Predecessor agencies Many of the specific functions of today's DEC began as tasks carried out by individual commissions or agencies created for those specific purposes. These smaller entities merged over time to create today's department, which was officially created in 1970. The earliest New York state commission dedicated to natural resources was a three-member Fisheries Commission established in 1868. The Forest Commission, set up in 1885 and revised in 1893, was established to oversee the newly created
Forest Preserve in the Adirondacks and Catskills, in addition to management of other forests, tree plantings, and forest fires elsewhere in the state. A Forest Preserve Board was also established in 1897, charged with purchasing new state lands for conservation. The Fisheries Commission and the Forest Commission were merged to form the Fisheries, Game, and Forest Commission in 1895; it was renamed the Forest, Fish, and Game Commission in 1900.
Origin The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation was created in 1970 by legislation symbolically signed on the first
Earth Day by then-Governor
Nelson Rockefeller. The new department was charged with the functions of the former Conservation Department, in addition to the duties of several programs previously part of the
New York State Department of Health and other commissions; several brand-new offices were created as well. The same legislation relieved the new department of the duties of the former Conservation Department's Division of Parks; the jurisdiction of the former division instead became the independent
New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation. New York created the Brownfield Cleanup Program to mitigate threats to public health and the environment from contaminated sites. The initiative also the redevelopment of abandoned, contaminated properties to revitalize economically blighted communities. Additional regulations enacted in 2009 further improved New York's site remediation/redevelopment process. Under the Waste Tire Management and Recycling Act of 2003, DEC developed a plan to manage and recycle used and discarded tires, and address non-complaint waste tire dumps in the state, which had an estimated 18-20 million scrap tires. New York proposed and led the effort to create the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), a cap-and-trade program among seven northeastern states to lower carbon dioxide () emissions, a major contributor to global warming. RGGI was the first mandatory, market-based cap-and-trade program for emission in U.S. history, and has grown to include nine states.
2006–2010 In 2006, the DEC started an investigation of
Camp O'Ryan, the former
New York Army National Guard training range in
Wethersfield, New York. The concerns at this site included lead contamination from spent bullets, as well as alleged witnessed burial of cylinders of unknown origin. As of that date, DEC was contacting the
New York State Division of Military and Naval Affairs and
United States Army Corps of Engineers for further information about the range. DEC created the Pollution Prevention Institute (P2I) in 2008 at the
Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) to bring together academic institutions, not-for-profit institutions and government entities to encourage and support the development of sustainable businesses and organizations, and reduce natural resource consumption and waste. New York achieved its goal of conserving one million acres of open space, including critical forested lands in the Adirondack and Catskills mountains that are now open to outdoor recreation.
2011–2015 Under New York's Sewage Pollution Right to Know (SPRTK) law, publicly owned sewage systems and treatment works are required to report untreated and partially treated sewage discharges to DEC within two hours of the discharge, and also alert the public and adjoining municipalities of discharges within four hours. DEC, in conjunction with other New York State agencies, updated safety procedures and emergency response preparedness associated with the transport of crude oil by train, reducing the risks of spills that could threaten communities and natural resources. DEC's Division of Law Enforcement (DLE) conducts investigations, including sting operations, to enforce a 2014 state law that banned the sale of elephant and mammoth ivory and rhinoceros horns in New York. The law was designed to enhance global protection for critical animal populations. In 2014, DEC conducted a joint investigation with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Manhattan District Attorney's office that led to the seizure of elephant ivory worth more than $8.5 million from jewelers based in New York City. Following extensive reviews by DEC and the NYS Department of Health, DEC issued a findings statement in 2015 that prohibited high-volume
hydraulic fracturing (fracking) in New York.
2016–2020 DEC facilitated the State's acquisition and protection of more than 65,000 acres of forested lands in the Adirondacks, including the Essex Chain of Lakes, OK Slip Falls, and Boreas Ponds. The 20,758-acre Boreas Ponds Tract, purchased in the spring of 2016, will be open to the public for the first time. DEC and the State Department of Health (DOH) are members of the New York's Water Quality Rapid Response Team, created in 2016 to evaluate drinking water supply threats across the state, assist communities with water testing and provide technical assistance to ensure universal access to clean drinking water. In 2016, DEC mobilized a massive response to address
PFOA contamination in Hoosick Falls, The agency engaged its workforce and contractors to install hundreds of water filtration systems in homes and a filter system at the towns water treatment facility. The agency is also mobilized to ensure safe drinking water in Newburgh, following the discovery of
perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOS) in city drinking water. Under New York's $2.5 billion Clean Water Infrastructure Act (CWIA) of 2017, DEC is assisting municipal efforts to upgrade drinking water and wastewater treatment facilities and residential septic systems, and mitigate drinking water contamination. New York State's Environmental Protection Fund (EPF), created in 1993, supports a variety of DEC programs, including open space conservation, invasive species control, the Hudson River Estuary Program,
Albany Pine Bush and
Long Island Central Pine Barrens, state and municipal parks, and other environmental resource protections. The EPF has been fully funded at $300M annually since 2016. DEC is overseeing efforts to clean up contamination at the
Naval Weapons Industrial Reserve Plant in
Bethpage, New York, including a $150 million to install wells and treatments facilities to contain and cleanup contamination on the 600-acre site. DEC's Division of Marine Resources plays a key role in developing new reefs off the coast of Long Island as part of New York's Artificial Reef Program. Hundreds of tons of clean, recycled materials, including former girders from the former Tappan Zee Bridge, were strategically placed to settle on the sea floor, creating habitat similar to natural reefs that will attract fish and marine life and expand opportunities for fishing and diving.
2024–2025 On October 30, 2024, DEC seized
a squirrel by the name of Peanut and a raccoon from a
Pine City house on the basis that it is illegal to keep young wildlife as pets. The DEC euthanized the animals in order to test them for
rabies, claiming that the squirrel bit a member of DEC staff in the process of being seized. Testing for rabies requires taking brain sections and cannot be done to a living animal. While squirrels rarely contract rabies, raccoons are known vectors and subject to even stricter regulation. The DEC's involvement and handling of Peanut's case, combined with the animal's popular public persona, elicited widespread public criticism. Threats of violence against the DEC and its employees followed, including bomb threats issued to various DEC Offices across the state. The
Climate Change Superfund Act was enacted in December 2024 and the department was made responsible for the Climate Change Adaptation Cost Recovery Program. ==Organization==