Living With The Adirondack Forest

In the land-use controversy, some voices have still not been heard. Catherine Henshaw Knott interviewed residents of the Adirondacks on the complex issues of conservation. Knott concludes that the participation of local people in decision making is the only process that can shift an increasingly hostile cycle toward resolution. 19 photos.

Attitudes about land use, Catherine Henshaw Knott suggests, may reflect profound differences in class, religion, and life experience, pitting urban Americans who see nature at risk against rural Americans whose lives are dominated by nature's forces. She documents the thoughts and feelings of people whose lives are intimately connected to the forest, including loggers, trappers, craftspeople, and guides, as well as tree farmers and maple syrup producers. After describing the key players in the conflict and chronicling battles and bridge-building between stake-holders, Knott concludes that the participation of local people in decision making is the only process that can shift an increasingly hostile cycle toward resolution.

One hundred full-color photographs illustrate this history and current health of upstate New York's Adirondack Park, the first private-public partnership dedicated to the protection of a U.S. wilderness area. "Here is the first lesson about the Adirondacks, captured in Gary Randorf's magnificent photos. It is not only alpine granite—in fact, of the park's six million acres, only about eighty-five, scattered on top of the tallest mountains, are that gorgeous pseudo-Arctic. Aside from the touristed High Peaks, the Adirondacks comprise millions upon millions of acres of Low Peaks, of beavery draws and bearish woods, of hills and hills and hills, countless drainages and muddy ponds . . . The second point about the Adirondacks, a glory carefully revealed in the words and pictures of this book, is that it represents a second-chance wilderness and, as such, a hope that the damage caused by human beings is not irreversible. It is metaphor as much as place."—from the foreword by Bill McKibben In The Adirondacks: Wild Island of Hope, Gary A. Randorf offers 100 photographs to illustrate this unique, comprehensive history and natural history of the Adirondack Park, the first private-public partnership in the United States dedicated to the protection of a wilderness area. Situated in northeast New York, this regional park of six million acres represents a unique blend of public wildlands intermixed with commercial forests, farms, mines, private parks, prisons, scattered homes, dozens of villages, and a year-round population of 130,000. The ongoing attempts over the last century to make the Adirondacks a park have made this region a "striving ground" for living with the land, rather than outside or above it. Much of the strife is over finding a right relationship to the land, treating it not as a commodity to be exploited but as a community to which all living things belong and upon which all depend. Today, the Adirondacks regional park with its six million acres "represents a second-chance wilderness"—as Bill McKibben writes in his foreword to this book. The concerns of this park are the same concerns that apply to all of America's parks, recreational areas, and wildernesses with the addition of how to maintain the fragile peace between human and natural communities. How that "second-chance" can be realized is the focus of Gary Randorf's text and stunning color photographs.

Go on a journey that begins in towering, broadleaf treetops and ends tangled in roots deep below the ground. Using the Adirondacks as an example, Life in a Deciduous Forest examines the physical features, processes, and many different species of plants and animals that make up a unique deciduous forest ecosystem. Find out about the impact of humans on this once-pristine ecosystem, and what is being done to save it. Travel from light-filled branches to darkly shadowed forest paths and learn what makes this ecosystem special. Book jacket.

This official book published with the Adirondack Mountain Club celebrates America's original hiking destination through breathtaking contemporary photography, maps, rarely seen archival photos, and a text that brings the history of the trails to life. The Adirondack Park is home to the largest protected natural area in the lower 48 states--six million acres including more than 10,000 lakes, 30,000 miles of rivers and streams, and thousands of miles of hiking trails running from mountain summits through a wide variety of habitats including wetlands and old-growth forests. How better to view this wilderness than afoot on the many trails, many leading to some of the most picturesque summits in North America. There are trails for everyone in the Adirondacks. Today, thousands enjoy hiking, skiing, and snowshoeing trails to backcountry destinations all around the park while others aspire to climb all 46 peaks. Water trails include the historic Fulton Chain of Lakes, Raquette River, and Saranac River routes, in addition to more intimate paddles across wild lakes and waters that meander through towering mountains and verdant forests. Every season has its own charm, all portrayed here in this one of a kind volume of history and photography along Adirondack trails. This is a book for anyone who enjoys travelling through the Adirondack backcountry and includes unique and picturesque destinations throughout the Adirondack Park in addition to a comprehensive history on hiking in the Adirondacks. From the dramatic beauty of the Lake George Wild Forest, to numerous fire tower summits and open ledges and mountaintops scattered around the park, and the rugged splendor of the High Peaks and bucolic beauty of the Champlain Valley, this book covers it all.

Greater in area than Yosemite, Grand Canyon, Olympic, Yellowstone, and Glacier national parks combined, New York State's Adirondack Park is the largest public park in the nation. A land of contrasts and paradoxes, loved, feared, exploited, protected, argued over, eulogized, and affected for better or worse by the hand of man for more than 300 years, the Adirondack forests, rivers, lakes, and peaks attract nearly 9 million visitors a year. From the geologic origins and glacial scouring of the region, to Indians, early settlers, and the logging, mining, and tourist industries, Jane Eblen Keller unfolds the dramatic history of the Adirondacks and the men and women who tried to tame the wilderness. The author also recounts how man and nature have interacted with each other in the region, indeed, how our American attitude toward nature shaped Adirondack history. This is a highly readable and amusing introduction to both Adirondack and conservation literature.

Barbara McMartin narrates the history of Adirondack environmental policy in depth, beginning with the 1970 formation of the Adirondack Park Agency, set up to regulate private development and to oversee the planning of public terrain. Although hailed as the most innovative land-use legislation of its time, it ignited a wildfire of controversy, creating a landscape of conflict. Park residents protested. Government stood firm. Over the decades, disparate groups have sought to shape an effective program to protect Adirondack wildland but cannot seem to work together. This is the first comprehensive account of that ongoing drama: a stirring story of the environmental movement, public action, and government failure and success.

The Adirondacks have been written about since they were first spied by Europeans more than five hundred years ago. Yet for most of the intervening centuries, few of those writers lived in the region of which they wrote--they were not part of the landscape. That has changed in recent years as writers have moved to the Adirondacks and formed a literary community. Perhaps inspired by these writers, longtime residents have discovered that they, too, could be part of such a community. From scratching out a living in the harsh landscape to the wonders of a moonlit cross-country ski, these writers celebrate life in the Adirondacks. In this remarkable collection of essays, the experiences of Adirondack natives are interwoven with the land in a part of America that is both demanding and rewarding.