Adirondack Mountain Club honors forest advocate

Mr. Bruce Kershner

Referred to as an old-growth forest advocate, the late Bruce Kershner was honored recently with a tree symposium.

On three occasions during his life, Mr. Kershner was voted Environmentalist of the Year, first by the Adirondack Mountain Club, then by the Sierra Club and finally by Environmental Advocates of New York.

Mr. Kershner died about a year ago in the midst of the battle to save the old-growth trees of the Erie County forest and just as New York State was acting to forever protect the old-growth forest in Zoar Valley, for which he worked very hard.

He wrote a dozen books, including the "Sierra Club Guide to the Ancient Forests of the North East" and "Secret Places: Scenic Treasures of Western New York and Southern Ontario."

He led the successful fight to prevent timbering of Allegany State Park. He will be best remembered for his leadership of a small group known as the Old Growth Survey Team, who identified more than 300 remnants of old-growth forests in the northeastern United States.

In Mr. Kershner's honor, Sen. Mary Lou Rath, R-Amherst, with the support of other senators, has introduced S4637-A, the Bruce S. Kershner Heritage Tree Preservation and Protection Act into the New York Legislature.

In recognition of Mr. Kershner and to promote Rath's bill to preserve old-growth forests, the Adirondack Mountain Club held a tree symposium in the new building at Woodlawn Beach State Park in Blasdell on Saturday.

The symposium offered a discussion of the nature and value of forests to man and the planet.