Dear Jon

As many of you are aware, ADK fared better at the hands of Hurricane Irene than many of the businesses and individuals in Keene and Keene Valley.  Our three main buildings were undamaged, and the only physical damage was a bridge at Johns Brook Lodge to Camps Grace and O`Brien. Our professional trail crew has already repaired this bridge.  We were not unscathed, however.  The approaches to a bridge on the road to Adirondak Loj were washed out, severing the road and trapping 31 guests in the Loj and campground for four days. We had to return all the deposits for those people who had made reservations for the Labor Day weekend, our busiest time of the year.  Due to excellent relationships with the Town of North Elba, the road was made passable within 3 days of the event.  Unfortunately, DEC kept the road closed during the Labor Day weekend and a few days beyond as a means of enforcing its closure of the Eastern High Peaks …even though people could have made it up the road after the repair.  Thus, we also had to return reservation monies for the remainder of the week. As a result, we lost business at the Loj for ten days.  Our staff has calculated that the net loss to the Club as a result of the puts and takes involved was approximately $66,000.  While this loss will not cause major damage to the organization, it is enough to put us in the red overall for the year.  We had a slow start to our lodging season as a result of a wet spring.  Going into July, we were running behind on our lodge and parking income.  July was an excellent month, and August started strong.  We were optimistic that we would make up our spring losses, and that with the possibility of strong results in the fall, we would come out on or better than budget for the year.  Then came Irene! 

“Our staff has calculated that the net loss to the Club as a result of the puts and takes involved was approximately $66,000.“

The Board of Directors has approved the use of funds from our investment portfolio to cover our probable losses.  However, withdrawals from our funds leave the club in a weaker position.  This begins to limit our flexibility and possibly to affect our standing with banks, etc, as it shows a loss of assets and a weaker financial position.  We also lose any investment gains we might have had on that money.  Furthermore, our cash position will be very tight going into the winter and spring when we traditionally have less incoming cash flow.  Our development efforts have been stepped up and we have increased our appeals to individuals, as well as added an online auction to help make up the shortfall.

There is an old saying that “charity begins at home”.  We would like to ask you to discuss these circumstances with your chapter leadership and to consider making an unrestricted donation to “the main Club” this fall.  Many of our chapters review their finances in the fall and send some funds back to Lake George every year.  Please consider what the Onondaga Chapter might possibly be able to do this year.  If your chapter has already made its annual contribution to our organization, I thank you. However, I urge you to explore how much more you are able to give. Your contributions will strengthen the financial position of the club, limit any cash flow problems, and allow us to continue our work in such areas as hydrofracking regulation, Lows Lake litigation, repairs to our properties, trail repairs needed as a result of Irene, continue providing our diverse education programming and many other things we normally do.  Please help us recover financially from this storm!

Please send your contributions to ADK, Development Department, 814 Goggins Road, Lake George, NY  12817.  Thank you for anything you can do!

James A. Bird, President

I’m writing this in early October after returning from another terrific ADK Adventure Travel trip to Yellowstone National Park. Our group had a very knowledgeable guide versed in flora, fauna, geology and history of the area, so we learned a lot as well as hiked a lot. Participants were quite geographically diverse, traveling from Boston, Myrtle Beach, Minneapolis, NJ as well as NY.

We always head out a few days early for these trips. The meeting place was the Bozeman, Montana airport. Bozeman is a very vibrant college town with the University of Montana. We found many great places to hike in the canyons around Bozeman. If you have the opportunity, these trips are always great learning experiences. Next year we’re off to Alaska with ADK.

At the October meeting of our Executive Committee, we voted to provide a $50 donation to the DeWitt Community Library in recognition of the space that they provide for our meetings. Also, in months past, we gave $200 grants to the Finger Lakes Land Trust and the Central New York Land Trust. Additionally, $625 from Cooper's Grant was used for signage and banners for NCT and FLT maps O1 and O2. Finally, I ask that you read the letter from Jim Bird, the ADK President. It begins on page one and our response is included at the end of the article.

This is the final column I will write as chapter chair. By the time you read this, our chapter will have elected another person to be chair. I have enjoyed the past three years and I’ve learned much about ADK and how the club operates. As chair, I receive a copy of most other chapter’s newsletter. It’s interesting to see what other chapters do. I always look for new things to do, so I am now on the ADK Heart Lake Property Committee. Both Kathy and I spend 1-2 weeks a year as campground hosts at Heart Lake and we participate in the spring and fall Heart Lake cleanup weekends when we’re available. We find it very rewarding to volunteer for ADK events. If you have time, sign up for some of the ADK volunteer events.

See you on the Trail….

Congratulations to Ken Kaufman, who was awarded the ADK Distinguished Volunteer of the Year. And to Theresa Evans who has become a Finger Lakes Trail End-to-Ender!  Also to Jerry Smith who has completed his Forty-Six peaks.  And to Mary Dineen who has participated in 100 outings during this past year - a chapter record!

Well done, one and all.

Did you know that the Finger Lakes Trail, that runs 560 miles from Allegany State Park to the Long Path in the Catskills- the longest trail in the state, is about 60% on private property?

Or that there are five ADK chapters, six Boy Scout troops, 40 individual or families and 14 hiking and other clubs (including the Sierra Club chapter in Ithaca) that are stewards along the trail?

Or that our Onondaga Chapter has the second greatest amount of trail distance in the state to maintain?

And that most of the Onondaga Trail is situated in Cortland County?

Will somebody please give Dick his answers?