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Building for the future
A strategy for an enduring and vital Adirondack Research Consortium
The Adirondacks
New York State’s Adirondack Park has been characterized in many ways:
- A wild island amid the largest concentration of people on the North American continent
- The world’s longest-running experiment in conservation and development
- A 6-million acre patchwork quilt of public and private lands, towns and villages, and interconnecting ecosystems
- A Park as large as, or larger than, each of seven states and constituting 20% of New York State’s area
- A place where residents and visitors alike recognize its special nature, its unique constitutional protection, and the formidable economic, social, and environmental challenges it faces.
Context - Building for the Future
The Adirondack Research Consortium (ARC) was informally established in 1994 by a small group of academic researchers and leaders of Adirondack-focused not-for-profit organizations. This group recognized the need for research-based knowledge to inform and guide policies, planning and management of the Adirondack Park’s public and private lands.
The Consortium has focused on stimulating research, acting as a knowledge-based forum and communicator among disciplines and diverse interests, and fostering initiatives that inform policies, planning, and management of the Park’s 6-million acres, a 50:50 mix of public and private lands. Prime means for this work have been the Annual Research on the Adirondacks Conference and the Adirondack Journal of Environmental Studies (AJES).
In 2005 ARC volunteer leadership developed a plan for the future, including incorporation into a bona fide not-for-profit organization with a small core staff, and a continued and enriched program, consistent with prudent financial management and fund-raising. Members at the annual meeting of ARC on May 24, 2006 approved the proposed plan, and ARC has been incorporated as a 501(c)3 organization. The charter Board of Directors met the same day to take the first organizing steps, ARC was incorporated as a 501(c) 3 organization in July, followed by an organizing retreat of the Board on August 8-9, 2006.
In 2007, the ARC has hired Executive Director to oversee its daily management. The organization further plans to establish a base of operations, enrich AJES, and establish an annual operating budget to fund its programs, services, and operations.
Mission
To encourage, facilitate, and enhance the availability of research-based knowledge and scholarship that advances the quality and vitality of the Adirondack Park and related environs.
Vision
An exemplar organization, working with diverse partners, that is dedicated to assuring that research is the basis for and sound planning, management, and policy decisions which will contribute to improving the quality of life of its residents and the ecological integrity of the Adirondack Park.
Guiding Principles
To be a catalyst for information and not advocate for issues or agendas
To be inclusive of all interests and perspectives
To respect the points of view of others
To provide a forum for open discussion and encourage research
To communicate in a manner that is clear and without jargon
Goals, Objectives, Tasks
Goal I
Establish the Adirondack Research Consortium as a durable organization
Opportunity: Become the premier institution in the Adirondacks for the sharing of objective information about the Adirondack environment, society, and economy.
Responsibility: Administration Committee and Partnership Committee
Objectives
A. Develop and implement a strategic plan.
Task
1. Develop and implement a strategic plan which identifies the mission and vision of the organization and outlines goals, objectives, and tasks to implement them.
B. Develop a funding plan
Tasks
1. Develop and implement a fundraising plan which is in support of the strategic planning goals of the organization.
2. Identify and approach sustaining membership, sponsorship, and partnership funding opportunities as a core part of successful fund-raising
3. Reinvigorate ARC web page and explore opportunities for making greater use of membership data base.
C. Secure staffing
Tasks
1. Hire an Executive Director to oversee daily management.
2. Establish a base of operations.
3. Establish an annual operating budget to fund its programs, services, and operations at a level of about $70,000 in 2007 growing to about $100,000 in 2009.
Goal II
Catalyze and Facilitate Research
Opportunity: To make a difference in the way decisions in and about the Park are made by providing for/facilitating the entTuesday, October 30, 2007 8:33 AM Objectives
A. Continue the Annual Conferences (Responsibility: Conference Committee)
Tasks
1. Hold the 2007 Conference at the Wild Center in Tupper Lake with a theme being explored through the RCAPS project.
Tuesday, October 30, 2007 8:33 AM with other organizations in the Northeast and beyond.
B. Continue and upgrade publication and dissemination of AJES (Responsibility: AJES Committee)
Tasks
1. Enhance and expand AJES incrementally during 2007 with a view to having a revised, renewed AJES in 2008.
2. Develop an AJES business plan that explores all aspects of producing the publication.
3. Increase peer review
4. Increase content directed to easy-to-understand presentation of information
5. Revamp Editorial Advisory Board
Goal III
Effectively Communicate Adirondack Research
Opportunity: To provide a visible, viable, vehicle for stimulating and encouraging cross-disciplinary research relative to the Adirondacks, serving as a forum and communication link to encourage research that informs policies, planning and management of the Adirondack Park’s public and private lands and communities.
Responsibility: Research Committee and Administration Committee
Objectives
A. Create and establish distinctive new ways of formulating an applied research agenda
Tasks
1. Participate in and support consumer and producer research information needs through the RCAPS project.
2. Use innovative “users conferences,” “researchers conferences,” and “user-researcher workshops” to develop a mutual-benefit partnership approach to research priorities, funding possibilities, application and use possibilities, and securing more Adirondack-focused social and natural science researchers from within and outside the Adirondacks.
3. Conduct “User-Researcher” Workshop and Roundtable (2007) and continue on a biennial basis.
4. Create an ad hoc advisory group to ARC of workable size from research-active organizations to assist ARC Board/member team. Review effectiveness and need on an annual basis. Do not establish entitlements for any of the participants.
5. Identify key individuals in “ring” academic institutions, introduce the organization to them through on-campus discussions, and pursue potential two-way and multipartner collaborative opportunities.
6. Work with NYS and USA agencies to learn of Adirondack-focused and related research, understand their research programs (or lack of them), and establish working relationships. Develop and advocate for research emphasis on the Adirondacks by New York State government, SUNY, private colleges and universities, and not-for-profit organizations.
7. Support fundraising to finance or provide seed money for research projects that are crucial to the sustainable future of the Park.
8. Work with not-for-profit organizations that do research.
B. Initiate and house databases of research and information providers and existing research information and literature, so as to avoid “re-inventing the wheel” when meeting Adirondack community information needs.
Tasks
1. Canvass and make a roster of Adirondack researchers, active institutions, and programs, with biennial updates.
2. Support and be actively involved to the extent practical in the development of natural resource data bases such as the All Taxa Biodiversity Inventory database, the GIS work that ESF/AEC is doing, and invasive species databases.
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