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2003 Annual Report

ENTERPRISE AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT

Enterprise and Community Development Project:
Funding: $45,000/ NYS Department of Economic Development

Sponsor of the November 2003 Northern Forest Leadership Exchange that was hosted in partnership with the Northern Forest Center and the University of Vermont in Burlington, Vermont. ANCA addressed the potential for the Northern Forest of New York, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine to be recognized for its national significance with the potential to secure increased federal funding. Worked with the Natural History Museum of the Adirondacks in site development and in securing public funding for the project. Worked in Tupper Lake to address the potential reuse of the ski facility and community electrical power needs.

Adirondack North Country Public Relation/ Communication Project:
Funding: $88,869/ NYS Empire Development Corporation

Development of proactive public communications about regional economic development initiatives, opportunities and issues through use of the internet, public communications and public forums. Host of the September Legislative Forum at Minnowbrook Conference Center in Blue Mountain Lake that was attended by ANCA members. The session was facilitated by Senator Betty Little with ANCA President Jon MacAbee. Senator Little was joined by assembly colleagues Teresa Sayward and DeeDee Scozzafava. Directors and guests engaged in a wide range of questions about the Adirondack North Country economy, federal and state fiscal spending, and various sectoral needs in the areas of wood products, health services, and agriculture. Development of graphic design changes to ANCA's website at www.adirondack.org to present information about North Country businesses and ANCA's programs including Scenic Byway Trail descriptions with visitor tracking showing 1800+ visitors per month to the ANCA website.

Crafts Development:
Funding: $15,064/ Revenue Generated

Rustic Nature Buyer Days Invitational Postcard

Host of 2 workshops at locations at LARAC in Glens Falls and the Adirondack Craft Center in Lake Placid that were attended by 19 participants. Sponsor of the 2003 Buyer Days at the City Center in Saratoga Springs with 74 exhibitors and 246 buyers from 123 shops and which generated $199,800 in show sales and $400,000+ in follow-up wholesale sales. Designer and distributor of ANCA's Adirondack North Country Arts, Crafts and Foods publication which included 43 companies distributed to 700 lodgings in area. Applicant for $69,875 in funding for a Small Business Market Development Project through the USDA Rural Business Development Grant program.
Development of 5 electronic newsletters with distribution to 287 companies. Maintenance of database of 2700 retailers and 1400 producers. Continued development and maintenance of regional crafts portal website (50 pages) at www.adknccrafts.com including descriptions and online applications to ANCA's crafts marketing programs and links to regional and national resources. New York partner to the Handmade in the Northern Forest collaborative guidebook project across the Northern Forest states of New York, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine. Sponsor of www.adirondackcraft.com

Adirondack Venture Fund Project:
Funding: $500,000/ NYS Department of Economic Development

ANCA's partnership with the Adirondack Venture Fund provided an opportunity for the Fund to benefit from public funding through a linkage with ANCA's Community Assistance Circuit Rider Program. The partnership enabled the Fund to market the program to socially responsible investors who were committed to building financial and social prosperity in the Adirondack region.

TOURISM, RECREATIONAL PLANNING AND MARKETING

Adirondack and Olympic Corridor Management Planning Projects:
Funding: $208,671 ISTEA/ NYS Department of Transportation

ANCA provided community planning services in communities along Routes 3, 86 and 9N in Jefferson, Lewis, St. Lawrence, Franklin, Essex and Clinton counties. The corridor project work for the Adirondack Trail Byway took place in communities along Routes 30 and 30A in Franklin, Hamilton, Fulton and Montgomery counties. During project implementation, ANCA maintained contracts with the Friends of the North Country, Wildlife Conservation Society, Tug Hill Commission and North Woods Engineering. A wide range of community partners were involved in the project, including representatives from industrial development agencies, the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation, chambers, planning departments, municipalities and colleges.

Comments were received from some communities, such as along the southern end of the Adirondack Trail, that they had not had any previous opportunities to participate in regional planning discussions. ANCA coordinated two regional planning meetings that were facilitated by staff from Camoin and Associates. During the Adirondack planning work ANCA met with communities to name and record 223 significant resources all the 188-mile Adirondack Trak. During the Olympic planning work, ANCA met with communities to name and record 173 significant resources along the 170 mile Olympic Trail. As part of the two planning projects, ANCA worked with the Tug Hill Commission in the development of two 3' x 4' color maps of the byway corridors and connecting byways with an accompanying color coded resource key for the historical, cultural, recreational and natural resources along the two corridors. The plans will be finalized in 2004 and submitted by ANCA to the NYS Department of Transportation for review prior to public release.

