Friends of the Siamese Ponds Wilderness
Workers, nature-lovers, and community members uniting to keep the wilderness wild.
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About Us
We are a group of residents, workers, nature-lovers, and community members who live in North River. We believe everyone has the right to work and live freely, among nature. We want to ensure our water stays clean, air stays pure, and wilderness stays wild.
A local mining company, Barton Mines, has a facility that sits right on the edge of the Siamese Ponds Wilderness and the Hudson Gorge Wilderness.
As the “oldest, continuous, garnet mining operation in the world” and a steady North River employer, Barton Mines has been a cornerstone of the North River economy for over a century. As long as they ensure their practices don’t harm the surrounding area, we have no problem with the mine.
The problem: Barton Mines has a growing tailings pile rising like what appears to be just another mountain on the horizon. There are also issues of the mining operations having gotten significantly louder in the last several years. As the mine has now applied for a permit for expansion for the next 75 years, this is a good time to make sure the permit granting authorities, APA and the DEC, are mindful of the visual impacts, noise, water, dust and light issues to help us all stay good neighbors for the long haul.
The solution: Join us and urge the APA to add restrictions to the Barton tailings. We want Barton Mines to keep doing their thing, just not in a way that harms the surrounding wilderness or the people of North River.
Thanks for helping us keep the wilderness wild.
Sincerely,
Friends of the Siamese Ponds Wilderness
Friends Letter to APA — Dec. 10, 2021
FOSP COMMENTS ON OCTOBER 15, 2021 BARTON MINE PERMIT APPLICATION Dear Mr. Lore and Ms. Magee, On behalf of the Friends of Siamese Ponds (FOSP) please find our preliminary comments on the Barton Mines Company DEC Mine Permit Modification-APA Major Project Application, received by APA on October 15, 2021 (Permit Application). These comments focus onContinue reading “Friends Letter to APA — Dec. 10, 2021”
John’s Letter
“In my 30 years in North River and in the Siamese Ponds Wilderness I have noticed in the last several years a dramatic increase of the mine’s footprint in terms of noise, dust, middle of the night operations, mountaintop light, and stream degradation…”
Friends of the Siamese Ponds Wilderness 