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The Temporary State Commission on Tug Hill was formed by the NYS Legislature at the request of local citizens after an out-of-state developer, Horizon Corporation, obtained an option to buy Georgia-Pacific’s 55,000 acres of Tug Hill land in 1972. The Commission first met on April 3, 1973; their charge was to study all factors that affect quality of life and then make recommendations on the future. The Commission held public forums where 1500 people described the area’s problems and what they preferred the future to be like. In 1976, the Commission presented the Governor and the NYS Legislature with a report, The Tug Hill, Preparing For The Future.

Much of the early Commission’s efforts focused on land use planning and control suitable for the Tug Hill. While residents understood the need for some development, they were not willing to sacrifice the nature of life and their surroundings. The report states: One sentiment was voiced repeatedly at the public forums: “Keep Tug Hill the way it is”. This expressed wish has been adopted as the Commission’s theme – a goal encompassing all other goals. Keeping Tug Hill “the way it is” includes preserving the lifestyle, the beauty, the access to fishing and hunting, the opportunity to make a living farming, and the wish to be independent and decide one’s own future. The study found that people are deeply attached to their communities. “The nature of the settlement of Tug Hill and its surroundings produced a strong heritage from which the tenacity, independence, warmth, humor, and fortitude of the region’s residents take root.”

Future goals were based on public input and consideration of interests of the state. Central to these goals was the desire to preserve the area’s natural state for future generations and included: preserving the high quality watershed, wetlands, streams, ground waters, lakes, and ponds; securing habitats for fish and wildlife; protecting the natural resources of air, water, minerals and forests.

In determining how best to achieve these goals, the people made it clear they preferred local government implementation rather than state controls. For more than 12 years, the Town of Ava, located in the southern portion of the Tug Hill Region, has been fighting to stop a powerful New York State Public Authority, the Oneida-Herkimer Solid Waste Authority (OHSWA), from siting a megalandfill within their borders.

Ava’s right to govern their township so as to preserve their natural resources and rural way of life has been stripped away. They have been chosen as the site for an 840 acre megalandfill that threatens not only Ava, but surrounding Tug Hill communities including West Leyden, Boonville, Port Leyden, Lyons Falls, and Constableville. More than half of the truck traffic to the landfill is scheduled to travel through tiny Lewis County communities even though this is the longest and most hazardous route to the landfill. Natural resources in the Tug Hill Region are threatened because OHSWA chose the path of least resistance. Clearly, there are safer environmental methods for waste disposal.

Residents of the Tug Hill rose up more than 30 years ago to defend their way of life, and the Tug Hill Commission was created. Today, the Commission states they must remain neutral on landfill issues even though it’s in conflict with the Commission’s mission. This deviation from their mission should not be acceptable to Tug Hill communities, but until residents find their voice once again, they can expect the assault on their heritage to continue. NYSDEC is promoting landfill development and private developers are looking for landfill sites to capitalize on the New York City Waste Crisis.

Boonville’s misguided actions to break their resolution with the Towns of Ava and Lewis to negotiate with OHSWA for money does nothing to preserve the region’s heritage, or prevent sickness in future generations from the ill effects of the megalandfill. In fact, it will only serve to accelerate the destruction of this beautiful Tug Hill area.