Saranac Lake/ Lake Placid Pathway Project:
Funding: $797,000/ TEA-21/ NYS Department of Transportation Town of North Elba $31,059 ANCA Funding Restricted to Saranac Lake/ Lake Placid Pathway

A combination of funding support from Bikes Belong, a consortium of bicycle industry leaders, has enabled ANCA to work with the Town of North Elba in planning for the connective pathway between the Lake Placid and Saranac Lake communities. ANCA's application for TEA -21 funding for the Town enabled the Town to have $797,000 for the planning of the Pathway. Through a Memorandum of Agreement ANCA is securing and managing private funding from a variety of sources for the Town. ANCA participated in reviewing a competitive bid process with the Town in the selection of URS as the designer/ planner for the Pathway project.

Adirondack Park Mountain Bicycling Initiative (APMBI):
Funding: $25,000/ NYS Division of Housing and Community Renewal

As a member of the Adirondack Park Mountain Bicycling Initiative (APMBI), ANCA worked to secure $25,000 in funding through the Adirondack North Country Community Enhancement Program (ANCCEP) toward an On-line Bicycle Atlas. The atlas will be on-line at www.bikeadirondacks.org the website ANCA has sponsored with Holmes and Associates for the bicycling community.

Tupper Lake Bicycle/ Pedestrian Project:
Funding: $28,000/ ISTEA NYS Department of Transportation ANCA worked in partnership with the Tupper Lake Chamber of Commerce in the development of a Bicycle/Pedestrian network in the Village that connects with the two Crossroad Byways of the Olympic and Adirondack Byways. Plans are underway to prepare a map for distribution in 2004. The $28,000 in funding was secured by ANCA through the NYS Department of Transportation.

Adirondack Byway Interpretive Boardwalk Project:
Funding: $84,000/ ISTEA NYS Department of Transportation

ANCA developed a Memorandum of Agreement with the Natural History Museum of the Adirondacks in the development of an Adirondack Trail Byway: Interpretive Boardwalk Project. The project will benefit from $84,000 in funding secured by ANCA through the NYS Department of Transportation Scenic Byways program toward the $109,955 total project cost.

Northern Forest Canoe Trail Project:
Funding: $5,794

ANCA sponsored the Long Lake to Saranac Lake committee that assisted with the design and planning for the northern section of the historic waterway route. The New York section of the route extends from Old Forge to Plattsburgh and then on to Vermont, and New Hampshire with the terminus of the 740-mile waterway in Fort Kent, Maine.

Lakes to Locks Passage, The Great Northeast Journey:
Funding: $183,740 ISTEA/ NYS Department of Transportation

Early in 2003 Lakes to Locks established itself as a not-for-profit corporation which enabled the staff and program activities to separate from the organizational umbrella that ANCA had provided since 2000. The successful transition enabled ANCA to establish a Memorandum of Agreement with Lakes to Locks Passage, Inc. Through the agreement, ANCA provided ongoing fiscal administration to a number of contracts with funding balances that were committed to the program activities of Lakes to Locks.

Project funding that was administered by ANCA included the Champlain Strategic Marketing Plan and Marketing Project, the Washington County Planning Project, the Vermont Audio Project and the Champlain Canal Marketing Project.

Fall Foliage Project:
Funding $120,541 ISTEA/ NYS Department of Transportation

ANCA completed the 2002 $1M Fall Foliage Campaign in partnership with the Adirondack Regional Tourism Council. The campaign featured spokesperson Tom Bodett and combined television, print and electronic marketing, resulting in distribution of New York State byway information to 46,948 households. The completion of the Conversion Survey analysis in 2003 documented more than $27.9 million in direct spending as a result of the Fall Foliage Campaign with $1.9 million in sales taxes going directly to the State of New York and its localities.

