Second in a series about the ballot proposal to hold a constitutional convention in New York state.
John Sheehan is the director of communications for the Adirondack Council, a privately funded not-for-profit organization whose mission is to ensure the ecological integrity and wild character of the Adirondack Park. The council maintains offices in Elizabethtown and Albany.
By John F. Sheehan | Special to Syracuse.com
On Nov. 7, Central New York voters will be asked whether they want to hold a constitutional convention in 2018. For the sake of the Adirondack Park and its "Forever Wild" public Forest Preserve, we urge readers to vote "no."
We believe a constitutional convention would expose the Forever Wild clause to unwarranted risk, while offering little hope for any improvement.
The primary mission of the Adirondack Council is to defend the "Forever Wild" clause of the New York state Constitution (Article 14, Section 1). Over the past 42 years, we have defended it against nearly annual attempts by members of the New York state Legislature to eliminate, modify or otherwise weaken it. So far, we have succeeded in keeping the Forever Wild clause intact. It hasn't been easy, but it's worth the fight.
Forever Wild is the strongest and most effective forest protection law in the world. It guards more than 3 million acres of public forests in the Adirondack and Catskill parks, known as the State Forest Preserve. It prohibits logging, lease, sale and development, or destruction of the timber on these public lands.
The Adirondack Forest Preserve comprises the largest intact, temperate deciduous forest on Earth. It encompasses almost all of the motor-free wilderness and never-logged, old growth forest remaining in the Northeast. No other Northeast state has much pristine wild land or virgin forest, because they don't have a Forever Wild clause.
Wildness is what makes the Adirondacks so special. Forever Wild ensures the protection of New York's purest waters, rarest wildlife, largest wetlands and grandest unbroken forests. It's a vast expanse of awesome natural scenery, peace and solitude amid the most populated region of the United States.
Forever Wild is also vital to the Adirondack Park's cultural identity. The Forest Preserve provides refuge from a world of rapid social, political and technological change. Its pristine beauty attracts millions of visitors per year, who support the rural communities within the Park.
Yet time and again, despite strong public support, the council has been compelled to educate members of the Legislature about the need to keep Forever Wild unchanged.
It's true that the Forever Wild clause was adopted at a Constitutional Convention in 1894. But it happened under unique circumstances. Forever Wild was introduced mid-convention by the New York City Board of Trade and Transportation and the Constitution Club of Brooklyn.
The board of trade was concerned over the fate of barge traffic on the Erie Canal. Clear-cutting in the Adirondacks meant less water in the Hudson River and Erie Canal. Thus, logging was threatening the trade route that made New York the richest port in North America.
So it was really a competing commercial interest that carried the day for Forever Wild against the clear-cutters in 1894. Environmentalists carried the ball over the next two centuries.
Today, Forever Wild has earned great voter support. But awful state and federal campaign finance laws would put Forever Wild supporters at a great disadvantage should there be a convention now. The U.S. Supreme Court's decision in the Citizens United case ensures that a corporation may make campaign contributions. New York's LLC loophole means limited liability companies can make virtually unlimited campaign contributions.
Anyone rich enough - including out-of-state corporations - may exert enormous influence over who is elected as delegates and what they do at the convention.
That's bad news when delegates will be elected from Senate districts. The Senate has been the source of most of the legislative attempts to undercut Forever Wild.
Ironically, the Forever Wild clause has been amended amicably six times since 1995 to help the communities such as Keene, Piseco Lake, Raquette Lake and Tupper Lake cope with the need for electricity, drinking water and other infrastructure. You can't build that stuff on Forever Wild lands. So before taming even a tiny piece of Forest Preserve, it has to be swapped for a more valuable piece of land nearby to replace it. Only the voters can OK the swap through an amendment to the Forever Wild clause of the state Constitution.
In fact, voters will also be asked on Nov. 7 to approve an amendment to Forever Wild creating a modest land bank for Adirondack communities. They could use it to straighten short road sections, replace bridges or install utilities on existing roads that cross the Forest Preserve.
So vote "no" on Proposal No. 1, the Constitutional Convention. Don't throw out the whole constitution.
But vote "yes" on Proposal No. 3, the Adirondack health and Safety Land Bank Constitutional Amendment.
More on the New York constitutional convention:
>> New York constitutional convention: What it means to you, how it would work
>> NY constitutional convention is the only way to clean up Albany
>> NY constitutional convention can make courts work better
>> NY constitutional convention could gut worker protections
>> NY constitutional convention would tackle voting reforms
>> NY constitutional convention a 'field day for powerful lobbyists'