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It's horrifying that we have to fight our own government
to save the environment.
~ Ansel Adams
SAVE ZOAR VALLEY!
Legislation to Protect Zoar Valley Passed!
Zoar Friends,
June 7, 2007 was a monumentally important day for Zoar Valley and its old growth forests and gorge ecosystems.
The New York State Assembly and Senate both passed a bill authorizing the dedication of Zoar Valley's Protection Area (gorges and old growth forests - 1,492 acres of the total 2,927 acres of public land) as a "Unique Area" under New York's Environmental Conservation Law to be made part of New York's State Nature and Historical Preserve Trust (the state Forest Preserve). This means the protected land in Zoar Valley, the Zoar Valley Unique Area, will receive New York's highest level of public land protection and will remain forever wild. The bill awaits Governor Spitzer's signature to become a part of New York's Environmental Conservation Law.
You can read the text of the bill (Assembly Bill A07542) at http://assembly.state.ny.us/leg/?bn=a07542. The Senate version of the bill is S05141. The state's website shows the vote results in the Assembly, which were unanimously in favor.
Some info. on Unique Areas in NY (Zoar qualifies in each category of criteria!):
Unique Areas: [ ECL 51-0703 (4)]: "A state project to acquire lands of special natural beauty, wilderness character, geological, ecological or historical significance for the state nature and historical preserve and similar lands within a forest preserve county outside the Adirondack and Catskill parks"
In February 2007 the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation issued a ten-year Unit Management Plan for Zoar Valley, which set aside the gorges and old growth forest areas into a Protection Area and included the recommendation that the Protection Area be legislatively protected as part of the Forest Preserve. The DEC's plan is available at http://www.dec.ny.gov/lands/22552.html
The DEC's Unit Management Plan and this legislation do not protect all of Zoar Valley. The uplands, with their diverse forests, meadows and wetlands, will remain under the classification of Multiple Use Area. Check back for future updates on the DEC's plans for the unprotected upland areas and how you can stay involved in the process.
The legislative victory comes after years of work by so many groups and individuals - citizens, scientists, activists, lawyers, professors, students, and more. We all owe a debt of gratitude to Neil Woodworth and Marisa Tedesco of the Adirondack Mountain Club for their efforts in getting this legislation submitted and passed, efforts which began years ago and laid the groundwork for this current success. Professor Tom Diggins of Youngstown State University and the Eastern Native Tree Society is the undisputed authority on Zoar's old growth forests and riverine ecosystems, and has done more than anyone over the years to educate us all on why Zoar is ecologically important and should be protected. Also contributing - The Nature Conservancy, New York State Dept. of Environmental Conservation and its New York Natural Heritage Program, New York Old Growth Forest Association and its Western NY Old Growth Forest Survey Team, Citizens Campaign for the Environment, Niagara Group of the Sierra Club, Buffalo Audubon Society, Buffalo Ornithological Society, Zoar Valley Paddling Club, Zoar Valley Nature Society, Niagara Frontier Botanical Society, and more -- and each and every person who participated in the public input process that led to this great result.
Check our Events page for more details on the month-long Art of Zoar Valley exhibit this summer at the Springville Center for the Arts. Paintings, photography and multimedia artworks will be on display, and a slate of guided hikes and nature walks in Zoar Valley are planned. A great way to celebrate this victory.
Julie Broyles, Director
Zoar Valley Nature Society
P.O. Box 55
Gowanda, NY 14070
(716) 380-1430
julie@zoarvalley.org
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Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.
~ Margaret Mead
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Every creature is better alive than dead, man and moose and pine trees, and he who understands it aright will rather preserve its life than destroy it.
Henry David Thoreau, 1848
from The Maine Woods - Chesuncook
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Aerial photo courtesy Terry Martin and © Cattaraugus County Department of Economic Development, Planning and Tourism. Winter River © Mike Calanan. Cliff with Evergreens © Ray Vaughan. Group/Gallery of Giants photo © John Sly.
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