The new DEC administration has embraced the UMP process from the previous administration, and has emphasized the role that volunteers play in maintaining capital assets through the "Adapt-a-Resource" program. This provides a way for volunteer groups to take responsibility to maintain DEC properties, ranging from cleanups to trail maintenance and horticultural projects. Contracts with volunteer groups last for the planned duration of a UMP (5 years). Since such projects significantly impact UMP capital asset management, the input into and feedback from the DEC Lands and Forests management responsible for the wild areas is a valuable way for volunteer organizations to make impact into how UMPs are developed.

One of the challenges facing hunting today is the availability of accessible public land to hunt. Participation in management of public lands is one way to ensure that the habitat will support good populations of huntable species, as well as maintaining the value of the land for wildlife observers, who may come to appreciate the contribution of clubs in maintaining the quality of the habitat for the species they wish to observe. Participation in "Adapt-a-Resource" gives visibility to the contribution clubs make to the conservation of our public natural resources. This opportunity has been opened to any groups that want to step up to the plate -- hunters and anti-hunters alike.

Information may be found at DEC Unit Management Plans. Announcements of upcoming UMP hearings and public comment periods may be found at DEC Press Releases.

Have you noticed all those "Adapt-a-highway" program signs by the roadside? Likely your fish and game club has sponsored a stretch of roadside, and does periodic cleanups as a part of its civic outreach. Did you know there was a similar program within the DEC? Just as a lot of processes used to be handled by phone calls, now you have to get information by filing FOIA requests, or you have to go to UMP meetings to provide input into planning. However, it is also possible to forge relationships with parcels of land. An example can be found at Stony Kill. The education center has a number of private organizations that volunteer to do gardening, trail maintenance, and other activities. The DEC has a formal program for friends organizations to form relationships with DEC parcels, called the Adapt-a-Natural Resource Stewardship Program (ONR-1), whose provisions are provided by law. Organizations that have established such relationships will tend to have significant weight in the formulation of UMPs, and the actual implementation of such plans, as has been demonstrated by other groups who have already established such relationships.