Glens Falls Chronicle Serving the Glens Falls/Lake George region; Warren, Washington and northern Saratoga counties since 1980
By Cathy DeDe, Chronicle Managing Editor
Claudia Braymer, an environmental attorney and Glens Falls Ward Three’s representative on the Warren County Board of Supervisors, on Feb. 1 became Deputy Director of Protect the Adirondacks! The exclamation point is part of the environmental group’s name.
Ms. Braymer, 42, tells The Chronicle that the environmental group’s board created the position of Deputy Director as part of succession planning. She is expected to succeed Peter Bauer as Executive Director. “There is no current timetable” for the move, the organization said, but “within the next few years.”
Ms. Brayer said she plans to close her law firm in Glens Falls. She’s been in private practice, focusing on environmental law, since 2017.
“I asked to be part-time for the rest of this calendar year,” Ms. Braymer tells The Chronicle, “to wrap up some things in my firm.”
‘Most likely’ won’t seek re-election
Ms. Braymer said “It’s most likely” she will not seek re-election this fall to her seat on the Warren County Board.
“I am thinking it’s time,” Ms. Braymer said. “I’m finishing my 8th year. If it was the City Council, I’d be termed out. I don’t believe these should be lifelong positions. But I have another few weeks to decide, petitioning is at the end of February. But this is my thinking right now.”
She added, “I look forward to pouring my energy into something where people around me value my input, and are equally excited to have me there.”
The Protect office is in Johnsburg, “but I expect to be going to Albany a lot, too,” Ms. Braymer said.
“We’re very pleased that Claudia Braymer will be the face of the future of Protect the Adirondacks,” Protect Chairman Charles Clusen, was quoted.
Ms. Braymer said of Protect the Adirondacks, “I’ve been one of their lawyers for quite some time, but I was never on the staff or on their board.”
Protect noted that Ms. Braymer was co-counsel on its successful 2021 lawsuit against planned snowmobile trails “that upheld and defended the Forever Wild clause in the State Constitution.”
Protect disputed the Department of Environmental Conservation in the size of tree that could be removed without violating the “no trees shall be removed or destroyed” Forever Wild provision.
Mr. Clusen, Protect’s chair, was quoted, “There are few people out there with the set of skills that Claudia brings as an experienced environmental attorney, as someone who worked with us for more that 10 years to defend forever wild, who has strong experiences with regional and local planning and zoning, who has served in local government and knows the realities and challenges facing Adirondack Park and North Country communities, who has trekked all around the Park, and who has an unquenchable passion for the Forest Preserve and wild beauty of the Adirondack Park.”
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