DEC Publishes 480-A Regulatory Amendments
Public hearings held in January

.The Department of Environmental Conservation has given notice of the proposed changes to the Forest Tax Law 480a. You might recall that this process was started in 2022 but was terminated because the DEC was unable to complete the work in the required 2-year time-period.

The proposed regulations are meant to improve the clarity of the regulations and reduce the paperwork involved for both the landowner/forester and the DEC. The changes also add some obligations such as updating a plan to establish regeneration after a natural or human caused disturbance. You can find a summary of the details of the proposed changes HERE.

The proposed changes are scheduled to go into effect on March 1, 2025.

The DEC is presenting these updates in a WebEx format on Tuesday, January 21st at 2:00PM and 6:00PM. Comments to be heard during the webinar must be submitted by 4:00PM on January 20th.

To join for the public hearings on January 21st via WebEx please visit the Proposed Regulations page. The links can be found half way down the page.

For those ALA members currently enrolled in 480a I highly recommend that you discuss these changes with your forester and make sure your views on the changes are heard. The comment period ends January 27, 2025.

You can submit your comments to:

NYSDEC Private Lands and Forest Utilization Section
Bureau of Forest Resource Management
625 Broadway
Albany, NY 12233-7254
Or email: bslmregs@dec.ny.gov

ALA Position on Conservation Design Bill

Recently, the Adirondack Landowners Association sent a letter to a number of elected state officials in regard to a pending piece of legislation. 

The reason for the letter we sent is a proposed bill, A08123, commonly referred to as the Conservation Design Bill, that deals with real estate subdivision in the Adirondack Park, and more specifically revisions to the Adirondack Park Agency Rules and Regulations regarding subdivisions.

The Adirondack Park Agency has had regulations in place to deal with real estate subdivisions and development in the Park for many years.  Recently the agency revised and strengthened these rules to better deal with the protection of the Park through enhanced conservation design procedures.  

There are now certain legislators who want to rewrite the agency’s rules and that is the basis of this proposed legislation.  Unfortunately, the legislature is not the place to forge detailed environmental conservation design regulations.  We feel strongly that these issues be left to the APA, who have many years of experience in this technical business.

This proposed legislation has the potential of undermining the function of the APA and also impacting the value of private property in the park.

If you are a resident of New York State, we hope you will consider contacting your state senator and assembly member to tell them to oppose this legislation, and let the APA do its job.