The Adirondack Park is the designation for a large area of northeastern New York centered on the Adirondack Mountains. Like Catskill Park to the south, the area is unusual in the United States because, while the entire area is considered "parkland", about 52 percent of the land within the boundary consists of privately owned inholdings. The remaining 48 percent is publicly owned by the state as part of the Forest Preserve. Use of public and private lands in the park is regulated by the Adirondack Park Agency.Adirondack Park Agency Act, L. 1971, c. 706, enacted 25 June 1971; L. 1973, c. 348, enacted 22 May 1973.
The park was established in 1892 for "the free use of all the people for their health and pleasure", and for watershed protection.Annual Report of the Forest Commission 1892. www.archive.org accessed July 21, 2020 At , it is the largest park in the contiguous United States.
The Adirondack Park contains the 46 High Peaks, 2,800 lakes and ponds, of rivers and streams, and an estimated of old-growth forests. It is home to 105 towns and villages, as well as numerous farms, businesses, and a timber-harvesting industry. The park has a population of 130,000 permanent and 200,000 seasonal residents, and sees over 12.4 million annual visitors. The inclusion of human communities has been described as one of the most successful experiments in conserving previously developed lands in the industrialized world.
The Adirondack Forest Preserve was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1963. ()
History
Early tourism
Before the 19th century, the wilderness was viewed as desolate and forbidding. As Romanticism developed in the United States, the view of wilderness became more positive, as seen in the writings of James Fenimore Cooper, Ralph Waldo Emerson, John Muir, and Henry David Thoreau.
The 1849 publication of Joel Tyler Headley's Adirondack; or, Life in the Woods triggered the development of hotels and stage coach lines. William Henry Harrison Murray's 1869 wilderness guidebook depicted the area as a place of relaxation and pleasure rather than a natural obstacle.
Financier and railroad promoter Thomas Clark Durant acquired a large tract of central Adirondack land and built a railroad from Saratoga Springs to North Creek. By 1875, there were more than two hundred hotels in the Adirondacks including Paul Smith's Hotel. About this time, the Great Camps were developed.
Moves to protect New York's water supply Following the Civil War, Reconstruction Era economic expansion led to an increase in logging and deforestation, especially in the southern Adirondacks.
In 1870 Verplanck Colvin made the first recorded ascent of Seward Mountain during which he saw the extensive damage done by lumbermen. He wrote a report which was read at the Albany Institute and printed by the New York State Museum of Natural History. In 1872 he was named to the newly created post of Superintendent of the Adirondack Survey and given a $1000 budget by the state legislature to institute a survey of the Adirondacks.
In 1873 he wrote a report arguing that if the Adirondack watershed was allowed to deteriorate, it would threaten the viability of the Erie Canal, which was then vital to New York's economy. He was subsequently appointed superintendent of the New York state land survey. In 1873, he recommended the creation of a state forest preserve covering the entire Adirondack region.
Article XIV: forever wild
In 1884, a state legislative commission chaired by botanist Charles Sprague Sargent recommended establishment of a forest preserve, to be "forever kept as wild forest lands."Terrie, Phillip G., Forever Wild, Environmental Aesthetics and the Adirondack Forest Preserve. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1985, p. 98, The New York State Legislature subsequently passed a law in 1885 for the preservation of forests which designated all state lands within certain counties in the Adirondacks and Catskills as Forest Preserve to be forever kept as wild forest lands. This forestry law also established a Forest Commission which was charged with care, custody, control and superintendence of the Forest Preserve.First Annual Report of the New York Forest Commission 1885. www.archive.org accessed July 19, 2020
In 1894, Article VII, Section 7, (renumbered in 1938 as Article XIV, Section 1) of the New York State Constitution was adopted, which reads in part:
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.
In 1902, the legislature passed a bill defining the Adirondack Park for the first time in terms of the counties and towns within it. In 1912 the legislature further clarified that the park included the privately owned lands within it as well as the public holdings.
The restrictions on development and lumbering embodied in Article XIV have withstood many challenges from timber interests, hydropower projects and large-scale tourism development interests. Further, the language of the article, and decades of legal experience in its defense, are widely recognized as having laid the foundation for the U.S. National Wilderness Act of 1964. As a result of the legal protections, many pieces of the original forest of the Adirondacks have never been logged and are old-growth forest.
20th-century development
Early in the 1900s, recreational use increased dramatically. The State Conservation Department (now the Department of Environmental Conservation) responded by building more facilities: boat docks, tent platforms, lean-tos, and telephone and electrical lines. With the building of Interstate 87 in the 1960s, private lands came under great pressure for development. This growing crisis led to the 1971 creation of the Adirondack Park Agency (APA) to develop long-range land-use plans for both the public and private lands within the Blue Line.
