Adirondack Park Agency

What Adirondack Park Agency does

The Adirondack Park Agency (APA) is a New York State governmental regulatory agency established in 1971 by the state legislature to develop and enforce long-range land use plans across the 6-million-acre Adirondack Park, the largest publicly protected area in the contiguous United States. The agency administers three primary statutes - the Adirondack Park Agency Act, the New York State Freshwater Wetlands Act, and the New York State Wild, Scenic, and Recreational River Systems Act - and operates with 54 staff alongside an 11-member Board that meets monthly to act on policy matters and permit applications. Its core services include permit application processing for land use and development, jurisdictional inquiries, wetland determinations, administration of the State Land Master Plan, local government planning assistance, and GIS-based mapping.

The agency's technology platform centers on ArcGIS Experience Builder, which powers the public-facing Lookup Lite application launched in 2026 to expose APA authoritative spatial data layers across the Park. Resource Analysis and Scientific Services staff provide technical expertise in engineering, water quality, soils, wildlife, and wetlands to support determinations. The agency's regulatory footprint spans 2.9 million acres of private land subject to six land-use classifications and approximately 3 million acres of constitutionally protected Forest Preserve.

The APA is funded entirely through New York State budget appropriations and does not charge user fees for its core permitting and advisory services. Its go-to-market is a formal application-based workflow: landowners, local governments, utilities, and developers submit applications via mail, email, or in-person visits to the Ray Brook headquarters, where staff review submissions and issue determinations, with public hearings held for regionally significant projects. Distribution is direct and jurisdictionally bounded to the Adirondack Park region of New York State.

Name

Adirondack Park Agency

Legal name

Adirondack Park Agency

Website

https://apa.ny.gov

Company type

Private

Founded year

1971

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

The Adirondack Park Agency is a New York State regulatory agency that administers land use permitting, jurisdictional inquiries, wetland determinations, and the State Land Master Plan across the 6-million-acre Adirondack Park, serving private landowners, 101 towns and villages, utilities, and developers through a state-funded, GIS-enabled platform.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Land Use Regulation and Environmental Permitting Services

NAICS

Administration of Environmental Quality Programs (924), Administration of Conservation Programs (92412), Administration of Housing Programs, Urban Planning, and Community Development (925), Administration of Urban Planning and Community and Rural Development (92512)

SIC

Forestry (800), Services-Management Services (8741)

akta.pro primary industry

Parks, Recreation & Protected Areas Administration (BPAIAMAH)

akta.pro secondary industries

Forestry & Public Lands Administration (State/National Forests) (BPAIAMAF), Regional & Land Use Planning (BPAHAKAE), Land Administration & Cadastral Services (Public Land Records, Parcel Management) (BPAIANAH)

Keywords

• Land use regulation
• Environmental permitting
• Wetland determinations
• GIS mapping services
• Park planning

Headquarters

HQ city

Ray Brook, NY

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Infrastructure, Technology or R&D, Others

Revenue model

1. Government Funding: As a New York State governmental agency, the APA is funded through state budget appropriations. The agency does not generate commercial revenue but operates as a regulatory and planning body.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels8 records

Core offering

The Adirondack Park Agency is a New York State regulatory and land-use planning authority that reviews and decides on permit applications, jurisdictional inquiries, and wetland determinations for land development within the 6-million-acre Adirondack Park. It administers the State Land Master Plan, processes map amendments to the Adirondack Park Land Use and Development Plan, and provides technical planning assistance to the Park's towns and villages. Core services are delivered through formal application workflows, public hearings for significant projects, and monthly Board determinations, supported by a public GIS mapping application (Lookup Lite).

