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Abstract

Article XIV of the New York State Constitution, better known as the “Forever Wild Clause,” enshrines a conservationist ideal into law. The crux of article XIV prohibits the leasing, selling, or exchanging of state-owned land within New York’s Forest Preserve to private entities. Since its inception, this mandate has dictated the State’s approach to management of its Forest Preserve. Whenever New York decides to excise a piece of its Forest Preserve, the cumbersome yet necessary constitutional amendment process is triggered. Renewed attention to this legal requirement is peaking. Since 2009, five former Department of Corrections and Community Supervision sites located in the Forest Preserve have closed. These sites sit “locked up” because an amendment is required to free them from Forest Preserve protection, allowing for their sales to private parties for repurposing. However, the State continues to make no progress in this area. As the amendment process stalls and building decay sets in, the Forever Wild Clause jeopardizes the futures of these sites while negatively impacting the local communities’ socio-economic wellbeing. This Note investigates the history and motivations behind New York’s Forest Preserve with specific attention paid to the Adirondack Park and the amendment process’ complexities. This Note proposes new solutions to this problem, including an amendment to change the definition of the Forest Preserve to exclude correctional facilities, and the transfer of these sites to a State agency or Public Benefit Corporation capable of repurposing them as a method to bypass the amendment process. More broadly, this Note explores how, while indispensable to preservation, the Forever Wild Clause impinges upon the wild-ideal its creators envisioned by locking up land not initially intended for its protection and creating hardship for the surrounding communities.

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