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This is the inspiring story of the twenty-five-year-long effort to preserve Sterling Forest, a tract of rugged, upland terrain encompassing twenty thousand acres within the New York–New Jersey Highlands. Barely forty miles northwest of New York City, Sterling Forest seemed destined to suffer the same fate that had befallen thousands of acres of land in this rapidly suburbanizing corridor. The fight to save Sterling Forest brought together one of the largest coalitions of environmental groups and government entities ever assembled. Despite the loose, sometimes fractious nature of the alliance, the coalition managed to extract support from Congress, New York State, New Jersey, and private donors, while at the same time negotiating a contract to purchase the land from the Sterling Forest Corporation, a company that vigorously protected its financial interests at every turn. Deemed by some to be one of the more remarkable environmental victories of the 1990s, the successful outcome of the Sterling Forest struggle—a large state park within easy access of millions of people and a protected supply of water to New Jersey residents—embodied virtually every facet of land-use conflict. It provides a model for saving other areas where critical wild lands are threatened by development.
The story of the twenty-five-year quest to preserve twenty thousand acres of forest in southeastern New York.

Sterling Forest

United States. Congress. House. Committee on Natural Resources. Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests, and Public Lands

Published: 1994

Total Pages: 216


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Distributed to some depository libraries in microfiche.
How the famous and not-so-famous like-minded citizens all gave their time, expertise, and money to build a park legacy of incomparable benefit The Palisades park and historic site system in New York and New Jersey is a significant anchor-point for the spread of national and state parks across the nation. The challenge to protect these treasures began with a brutal blast of dynamite in the late nineteenth century and continues to this day. Palisades: The People’s Park presents the story of getting from zero protected acres to the rich tapestry that is today’s Palisades park system, located in the nation’s most densely populated metropolitan region. This is an account of huge determination, moments of crisis, caustic resistance to the very idea of conservation, glorious philanthropy, a steep learning curve, and responsibilities for guardianship passed with care from one generation to the next. Despite the involvement of men of great wealth and fame from its earliest beginnings, the Palisades Interstate Park Commission faced an early and ongoing struggle to arrange financial support from both the New York and New Jersey state governments for a park that would cross state lines. The conflicts between developers and conservationists, industrialists and wilderness enthusiasts, with their opposing views regarding the uses of natural resources required the commissioners of the PIPC to become skilled negotiators, assiduous fundraisers, and savvy participants in the political process. The efforts to create Palisades Interstate Park was prodigious, requiring more than 1,000 real estate transactions to establish Sterling Forest, to save Storm King Mountain, to preserve Lake Minnewaska, to protect Stony Point Battlefield and Washington’s headquarters, to open Bear Mountain and Harriman state parks, and to add the other sixteen parks to the Palisades Interstate Park System. Beginning with the efforts of Elizabeth Vermilye of the New Jersey Federation of Women’s Clubs, who enlisted President Theodore Roosevelt’s support to stop the blasting and quarrying of Palisades rock, author Robert Binnewies traces the story of the famous, including J. P. Morgan, the Rockefellers, and the Harrimans, as well as the not-so-famous men and women whose donations of time and money led to the preservation of New York and New Jersey’s most scenic and historic lands. The park experiment, begun in 1900, still stands as a dynamic model among the nation’s major environmental achievements.
Distributed to some depository libraries in microfiche.
A no-holds-barred biography of New York Governor Andrew Cuomo. Andrew Cuomo is the protagonist of an ongoing political saga that reads like a novel. In many ways, his rise, fall, and rise again is an iconic story: a young American politician of vaunting ambition, aiming for nothing less than the presidency. Building on his father's political success, a first run for governor in 2002 led to a stinging defeat, and a painful, public divorce from Kerry Kennedy, scion of another political dynasty, Cuomo had to come back from seeming political death and reinvent himself. He did so, brilliantly, by becoming New York's attorney general, and compiling a record that focused on public corruption. In winning the governorship in 2010, he promised to clean up America's most corrupt legislature. He is blunt and combative, the antithesis of the glad-handing, blow-dried senator or governor who tries to please one and all. He's also proven he can make his legislature work, alternately charming and arm-twisting his colleagues with a talent for political strategy reminiscent of President Lyndon Johnson. Political pundits tend to agree that for Cuomo, a run for the White House is not a question of whether, but when.
Jan Barry provides a pragmatic, common-sense handbook to civic action. Using case studies from his home state of New Jersey, Barry has crafted what he calls a "guidebook for creative improvement on the American dream." He dissects civic actions such as environmental campaigns, mutual-help groups, neighborhood improvement projects, and a grassroots peace mission to Russia.
Think of the Highlands as the “backyard” and “backstop” of the Philadelphia–New York–Hartford metroplex. A backyard that spans over three million acres across Pennsylvania, New York, and Connecticut, the Highlands serves as recreational open space for the metroplex’s burgeoning human population. As backstop, Highlands’ watersheds provide a ready source of high-quality drinking water for over fifteen million people. The Highlands is the first book to examine the natural and cultural landscape of this four-state region, showing how it’s distinctive and why its conservation is vital. Each chapter is written by a different leading researcher and specialist in that field, and introduces readers to another aspect of the Highlands: its geological foundations, its aquifers and watersheds, its forest ecology, its past iron industry. In the 1800s, the Highlands were mined, cutover, and then largely abandoned. Given time, the forests regenerated, the land healed, and the waters cleared. Increasingly, however, the Highlands are under assault again—polluted runoff contaminating lakes and streams, invasive species choking out the local flora and fauna, exurban sprawl blighting the rural landscape, and climate change threatening the integrity of its ecosystems. The Highlands makes a compelling case for land use planning and resource management strategies that could help ensure a sustainable future for the region, strategies that could in turn be applied to other landscapes threatened by urbanization across the country. The Highlands are a valuable resource. And now, so is The Highlands.
The Pugsley Medals, which have been awarded annually since 1928 are perhaps the most prestigious awards given to recognise outstanding contributors to the field of parks and conservation. Responsibility for selecting the recipients has shifted from the American Scenic and Historic Preservation Society to the National Park Foundation and most recently to the American Academy for Park & Recreation Administration.