We sounded a warning Monday about one of the state Department of Environmental Conservation's shortcomings. There are more, and they're worth mentioning because they affect the people and environment of the Adirondacks, but today, we'll focus on some of the department's highlights:
-The DEC's youth education summer camps, like Camp Colby in Saranac Lake, have been way ahead of the curve on outdoor education and motivation of children. The "No Child Left Inside" movement is gaining ground, and deservedly so, for it's necessary to reverse a deeply concerning trend in kids today, but the DEC is sending kids from all over the state to the same camps those kids' parents went to 40 years ago. At Camp Colby, they swim, canoe, look for animals under rocks, fish, take hunter-safety courses and learn a deep respect for nature. Look at the kids lined up, and you'll see camouflage, tye-die, suburban and urban clothing side by side; they bring 'em all in. Good work.
-The DEC's easement purchases, with each one more comprehensive than the last, have largely saved forestry in the Adirondack Park. Over the last 12 years or so, the big forestry companies like International Paper, Champion, Domtar and Finch, Pruyn & Co. realized that their vast tracts of land in the Park were more trouble than they were worth and started looking to sell them. By working with The Nature Conservancy to buy development rights and sometimes recreational rights, the state was able to preserve the land's wild character, its recreational uses and its logging, which - while not the economic engine it once was - is still important to many Park residents' livelihood. We see a strong possibility that it will be more important in the future; wood is, after all, a renewable resource.
-While the state's quest to buy more land and add it to the Adirondack Forest Preserve is open to criticism - the DEC would do better to invest at least some of that money in managing the land it already has - the DEC does have a long history of choosing nice parcels to buy.
-The department does well with fishing and hunting education and regulation. Talking to DEC staffers up here, it's easy to tell that much of their heart is in tree stands and waders. That love translates into conscientious management.
-Overall, the DEC has a great deal of expertise in its veteran staff - at least here in the Adirondacks. Top brass should empower those staff more. They're the ones on the ground and water, and they usually, in our experience, know what they're talking about better than their superiors do.
-Forest rangers, with the help of local police, fire and rescue personnel, do a phenomenal job of rescuing anyone who needs help in the backcountry. There is an ongoing debate about whether the DEC should bill the rescued people - often unprepared and sometimes clueless - for those expensive operations, but the rangers go anyway.
-While the DEC's biggest problems often stem from what it doesn't get to - unit management plans, for example, or updating the Adirondack State Land Master Plan - we also appreciate much of what it doesn't do. Maybe it's the bureaucracy, or maybe it's the old-timers in its ranks, but the department has often shown a sense of restraint that resists trends and resembles traditional common sense. For example, it hasn't overdeveloped trailheads, trails and boat launches, and we like that. Silly as it may sound, we also have to say we appreciate the DEC's unchanging sense of aesthetics. Its Adirondack colors - dark brown with gold lettering, and forest green - fit in with the landscape and never go out of style. We thank them for that.
That's our list. Anyone have anything to add?