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Governor Andrew Cuomo enjoys the Adirondacks to promote historic land purchase

Roy Saplin
/
Flickr

Governor Andrew Cuomo traveled to the Adirondacks on Sunday, bringing with him most of his executive cabinet and dozens of downstate reporters. He made the trip to promote a new $50 million land purchase that will add tens of thousands of acres to the park's forest preserve.

Sunday afternoon, Cuomo paddled on Boreas Pond, one of the jewel lakes that will be open to the public in the next few years as the state buys huge chunks of former timber lands.

"It's been the greatest acquisition that the state has made in the park in over 100 years and I believe this is going to be an asset that we'll leave behind for generations to come to enjoy," Cuomo said. "I think it's also going to be a great economic opportunity for the state because we can preserve it but we can also make it accessible for people. And I think we're going to be able to do both and meet the balance."

Cuomo described the scene in the Adirondacks as magnificent, though he wasn't sure if it was peak foliage season.

"You can't really paint this picture," Coumo said. "Mother nature has a better brush."

Roughly 69,000 acres of land will be added to the forest preserve in a deal brokered by the Nature Conservancy. The land includes pristine mountain lakes and long stretches of the upper Hudson River.