N.Y. Executive Law § 847-a: Statement of legislative findings and purpose

§ 847-a. Statement of legislative findings and purpose. The

legislature hereby finds that for approximately twenty-five years, the

Tug Hill commission has provided essential planning and technical

services to the sixty-two local governments and to residents in the

twenty-one hundred square mile Tug Hill region.

The legislature further finds that, lying between Lake Ontario, the

Black River and Oneida Lake, is a region of approximately twenty-one

hundred square miles that encompasses towns and villages scattered in a

vast acreage of forest and farm land. The core of the region encompasses

more than eight hundred square miles of remote forest land and the

headwaters of several major rivers, with much of the area inaccessible

by public road. These lands and waters are important to the state of New

York as municipal water supply, as wildlife and plant habitat, as key

resources supporting forest industry, farming, recreation and tourism

and traditional land uses such as hunting and fishing. State assistance

through the Tug Hill commission to help Tug Hill local governments and

organizations is merited and needed because of the importance of these

resources to the state, and because of the small population and relative

poverty of the region.

The legislature further finds that the Tug Hill commission, originally

established in nineteen hundred seventy-two as a temporary state

commission, has studied the Tug Hill region, provided technical

assistance to the region's local governments and reported to the

governor and legislature regarding the conservation and development of

the Tug Hill region. The purpose of the commission is to enable local

governments, private organizations, and individuals to shape the future

of the Tug Hill region, and to demonstrate and communicate ways that

this can be done by other rural areas. Commission programs are geared

toward the conservation and productive use of the natural resources of

the region, strengthening of the long-term economy, employment, cultural

and social resources, and the general well-being of the rural

communities. The commission has facilitated local action as the most

enduring and cost-effective method of retaining the rural and remote

character of this land, and of retaining the independent way of life of

its people and their economy.

The legislature finds that the Tug Hill commission's track record

demonstrates its capability for working together with towns and villages

for appropriate community and economic development and resource

protection. Its continuation will enable municipalities to perform their

basic local government functions.

It is the purpose of this article to insure continued municipal

assistance, conservation, preservation and development in the region by

continuing the Tug Hill commission, in order to serve those local

government and regional needs, now and in the future.