Adirondack Park Agency seems to be following the same trajectory as some of its predecessors, in that in 2022 it is explicitly seeking creative ways to get around its own restrictions—in this case, “no material increase.”
The Forces of Nature
Black River Wild Forest, Blue Ridge Wilderness, Ha-de-ron-dah Wilderness, High Peaks Wilderness, Hoffman Notch Wilderness, Round Lake Wilderness, Sentinel Range Wilderness, Siamese Ponds Wilderness, Silver Lake Wilderness, West Canada Lake Wilderness, Wilcox Lake Wild Forest, William C. Whitney Wilderness
No commentary. No words. Just images of places in the Adirondacks where the only forces at work are natural ones.
The Hunter of Frogs
She was a pit bull, a tough dog by her own estimation and not one to pass up an adventure. The Hunter of Frogs, the Chewer of Sticks, the Champion of Tug-of-War, a dog with an 0-for-3 score to settle with the porcupines. But here she was being undone by half a mile of ice.
All the Places I Have Never Been
Writer/photographer Bill Ingersoll shares a memorable experience from a snowshoe hike on New Years Day 2009.
Paul Schaefer’s Winter Ascent
Part 3 of 3 Automobiles enabled a new generation of suburbanites from the Mohawk and Hudson valley regions to begin visiting the mountains more frequently. Some of these people acquired rustic cabins built by the early homesteaders and converted them into camps. Paul Schaefer, a contractor from Schenectady, was one such person.
Making the Call for Wilderness
It’s a simple thing to do, taking no more than a minute of one’s time. We must let our new governor know that making Follensby Pond “forever wild” is our preferred outcome – that the tract has been locked up long enough.
The Paint Mine and the Tower
Part 2 of 3 Locals regarded Crane and Huckleberry mountains as places to pick berries—specifically blackberries, raspberries, and huckleberries (blueberries)—as well as a source of paint pigment and other minerals. Outsiders, however, viewed the mountain in terms of its recreational potential.
The Lady of Crane Mountain
Part 1 of 3 The former Crane Mountain guide and log skidder also returned annually to the Adirondacks, where she continued to feel a connection to the rugged landscape and the people who sought a living there.
Have a Little Faith in the Forest Preserve
The Forest Preserve has been and will continue to be the best tool we have in the Adirondacks to keep land – and the community of life it supports – in a “forever wild” state. Now is not the time to lose faith, nor to indulge in the conceit that nature is static and can be kept unchanged under a glass bubble. The Follensby Pond Tract needs to be added to the cultural and natural heritage we call the Forest Preserve, and the public needs to be invested in its future.
The Glory of Fall in the Adirondacks
If there is one time of the year that I wish would last much longer, it’s the period from mid-September through mid-October. The lack of bugs, the cool days and cooler nights, the brilliant sunshine and the crisp moonlit forests — these are all the things that form the roots of life’s deepest pleasures.
This Land Is Your Land
What made these new lands different from most others, though, was undoubtedly the fact they were already occupied by hundreds of hunting camps. This was not simply opening up vast acreages of forest that had been previously denied to the public-at-large, but driving out the leaseholders who were already there. One can rightly argue that as public lands they will serve more people and provide all sorts of wilderness-based benefits, but I’m sure it still stings for the minority who find themselves at the losing end of the equation.
Cuomo’s Divisive Adirondack Legacy
The Adirondack legacy of former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo is more than just a land acquisition and a failed snowmobile master plan. The one project that can be fully attributed to Cuomo involved a mine, a protected wilderness, and a highly controversial amendment to the state’s constitution that allowed one to gain access to the other.