — the state parks and the Environmental Protection Fund, the state’s main source of capital expenditures for open space and farmland preservation, parks and recreation, historic preservation, waterfront revitalization and recycling.
The piece is written by Anne Schwartz, who has been parks correspondent for the Gazette since 1999. Anne also is a frequent contributor to TPL’s Land&People magazine. Her piece on New York City community gardens appears in the current issue.
Public Access in Maine – On DownEast.com, outdoor writer George Smith points out that ownership changes are threatening public access to Maine’s private lands, He then extols the efforts of government and conservation groups in working to forestall that trend.
Maine has done an outstanding job of buying the rights and opportunities enjoyed by the public on private lands.
Through an astonishingly successful collaborative effort by state and federal agencies, the nonprofit conservation community, and advocacy groups representing environmentalists, sportsmen, and other outdoor recreationists, Maine’s outdoor heritage is being secured for future generations.
Although we’ve purchased a fee (ownership) interest in some lands, most of our purchases have been in the form of easements. Some purchased development rights, to keep the land undeveloped. Most purchased both development and access rights.
Smith goes on the highlight the federal Forest Legacy funding program as particularly important in that effort, along with two current TPL projects that have applied for that funding. Worth a look if you are one of the millions of New Englanders for whom Maine is a favorite recreation destination.
