Out of the Woods
Housing, jobs are among local resident's concerns
By M. LISA MONROE
Express News Staff
May 29, 2007 vol.21 : no. 8

    The question remains: How can this area be revitalized and still retain the flavor that makes it unique? To address this issue and others, the Central Adirondack Partnership for the 21st Century (CAP-21) invited the Northern Forest Center to present
its Sustainable Economy Initiative (SEI) program to a full house May 18 at Maloy’s Main Street Grill.
     Affordable housing was the hot topic that morning, and many agreed that it was a major concern for residents in the Old Forge area. A lack of affordable homes, coupled with a need for jobs offering pay and benefits that can support a family, makes it difficult for young families to stay in the area, said Webb Publicity Director Bruce Condie.
     Those are problems that plague the entire Northern Forest region, which stretches through New York, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine, according to Northern Forest Center President Steve Blackmer.
    The SEI was designed to share ideas about how to address the challenges that Northern Forest region communities share.
     The May 18 program was attended by almost 40 people, including community leaders and representatives from U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer’s office and state Sen. Joe Griffo’s office.
    Also in attendance were Adirondack Park Association Chairman Ross Whaley and Senior Vice President of Adirondack Bank Steve Hartnett, among other residents and members of the business community.
    The seminar raised many other questions and suggestions. Blackmer was the first guest speaker and began by asking the central question.
    “How do we make it possible to live in this region? We need to figure out how to revitalize the economy and still maintain what makes the community distinctive,” Blackmer said.
     Joe Short of the Northern Forest Center took notes so he could share the Old Forge discussion with other Northern
Forest communities. Short explained that the organization plans to share comments and suggestions throughout the region,
so communities can pool the results and act as a unit. The Northern Forest spans more than 400 miles, but fewer people live here than in the city of Boston. The Northern Forest area should begin to act as a region to get more action from the government, Short said.
     “If you want a voice, you need to band together,” Blackmer agreed.
    Once the data has been gathered, it will be presented to the state governors in the Northern Forest region. Dick Lasher of Inlet was the first local resident to comment. “Before the economy can improve, we need affordable housing. You can’t get business if employees don’t have a place to live,” Lasher said.
    Jobs, housing, and availability of resources were issues that came up again and again. Participants asked how a younger population could be attracted to the area, how to enable the elderly to continue to live here, and what affect the changing environment would have on the region.
     Research and development is an important industry to attract to the area, according to Blackmer, because it not only can sustain the economy, but the environment as well.
     Others suggested focusing on the healthcare industry and support for the elderly, while some residents said the crux of the problem lies in the entities created to protect the area.
    “There are just as many people working to kill business as there are working to create business,” said retired logger Claude Lecours.
    Mike Mitchell of Adirondack Homes later said that the same organizations designed to protect the area are making it difficult to bring affordable housing to the Adirondack Park. Developers who have been careful to meet the standards of regulatory
agencies and have spent considerable amounts of time and money to research environmentally- sound projects are met with too many road blocks.
    “Are we hurting ourselves?” Mitchell asked.
    Ulrich hopes to have members of the Northern Forest Center return in September, after they’ve had a chance to compile the information gathered at this meeting and others throughout the region. Ulrich was pleased with the turnout for the first
meeting.
    “I’m so proud of our area. We had the largest turnout that they have seen. People came out and got involved.”
    CAP-21 first heard about the project from the Northern Forest Center’s Sustainable Economy Initiative steering committee, which includes CAP-21 founder Lani Ulrich and Inlet Supervisor J. R. Risley. Ulrich thought that the program would be perfect for Old Forge.
    “It seemed like it would be a good fit. We coordinated with the people from Paddlefest and we wanted it to be a whole weekend long. It took about two months of work to get it here,” she said.
    The Northern Forest Center’s traveling museum, Ways of the Woods, set up camp in Maloy’s parking lot and was visited by schoolchildren, residents and tourists throughout the weekend. Exhibits showed different ways to make a living from the forest, and included some of the area’s history as well as a short film about the great camps and Adirondack furniture and architectural style. The film was put together by local volunteers and will travel with the museum.
    Ulrich said she hoped people would take some valuable lessons from the museum and the economic initiative programs.
     “I just hope that people will learn about the products that are available to us in the North Country and will buy
things made locally. Maybe some things will cost a little more but it will support the area,” she said. “It’s all the little actions we can take that will add up to a big change. Look at the town’s Master Plan. I hope people walked out (of the seminar) asking,
‘But what are the solutions?’ Watch what’s being talked about, and write letters, write letters, write letters. Letters
really do make a difference.”