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The right to own private property is a fundamental American freedom that guarantees personal liberty and promotes economic prosperity.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Friday, November 5, 1999Contact: Carol W. LaGrasse
518-696-5748
Hunters, summer vacationers and snowmobilers will lose access to a large swath of upstate New York, as the state government shuts down establishment uses of newly acquired public lands.
The New York Department of Environments Conservation (DEC) purchased either in fee simple or easements a total of 139,000 acres of land once owned by Champion International, a major timber company. It immediately announced the mandated removal over the next several years of 298 hunting cottages used by families for summer recreation, hunting and winter sports. The land had been leased from Champion and previous private owners in some cases for over one hundred years.
"Recreation and hunting clubs such as the fish and game clubs have been a part of Adirondack culture for over a century," said attorney Jack Varney, who pleaded with the State in May that the hunting clubs could "pass on the same traditions to future generations."
"This is the kind of arrogance we can expect to see when an agency is flush with land acquisition funds," said Carol LaGrasse, President of the Property Rights Foundation of America. "The passage of HR 701, the Conservation and Reinvestment Act, will take privately owned hunting lands off the books, and replace them with government owned wilderness."
"The bill is also a threat to every property owner in the United States," she continued. No one is safe from a government agency with a boatload of money and the power to threaten condemnation."
Hunting clubs of the land which was sold, and other parties, are now proceeding with a legal challenge to the purchase. A required review of the social and economic impact was not done. Also, over 25 resolutions of opposition passed by towns, counties and the New York State Association of Counties are referenced in the lawsuit.
This is the largest land purchase in the history of New York.
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