NY Exec L § 847-A (2021)
2021 New York Laws EXC - Executive Article 37 - Tug Hill Commission 847-A - Statement of Legislative Findings and Purpose.

§   847-a.   Statement   of  legislative  findings  and  purpose.  The   legislature hereby finds that for approximately twenty-five  years,  the   Tug  Hill  commission  has  provided  essential  planning  and technical   services to the sixty-two local governments  and  to  residents  in  the   twenty-one hundred square mile Tug Hill region.The  legislature  further  finds that, lying between Lake Ontario, the   Black River and Oneida Lake, is a  region  of  approximately  twenty-one   hundred  square miles that encompasses towns and villages scattered in a   vast acreage of forest and farm land. The core of the region encompasses   more than eight hundred square miles  of  remote  forest  land  and  the   headwaters  of  several major rivers, with much of the area inaccessible   by public road. These lands and waters are important to the state of New   York as municipal water supply, as wildlife and plant  habitat,  as  key   resources  supporting  forest  industry, farming, recreation and tourism   and traditional land uses such as hunting and fishing. State  assistance   through  the  Tug Hill commission to help Tug Hill local governments and   organizations is merited and needed because of the importance  of  these   resources to the state, and because of the small population and relative   poverty of the region.The legislature further finds that the Tug Hill commission, originally   established  in  nineteen  hundred  seventy-two  as  a  temporary  state   commission,  has  studied  the  Tug  Hill  region,  provided   technical   assistance  to  the  region's  local  governments  and  reported  to the   governor and legislature regarding the conservation and  development  of   the  Tug  Hill  region. The purpose of the commission is to enable local   governments, private organizations, and individuals to shape the  future   of  the  Tug  Hill  region, and to demonstrate and communicate ways that   this can be done by other rural areas. Commission  programs  are  geared   toward  the  conservation and productive use of the natural resources of   the region, strengthening of the long-term economy, employment, cultural   and  social  resources,  and  the  general  well-being  of   the   rural   communities.  The  commission  has  facilitated local action as the most   enduring and cost-effective method of retaining  the  rural  and  remote   character  of this land, and of retaining the independent way of life of   its people and their economy.The legislature finds that the  Tug  Hill  commission's  track  record   demonstrates its capability for working together with towns and villages   for   appropriate   community  and  economic  development  and  resource   protection. Its continuation will enable municipalities to perform their   basic local government functions.It is the purpose  of  this  article  to  insure  continued  municipal   assistance,  conservation, preservation and development in the region by   continuing the Tug Hill  commission,  in  order  to  serve  those  local   government and regional needs, now and in the future.