Preserve

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Preserve with AARCH!

AARCH is a Consistent and Effective Advocate for Regional Historic Preservation Issues

The following are a few highlights:

• Through AARCH’s leadership and persuasion, Saratoga County reversed a plan to demolish the historic Bow Bridge in Hadley. AARCH was instrumental in convincing the  County not to tear down the structure, helped to secure a grant to study its rehabilitation, built a constituency for its preservation, and wrote, on behalf of the County, a successful $1.2 million grant for the rehabilitation of the bridge, which reopened in 2006.
• In 2004, New York obtained full ownership of Debar Pond Lodge in Duane (Franklin County). NYSDEC’s original plan for the complex was to tear it down. Thanks to AARCH’s advocacy work over five years, the Department now plans to study its public use and preservation.
• AARCH was among the advocates that reversed a state plan to remove the fire towers on Hurricane and St. Regis Mountains.
• AARCH was part of a coalition that convinced a Montreal developer not to undertake a huge new construction project on the grounds of the Old Stone Barracks in Plattsburgh.
• AARCH regularly provides comments on Adirondack Forest Preserve unit management plans, where the future of an important historic structure is at risk. These include: the Champlain Islands UMP (Valcour Island lighthouse, Seton camp, and Crab Island monuments and burial area); the Debar Mountain Wild Forest UMP (Debar Pond Lodge); the Giant Mountain Wilderness Area UMP (Hurricane Mountain fire tower); St. Regis Canoe Area (St. Regis Mountain fire tower).
• Other ongoing advocacy work involves the Essex County Jail, a stone-faced concrete arch bridge in Wilmington, Camp Gabriels in Brighton, Eagle Island, and Hodson Hall in Saranac Lake.