Adirondack

Why should it be a National Park?

The Adirondack Mountains encompass nearly all of northeastern New York State, between Albany and the borders of Vermont and Canada. Roughly six-million-acres of this region are currently managed as Adirondack Park, a state park larger than any National Park in the lower 48 states. Even with its prominent name, vast scale, and the 7-10 million visitors it receives a year, few people outside of the northeast even know what the Adirondacks look like.

The mountains rise like a plateau from the forested lowlands that surround them. While the mountain range was once much higher repeated glaciation, the process of being covered and uncovered by ice sheets during ice ages, flattened the once prominent peaks into domes of striated rock. The ice dug out surrounding valleys and waterways and created over 30,000 miles of rivers and streams, and thousands of lakes. These waters allowed lush wetlands and old-growth forests to prosper, giving life to large and diverse animal populations.

In 1885, New York state recognized the unique character of the Adirondacks and set aside the region as a state park. Ever since, it has been managed as part of the New York State Forest Preserve, which also protects parts of the Catskill Mountains. In 1894, the New York State Constitution added, Article VII, Section 7, 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."

Prior to this constitutional amendment, the Adirondacks had been open to logging. Fortunately, in the 20th Century, the conservation movement drove people to protect their local natural wonders and these logging practices were largely halted. However, unlike National Parks this state system allowed the local population to stay and play an active role in the park contributing to its uniqueness. Over half the park is privately owned, with 130,000 year-round residents and over a hundred villages, while the rest of the park is managed as wilderness. These towns survive on the seasonal tourism this mountain wilderness provides.

Despite Adirondack Park being widely accepted as a well-run preserve, several attempts have been made to establish an Adirondack National Park, including a popular, but ultimately unsuccessful campaign from 1967. In the years following this attempt, the borders of Adirondack Park have continued to grow, but the calls for elevating the park into a National Park have trailed off. While support for a National Park continues to be controversial, the scale and beauty of the mountains coupled with the lack of National Parks in this region, make it a compelling candidate.

There have been several attempts to create an "Adirondack Mountains National Park". This 1968 proposal was the closest, but fell short.