The Adirondacks
"Before us an irregular cone of granite, capped with
ice and snow, arose against a wintry sky... Beyond, irregularly grouped,
the great peaks, grizzly with frost and snow--were gathered in grand
magnificence, all strange and new--in wild sublimity. No sound save the
shuddering hiss of the chilly blast as it swept over the fearful ridge
of ice that must now be our pathway."
-
Verplanck Colvin
- Writing about the impressive High Peaks area during his survey of
the Adirondack Region in about 1876 In 1872 - The
New York State Legislature authorized an expediture of $1,000 to
Verplanck Colvin "to aid in completing a survey of the Adirondack
wilderness of New York, and a map thereof."
In 1874 Colvin reported back to the gathered
Legislature:
"Unless the region be
preserved essentially in its present wilderness condition, the
ruthless burning and destruction of the forest will slowly, year
after year, creep onward . . . and vast areas of naked rock, arid
sand, and gravel will alone remain to receive the bounty of the
clouds and be unable to retain it."
Many people credit Colvin's advocacy as
the beginning of the conservation movement that eventually led to the
creation of the Adirondack Park as we know it today. You can read more
about Colvin and his compelling reports and journals in "Adirondack
Explorations: Nature Writings of Verplanck Colvin."
The Adirondack Park
 "New York State's Adirondack Mountains of northeastern
New York are home to the six-million-acre Adirondack Park, a patchwork
of public and private lands protected under state law. More than 2.6
million acres within the park are owned and managed by the state. New
York's Constitution states that these public lands in the Adirondack
Park must never be developed and "...shall be forever kept as wild
forest lands.
This protected land, which ranges from remote
backcountry to well-traveled mountain trails, provides a tremendous
resource both for preservation and recreation. Throughout the park, the
state Department of Environmental Conservation maintains more than 2,000
miles of marked trails available for people of all interests and
abilities.
A Patchwork of Public and Private
The Adirondack Park was established by the New York
State Legislature in 1892. Originally conceived simply as an area in
which additions to the Forest Preserve would be concentrated, the Park
has evolved into an unprecedented blending of public and private lands
where people live in a landscape whose historic character and natural
environment are protected."
Of the 6 million acres encircled by the Park's
boundary, or "blue line," nearly 3.5 million acres are privately owned.
The Park's many towns and villages are home to 130,000 people. The
lumber and paper industries, tourism, construction and mining are major
sources of employment for Park residents."
- Description of the Adirondacks from the
NYSDEC web site
Forever Wild
The Adirondack Forest Preserve was created in 1885 by
an act of the New York State Legislature. It was the culmination of a
preservation movement that grew out of concern about widespread
deforestation and industrial growth in the Adirondacks. Preservation
advocates like Verplanck Colvin, Charles Sprague Sargent, and Franklin
B. Hough championed the protection of the Adirondack region as a vast
public park.
Colvin believed that unrestricted logging would lead
to reduced flows in the Hudson River and Erie Canal, the major upstate
transportation corridors of the day. His fears became shared by
influential New York City businessmen and early environmentalists and
together they achieved one of the earliest acts of public land
preservation in the nation.
After the establishment of the Forest Preserve,
attempts to weaken the law led the State to strengthen it in 1894, when
these now famous words were added to the New York State Constitution:
"The lands of the
state, now owned or hereafter acquired, constituting the forest preserve
as now fixed by law, shall be forever kept as wild forest lands. They
shall not be leased, sold or exchanged, or be taken by any corporation,
public or private, nor shall the timber thereon be sold, removed or
destroyed."
Originally covering about 681,000 acres, the
Adirondack Forest Preserve has grown to more than 2.6 million acres,
making it the largest complex of wild public lands in the eastern United
States. |
