2025 Annual Public Meeting Minutes
Board Members Present:
Will Roth
Jeremy Haas
Doc Livingston
Don Mellor
Kevin MacKenzie
This event was held “in-person” only, at Rocksport in Queensbury. A quorum was not present. Accordingly, no Board actions were taken at this event, which was conducted as a “Public Information Session.”
Approximately 12 public attendees were present.
The information session was started at 7:30 PM.
Will presented information on the current activities of the Coalition, including topics discussed earlier at the Annual Board meeting. This information is summarized briefly below:
>>It’s good for us to stay in touch with the southern and western parts of the park, as we have been generally High Peaks focused.
>>Trail Work at Ragged Mtn 5/16/26 & 5/17/26. The work here is the first trail that is specifically to serve a climbing area. This is valuable because it helps support climbers as a legitimate user group. We also expect to work at Pitchoff and in the Beer Walls in the next couple years.
>>Our website and social media presence have seen improvements; this helps us stay in touch and communicate about events.
>>We are finalizing our proposed Climbing Management Plan and plan to present it to DEC in Spring 2026. It will be up to DEC how they use and/or adopt the plan.
>>Our first Legacy Series Event with Jamie Cunningham was a success. There’s value in these events based on them being local and genuine. We’ll be holding another event in the Spring, maybe a winter themed presentation.
>>Our finances are in good shape. We are all volunteer; no one gets paid. We rely on donations. Our donations have increased in the last year. Thanks to everyone!
>>We continue to support Peregrine Falcon monitoring. Most recently, DEC has become less strict, relying more on self-regulation by the climbing community. The community has been performing very well in this regard, which gives us good credibility with DEC.
>>Succession Planning is an important topic for 2026, with several Officers (including the President) reaching the end of their terms at the end of the 2026. We are actively recruiting Board members and Officers. Volunteers can be reassured that current Officers will be available to help with transitions.
>>Looking forward to 2026, we will have a lot of trail work opportunities, the presentation of our Climbing Management Plan, and a springtime Legacy Series event.
After the information session, there was a question and answer period:
The first public comment regarded the Kaya guidebook app. ACC has agreed to a business partnership with Kaya, which will return some donation amounts to ACC over time. The commenter is a Kaya rep, whom Kaya had asked to attend, to reinforce that Kaya is committed to their support of ACC. The comment provided an opportunity to brief the public attendees on the Kaya arrangement.
The next question was “How many Beer Walls trail days are planned?” Will estimated that the limited work on the approach trail that we have been approved to do at this point will take 4-6 days. More extensive work will take place in the future, including stabilizing the cliff bases near Afternoon Delight and Live Free or Die.
Doc provided information to the public explaining that we cannot yet perform trail work in the Lake George area because DEC does not yet have an approved Unit Management Plan for the area.
Jeremy provided information to the public about the need to for new Southern Adirondack located Board members, since he and Doc will complete their terms at the end of 2026. He also pointed out the need for volunteer Peregrine Falcon monitors, since there is a lot of Falcon activity in the Lake George area.
The information session ended at 8:00 PM. Will thanked all the attendees.
Respectfully submitted,
Tom DuBois, Secretary