Adirondack Park & Resilence

One of my favorite things to do is read about the history of places. I look at old pictures and wonder what it was like to live back then. One place in particular that is close to my heart is the Adirondacks. For all of us here in the Northeast, we are privileged to be within a few hours drive to the oldest forest preserve in the US.

Little did I know that the Adirondacks, the original 7 million public acres (the park is now 6 million acres), was sold by the government for pennies on the dollar to pay debts for the Revolutionary War. Lumberman came in and logged the trees in the park and then let the land revert back to the state for unpaid taxes. By 1850 you began to see extensive destruction to the park through erosion and flooding.

One guy had a huge hand in getting Legislation to pass a bill to preserve the Adirondack Park....Verplanck Colvin. Colvin spent 20 years from 1872 to 1892, when the bill was passed, gathering information about the park by hiking and exploring, then putting his findings in annual reports, to then send to the Legislation. These reports were to show if they did not pass a bill to protect the park, the park would be lost. Thank God for people like Verplanck!

This is one of the very reasons I love the outdoor enthusiast, more times than not, people who love the outdoors have such a passion for the outdoors that they will set a goal, and will not stop until they reach that goal! Imagine being Verplanck, sending annual reports for 20 years til he got the bill passed?

Wow!