In consultation with the DEC, the APA formulated the State Land Master Plan which was adopted into law in 1973. The plan is designed to channel much of the future growth in the Park around existing communities, where roads, utilities, services, and supplies already exist.
In 2008 The Nature Conservancy purchased Follensby Pond – about of private land inside the park boundary – for $16 million. The group plans to sell the land to the state, which will add it to the forest preserve once the remaining leases for recreational hunting and fishing on the property expire.
Comparison of the Park in 1900 and 2000 Year: 1900 2000 Area of the Park State-owned area (43%) (44.6%)Travel time, New York City to Old Forge6.5 hours by railroad5 hours by carPermanent park residents100,000130,000Length of public road in the park plus of passenger railroad track plus of passenger railroad trackIndustry92 sawmills, 15 iron mines, 10 pulp/paper mills40 sawmills, 1 pulp/paper mill
Data compiled by the Adirondack Experience, Blue Mountain Lake, New York
Park management
The park is managed by two state agencies: the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, created in 1970 and headquartered in Albany; and the Adirondack Park Agency, created in 1971 and headquartered in Ray Brook.Adirondack Park Agency Act, L. 1971, c. 706; L. 1973, c. 348. Noted forest ranger Clarence Petty sat on the commission that recommend the creation of the APA. This system of management is distinctly different from New York's state park system, which is managed by the Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation. According to the State Land Master Plan, state lands are classified.
The Adirondack Park Land Use and Development Plan (APLUDP) applies to private land use and development. It defines APA jurisdiction and is designed to direct and cluster development to minimize impact.
Land use classifications Areas rounded to the nearest per cent. 49% of the park is privately owned, 45% state owned, and 6% is water.
Private land use Resource Management: 51% of private land use. Used for residential, agriculture, and forestry. Most development requires an Agency permit. Limited to an average of 15 buildings per square mile. Rural Use: 17%. Most uses are permitted; residential uses and reduced intensity development that preserves rural character is most suitable. Limited to an average of 75 buildings per square mile. Low Intensity: 9%. Most uses are permitted; residential development at a lower intensity than hamlet or moderate intensity is appropriate. Limited to an average of 200 buildings per square mile. Moderate Intensity: 3%. Most uses are permitted; residential development is most appropriate. Limited to an average of 500 buildings per square mile. Hamlet: 2%. These are the growth and service centers of the region where the APA encourages development with very limited permit requirements. Activities requiring an APA permit are: erecting buildings or structures over 40 feet high, projects involving more than 100 lots, sites or units, projects involving wetlands, airports, and watershed management projects. Hamlet boundaries usually go well beyond established settlements to provide room for future expansion. There is no limit on the average number of buildings per square mile. Industrial: <1%. Where industry exists or has existed, and areas which may be suitable for future development. Industrial and commercial uses are also allowed in other land use area classifications. There is no limit on the average number of buildings per square mile.
Adirondack Park state land use Wild forest: 51% of state land use. Areas that have seen higher human impact and can thus withstand a higher level of recreational use. Often these are lands which were logged heavily in the recent past (sometimes right before being transferred to the state). Powered vehicles are allowed. Wilderness: 46%. These are managed like federal U.S. Wilderness Areas. Areas far more affected by nature than humanity, to the extent that the latter is practically unnoticeable, for example virgin forest. No powered vehicles are allowed in wilderness areas. Recreation is limited to passive activities such as hiking, camping, hunting, birding and angling which are themselves subject to some further restrictions to ensure that they leave no trace. Canoe area: <1%. Lands with a wilderness character that have enough streams, lakes and ponds to provide ample opportunities for water-based recreation. The Saint Regis Canoe Area is the only such designated area in the park. Primitive: <1%. Like wilderness, but may have structures that cannot easily be removed, or some other existing use that would complicate a wilderness designation. For most practical purposes there is no difference between a primitive area and a wilderness area. Intensive Use: <1%. Places like state campgrounds or day use areas. The developed ski area Whiteface Mountain is in this classification. Historic: <1%. Sites of buildings owned by the state that are significant to the history, architecture, archaeology or culture of the Adirondacks, those on the National Register of Historic Places or carrying or recommended for a similar state-level designation. State Administrative: <1%. Applies to a limited number of DEC-owned lands that are managed for other than Forest Preserve purposes. It covers a number of facilities devoted to research, and state fish hatcheries.
Wilderness areas
State wilderness areas account for 46% of the area of the park which is not private property. They are managed like federal wilderness areas. These areas are far more affected by nature than humanity, to the extent that the latter is practically unnoticeable, for example virgin forest. No powered vehicles are allowed in wilderness areas.
Blue Ridge Wilderness Area - 47,177 acres (185.09 km2))