Product overview

The Adirondack Park Agency is a New York State governmental agency created in 1971 to develop long-range land use plans for public and private lands within the Adirondack Park. The Agency offers a unified portfolio of services including the Lookup Lite GIS application for public spatial data access, permit application processing, jurisdictional and wetland determinations, State Land Master Plan administration, and local government planning assistance. The core offering is the regulatory and planning framework that balances resource protection with sustainable development across the 6-million-acre Park.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Permit Application Services Review and processing of permit applications for land use and development within the Adirondack Park, covering construction, subdivisions, wetlands activities, commercial uses, shoreline development, telecommunication towers, emergency projects, and large-scale subdivisions. Service-level commitments include a 15-day application completeness determination, 45-day minor project decisions, and 90-day major project decisions from a complete application.
• Jurisdictional Inquiry Services Provides landowners with a written determination on whether a permit is required before undertaking new land use, development, subdivision, or shoreline variance activities on in-Park property. Landowners submit a Jurisdictional Inquiry Form (PDF) and APA staff review the submission and respond with the determination.
• Wetland Determination Services Determines the location of regulated wetlands on a property and whether a wetland permit is required, delivered by the Resource Analysis and Scientific Services staff with professional engineering, water quality, soils, wildlife, and wetlands technical expertise.
• Adirondack Park Land Use and Development Plan Map Amendment Processing Processes amendments to the official Adirondack Park Land Use and Development Plan map for private lands within the Adirondack Park, addressing landowner requests for reclassification among the plan's six land use categories (Hamlet, Moderate Intensity, Low Intensity, Rural Use, Resource Management, and Industrial Use).
• Local Government Planning Services Assists the 101 towns and villages within the Adirondack Park with drafting and updating local plans, refining zoning and subdivision regulations, and administering Agency-approved local land use programs that allow certain decisions to be made at the municipal level.
• Lookup Lite Application A web-based GIS application built on ArcGIS Experience Builder that enables the public, landowners, and stakeholders to interactively navigate the Adirondack Park Agency's authoritative spatial data layers — including jurisdictional, wetland, land classification, and other in-Park layers — to support transparency and pre-application research without contacting APA staff.

Quantifiable outcome

• Application completeness determination within 15 days of receipt
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers9 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration1 record

Feature3 records

Partnerships

Two partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerThe APA works in cooperation with the DEC on State Land Master Plan development and management. DEC prepares unit management plans that the APA reviews for consistency with the APSLMP. The APA also consults with DEC on proposed State land projects.
• Olympic Regional Development Authority (ORDA)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerORDA operates under DEC authority and its unit management plans are reviewed by APA for APSLMP consistency, similar to DEC projects.

Scale indicators6 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Broad incumbents

• NYS Department of Environmental Conservation: Sister New York State agency that owns and manages Forest Preserve lands within the Adirondack Park. Overlapping regulatory domain, larger budget and staff, and a core APA partner for State Land Master Plan consistency reviews.
• U.S. Forest Service: Federal agency managing national forests and grasslands. Relevant for APA's stewardship of the constitutionally protected Forest Preserve lands and silviculture/forestry expertise.
• National Park Service: Federal agency managing national parks including Yellowstone and the Everglades. Comparable mandate to protect large publicly owned natural areas, though at the federal level and without APA's private-land regulatory authority.

Others

• The Nature Conservancy: Global conservation nonprofit that conducts land management projects within the Adirondack Park. Adjacent ecosystem participant rather than a direct competitor, but engages with APA on conservation easements and land-use planning.
• Adirondack Mountain Club: Nonprofit membership organization advocating for the Adirondack Park. Functions as a key stakeholder and informal partner/critic of APA policy, particularly around State Land Master Plan amendments and recreational access.
• Regional Plan Association: Nonprofit urban/regional planning organization for the New York tri-state region. Compares to APA on the planning and policy advocacy dimension, though its remit is broader and metropolitan-focused rather than centered on a protected natural area.

Direct peers

• Tahoe Regional Planning Agency: Bi-state compact agency governing land use in the Lake Tahoe Basin across California and Nevada. Most directly comparable to APA as a state/interstate regulatory body balancing environmental protection with private land development across a large protected area.
• California Coastal Commission: State agency with permitting authority over development in California's coastal zone. Comparable to APA as a state regulatory body balancing private property rights against broad environmental and public-access mandates.
• Maine Land Use Planning Commission (LUPC): Maine's state agency regulating land use in the unorganized territories of northern Maine—similar to APA in administering permitting and planning across vast, predominantly forested regions with mixed public/private ownership.

Regional players

• Vermont Agency of Natural Resources: Vermont's umbrella state environmental agency. Comparable as a regional public-sector counterpart administering conservation, land use, and natural resource regulation in a neighboring geography with similar small-state regulatory scale.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• YouTubeyoutube.com/watch?v=fe1dTYU9G5o
• Facebookfacebook.com/pages/New-York-State-Adirondack-Park-Agency/474160449331931?ref=hl
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/adirondack-park-agency
• Instagraminstagram.com/adkparkagency

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles13 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Adirondack Park Agency