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Pete Nelson
14 posts
Pete is a teacher, writer, essayist and activist whose work has appeared in a variety of Adirondack publications, and regularly in the Adirondack Almanack. He is the current AWA board chair.

Update: OPDMDs and Wilderness Access for People with Disabilities

February 7, 2025
Pete Nelson
Opinion, Protection
Dear AWA Supporters: We are facing a potential crisis with Adirondack Park advocacy which should concern all of us.  There is a growing perception that green groups are willing to…
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Disabled Access Boreas Ponds

People with Disabilities have a Right to Accommodations – So Does Wilderness 

November 29, 2024
Pete Nelson
Opinion, Protection
It has long been a characteristic of human societies that oppressed classes end up pitted against each other, as though one is the cause of the other’s oppression. In America,…
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Protecting Remoteness: AWA at the Adirondack Sports Summer Expo

March 30, 2023
Pete Nelson
Knowledge, Protection
Remoteness, State Land Master Plan

Protecting and expanding remoteness is an AWA core value, and we have several projects underway that specifically challenge the State of New York to better protect remoteness, which is a rare and threatened resource, even in the Adirondack Park.

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Adapting to Jenkins Mountain

October 19, 2022
Pete Nelson
Knowledge, Protection
Paul Smiths VIC, Visitor Use Management

From AWA’s perspective, the State is on the verge of generational change in wilderness management that will more effectively protect the Adirondack Park.

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Examining Hiker Dispersal: What’s Next

December 1, 2021
Pete Nelson
Protection
Adaptive Management, Blue Ridge Wilderness, High Peaks Wilderness

ne of the issues AWA is working on is dispersal: the strategy of redirecting hikers from busier to lesser-used trailheads. We started with an informal survey sent to our supporters, to help us gain additional perspective on hikers’ views of dispersal. We learned quite a bit from…

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Leading the Way on Adaptive Management

November 26, 2021
Pete Nelson
Protection
Adaptive Management, High Peaks Wilderness, Paul Smiths VIC, Visitor Use Management
In partnership with our allies, including Adirondack Wild, the Adirondack Mountain Club, Paul Smiths Visitor Interpretive Center and Technical Advisor Chad Dawson, AWA is leading the way in promoting adaptive…
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Hikers at cascade trailhead

Hiker Dispersal – Take the Survey!

June 22, 2021
Pete Nelson
Protection
High Peaks Wilderness
1 Comment
Dear AWA Supporters: The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) and the Adirondack Mountain Reserve (AMR) have enacted a pilot permit program at the AMR. This brings to the…
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Expertise and Adaptive Management for the High Peaks

March 15, 2021
Pete Nelson
Protection
Adaptive Management, High Peaks Wilderness, Visitor Use Management
AWA’s first order of business in serving on the High Peaks Advisory Group (HPAG) was to ensure that protection of the Wilderness was a paramount and inviolate principle.  That was…
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Leading with Principles

March 6, 2021
Pete Nelson
Protection
High Peaks Wilderness
Friday, March 5, 2021 Dear AWA Supporter: Earlier this afternoon, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) released the long-awaited Final Report from the High Peaks Strategic Planning…
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white-lilly-pond-brendan-wiltse

Protecting the Wilderness with Positive Reinforcement

November 8, 2020
Pete Nelson
Knowledge, Protection
High Peaks Wilderness, Permits
The busy season in the Adirondacks is winding down, but with a bang.  The Coronavirus pandemic, which depressed visitation for the first part of the summer, has clearly caused a…
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Hikers on Algonquin

AWA Takes an Active Role in High Peaks Visitor Management

February 7, 2020
Pete Nelson
Protection
High Peaks Wilderness
At Adirondack Wilderness Advocates we refer to our core mission as KEEP: Knowledge, Enjoyment, Expansion and Protection of the Adirondack Park’s wildest places.  That goes for the High Peaks Wilderness as much as…
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Gothics from Boreas Ponds

High Peaks Wilderness Gateway

November 25, 2016
Pete Nelson
Expansion
Boreas Ponds, High Peaks Wilderness
This proposal is a companion piece to the Adirondack Wilderness Advocates’ proposal for a true Wilderness classification for the Boreas Ponds Tract with Gulf Brook Road closed at the gate. …
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RSS Adirondack Wilderness News

  • A voice in the Wilderness - Adirondack Daily Enterprise May 6, 2025
  • COMMENTARY: When it comes to mobility devices in wilderness, more work is needed to understand what users want - The Adirondack Almanack - May 5, 2025
  • It's Debatable: Should motorized mobility devices be allowed in Wilderness Areas? - - The Adirondack Almanack - April 21, 2025

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