In January, 1975, a score of men, Ivy League graduates, accomplished, most of them wealthy, assembled in a conference room at the Rockefeller family offices in New York to discuss the possibility of creating “a mechanism” to monitor the newly-established Adirondack Park Agency, to intervene in its proceedings when necessary, that is to say, when the future of the Adirondack Park was at stake, and to raise funds to finance its work. That “mechanism” or new organization was to be called the Adirondack Council.
Among those “present at the creation” of the new environmental protection organization was environmental attorney and Bolton Landing resident Bob Kafin, who became a founding member of its board, on which he would go on to serve periodically for 18 years, including nine as vice chair and chair.
At the Adirondack Council’s 50th anniversary celebration, held July 19 at Silver Bay, Kafin was presented with the organization’s Lifetime Achievement Award.
“We celebrate a lifetime of commitment and wins for the Adirondacks and the environment of New York State, which will benefit generations to come,” said the Council’s executive director, Rocci Aguirre.
Among other things, Kafin is among those responsible for the State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQR), which requires state and local government agencies to consider the environmental impacts of their decisions, and for one of the first, but now common, legally enforceable conservation easements, said Aguirre.
“In an age of short-term thinking, Bob has shown us what long-term dedication really looks like. His foresight and dedication have defined the advocacy work many of us do to protect the Adirondack Park,” said Aguirre.
Kafin, a graduate of Harvard Law School who moved to Glens Falls in 1971 to open a practice specializing in emerging environmental issues, said, “I’ve always felt best when I was outdoors, and growing up in modest circumstances in Philadelphia, with no connections to the landed gentry, that meant playing in publicly owned, open spaces. And that’s what I did in 1971. I managed to carve out a niche career centered on the protection of the Adirondack Forest Preserve and the preservation of historically existing communities.”
Kafin concluded his legal career with the New York law firm of Proskauer Rose, by then widely recognized as one of the nation’s leading environmental attorneys. Among other boards where he lends his expertise, Kafin serves as a trustee of Paul Smith’s College and as treasurer of the Friends of Up Yonda Farm Environmental Education Center in Bolton Landing.
Although Kafin celebrated the memory and accomplishments of others who were “present at the creation” of the Adirondack Council in 1975, or who worked with him to defend the Adirondacks in the ensuing decades, the 50th anniversary of the Adirondack Council was not merely of historical interest, he said.
“We are only celebrating the first 50 years of the Adirondack Council. A bright future lies ahead. When I look out over this audience, I see a tent full of champions. I feel very privileged in knowing you, in working with you, and sharing our common values and goals – preserving the ecological integrity and wild character of an Adirondack Park in harmony with human communities,” said Kafin.
In addition to honoring Kafin at the 50th anniversary celebration, the Adirondack Council also acknowledged seven “Adirondack Legacy Leaders” for their roles in shaping the Adirondack Park over the past half-century. An eighth, the Association of Adirondack Towns and Villages, was unable to send a representative.
“Local governments have been an essential part of the story of the Adirondack Park. We have not always been on the same page, and we often have had very different goals and priorities. But the Adirondack Park would not be what it is today without the advocacy of these community leaders,” said Aguirre.
And in fact, rather than an adversary of local governments, as it was portrayed by some people fifty years ago, the Adirondack Council is now among their most eloquent and influential advocates.
Adirondack legislators who opposed the creation of the APA and its land use plans in the early 70s and who purported to represent aggrieved landowners, frustrated developers and speculative entrepreneurs, have largely been replaced by those with no experience of the 1970s, and who even contributed salutations on the occasion of the Adirondack Council’s 50th anniversary.
“Happy 50th anniversary to the Adirondack Council, which helped to pass a Constitutional Amendment that created a local land bank to help communities cope with the restrictions of living adjacent to state-protected wilderness areas,” said Assemblymember Matthew Simpson. “Protecting wild places while working to develop the local economy is a tough task, but it is a task worth doing.”
“Politics in Albany have shifted. They are not as adversarial as they once were,” Aguirre acknowledged in a 2024 interview with the Lake George Mirror.
‘We all do what we think is best for the future and health of the Adirondack Park; we acknowledge that even when we have opposing perspectives or tensions,” said Rocci Aguirre.