Adirondack North Country Byways Marketing Project:
Funding: $337,060 TEA-21/ NYS Department of Transportation

Cover of Adirondack North Country Scenic Byways Guidebook

Marketing of the region's byways through ANCA's newly digitized regional auto touring map and Byways guidebook through an Adirondack North Country Scenic Byways Marketing Campaign that combined print, television and web-based marketing with an 800 fulfillment call-in number. The campaign was presented in partnership with the Adirondack Regional Tourism Council. The production of the map was supported by International Paper which provided the paper from the Ticonderoga mill.

Byways Signing Project:
Funding: $283,445 TEA-21/ NYS Department of Transportation

A partnership project with the NYS Department of Transportation enabled ANCA to contract with The Saratoga Associates to provide project management services and Wilbur Smith Associates to design guidelines for a portfolio of byway signage to address community and directional needs. A community manual and prototype signage is being developed.

AGRICULTURE

Grazing Lands Conservation Initiative Project:
Funding: $44,200/ USDA Grazing Lands Conservation Initiative

ANCA staff developed fifteen grazing plans on beef, alpaca, dairy and poultry farms across the ANCA region. ANCA hosted four pasturewalks and farms visits at locations in Washington, Franklin and Oswego counties. ANCA hosted education and outreach sessions in Saratoga, Lewis and Franklin counties on topics such as dairy and horse grazing. ANCA hosted a seminar for new graziers in St. Lawrence and Jefferson counties that was attended by forty participants. In addition, ANCA hosted a Hi Tensile Fencing Workshop at Paul Smiths College to address the needs of their rotationally grazing draft horses. Staff participated in meetings such as the Pasture Consortium Meeting in Vermont, the Annual Vermont Grazing conference, and the New York State Deer and Elk Convention, which provided opportunities to discuss ANCA's grazing program. ANCA hosted two New York State Dairy Grazing meetings with Cornell Cooperative Extension in Carthage and Chateuguay that were attended by more than fifty producers. In December ANCA organized a meeting with fifty-one chefs, educators and producers at Paul Smiths College to encourage linkages between producers, chefs and markets. ANCA organized producers and provided meats at the Taste of the North Country AG EXPO in Malone that familiarized more than 1,000 people with the wealth of food products that are grown and available in Northern New York. Developed a North Country Pasture Raised Meat Director and interviewed with North Country Public Radio about the benefits of grazing and the publication of the directory.

NATURAL RESOURCES

ANCA Wood Product Industry Development Project:
Funding: $9,918

ANCA Wood Products Specialist Carl Golas, NYS EMIG Rep. Brenda Grober and Cedar Knoll owner Ronnie Marks

ANCA Wood Product Specialist Carl Golas, NYS EMIG Rep. Brenda Grober, Cedar Knoll owner Ronnie Marks

Assisted Lewis County Industrial Development Agency in marketing North Country products at the COME FARM WITH US expo in Yonkers, NY. Worked with NYS Department of Environmental Conservation and Empire State Products Association staff in organizing a response from the 1,000+ North Country sawmill operators to the Code Council proposed regulatory change that would have required grading of domestically produced native lumber. Assisted saw-millers in addressing their organizational needs and facilitated the participation of saw-millers in the New York State Timber Producers Association. Participated as a member of the National Community Forestry Center which addressed community forestry and research needs across the Northern Forest.

Assisted Lewis County IDA in securing a new buyer for the Lyonsdale Biomass Plant and provided linkages to the logging community for a smooth transition with wood supply. Worked with 3-B Timber in Boonville to address their needs for rail services to assist them in the transport of hemlock and poplar pulp. Also assisted with the development of new markets for low quality pulp wood for 3-B Timber that resulted in increased employment for loggers that revitalized the industry late in the year after an initial downtown early in the year. Because of the increased loss of paper mills during the downturn, these new initiatives were vital to stabilizing the industry. ANCA continued support to Cedar Knoll Log Homes in Plattsburgh in their efforts to recycle and reuse rejected cedar lumber while expanding their markets and adding new jobs. In addition, ANCA helped Old Adirondack in Willsboro in securing a raw material cedar supply.

SERVICES AND CULTURE Siberian Exchange Project:
Funding: $5,000

ANCA worked with Naj Wykoff in securing foundation support toward an international exchange project that addressed how the arts are an important component of the Siberian economy.