The Adirondack environment is front-page news almost every day in the Adirondacks. There are numerous stakeholder groups representing all aspects of environmental concern. The Review Board attempts to work with all these different groups as it represents the interests of local communities.

The Review Board is a leader, along with many others, on major environmental issues like aquatic invasive species education and prevention. In 2015, the Review Board helped draft a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) concerning the nature and severity of the environmental and economic threat of aquatic invasive species to the waters of the Adirondacks, which are so important to tourism, and the second homeowner economy of our communities.

Three state agencies and more than 50 local governments, lake associations and environmental groups signed the MOU. Governor Cuomo proposed $1 million for an Adirondack Invasive Species Prevention Pilot Program in his 2015 State of the State Message. The Pilot Program began operation in the summer of 2015 with twelve boat inspection and decontaminations stations, including a boat-tagging program and fourteen new boat launch steward locations, in addition to those previously operating.

The Review Board worked with the Fund for Lake George and the Adirondack Park Invasive Plant Program to help with the selection and purchase of 32,000 wire and plastic seals to be used to identify boats which have been decontaminated and are safe to launch in any water body, and to identify boats leaving launch sites that are safe to return to that water body.

The Review Board also worked with the SAVE Lake George Partnership to create and air aquatic invasive species educational messages on the Pilot Program on radio stations in Albany, Glens Falls, Utica, Plattsburgh and the Lake Champlain region.

The Review Board serves on the Forest Preserve Advisory Committee, which advises the DEC on Forest Preserve environmental and access policies.

Review Board Chairman Jerry Delaney serves on the board of the North Forest Center, which works on environmental and economic initiatives in the forested areas of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont and New York. He also serves on an APA sustainable forest harvesting practices advisory committee.