A Political History of the Adirondack Park and
Forest Preserve
The Adirondack Park Agency and
Beyond
The Adirondack Park Agency
One thing was becoming painfully
obvious by the middle of the 20th Century: that despite the strict
Constitutional controls over the use of Adirondack Forest Preserve lands,
there were no regulations whatsoever regarding the use of private lands
within the Blue Line. The Conservation Department had virtually no authority
over private development, and development was on its way. The construction
of the Adirondack Northway, or Interstate 87, greatly eased access to the
Adirondacks, and cheap motels, taverns, and other evidence of
commercialization quickly began to adulterate the wilderness character of
the region. The subdivisions, housing developments, and second-home
construction that had so tainted Vermont were all on their way to the Park.
Governor Nelson Rockefeller was aware of all of this, and in 1968, after the
effort for the Adirondack National Park had failed, appointed the Temporary
Study Commission on the Future of the Adirondacks. Harold Hochschild, who
founded the Adirondack Museum, became chairman. Two years later, near the
end of 1970, the Commission submitted its report to Rockefeller. Numerous
recommendations were made, and many of them were to be expected. For
example, the Commission encouraged the State to leave Article XIV alone, and to leave the National Park
Service out. Chief amongst the Commission's recommendations, however, was
its first:
An independent, bipartisan Adirondack Park Agency should be
created by statute with general power over the use of private and public
land in the Park
The idea of forming such an Agency was monumental. The state was now
attempting to intrude into the private affairs of the residents of the Park;
the APA would be able to tell the people what they could and could not do
with their own land. Yet the reasoning for the creation of the APA was very
simple: it was the general consensus that something had to be done to
stem rampant development, and individual towns could not possibly be
expected to formulate their own zoning and development regulations,
considering their lack of resources for the task. Nor were the interests of
the State at large always upheld in the decisions of local planning boards.
Both corners, the advocates of conservation and those calling the APA a
violation of individual property rights, settled in for what was certain to
become a very, very hotly contested matter. Some argued that the formation
of the APA was a good idea, but one that was not necessary; the Department of Environmental
Conservation (DEC), formed in 1970 to expand the power of the
Conservation Department, could handle the extra workload. Unfortunately, the
DEC, like the former Conservation Department, had no authority over private
land use.
The battle in the legislature commenced when Rockefeller handed them the
bill near the end of their session in 1971. The conservation lobby knew it
didn't have much time before the legislature would adjourn for the year in
early June, and many lawmakers would gladly see the bill filed away until
the next session. A compromise was reached just before adjournment, allowing
towns until September 1971 to write their own zoning ordinances, which would
be untouchable by the APA. Hochschild, knowing full well that given three
months, every single town in the Park would push regulations through,
rejected the compromise. He offered the towns until July 1 to pass such
plans, which was all but a symbolic gesture, considering that date was only
three weeks away. The bill went to the floor with Hochschild's offer, and on
Monday, June 7, 1971, it passed the Assembly 123 to 24. On the next day, the
Senate adopted the bill, 22-14. It was quickly signed by Rockefeller. The Adirondack
Park Agency was born.
The State Land Master Plan
The Agency had its work cut out for it. It had to develop two comprehensive
plans: the State Land Master Plan, which was to cover use of the lands
comprising the Forest Preserve, and the Adirondack Park Land Use and
Development Plan, which was to regulate development on private land within
the park. On June 1, 1972, the APA, in consultation with the DEC, submitted
its State Land Master Plan, which, unlike the Land Use and Development Plan,
only required the Governor's approval, rather than that of the entire
legislature. The plan broke the Forest Preserve holdings into seven
categories based primarily on the extent to which man had affected the
landscape. The seven classifications are Wilderness; Primitive; Canoe; Wild
Forest; Intensive Use; Wild, Scenic, and Recreational Rivers; and Travel
Corridors. The Master Plan states:
A wilderness area, in contrast with those areas where man and
his own works dominate the landscape, is an area where the earth and its
community of life are untrammeled by man - where man himself is a visitor
who does not remain. A wilderness area is further defined to mean an area of
state land or water having a primeval character, without significant
improvements or permanent human habitation, which is protected and managed
so as to preserve, enhance and restore, where necessary, its natural
conditions, and which (1) generally appears to have been affected primarily
by the forces of nature, with the imprint of man's work substantially
unnoticeable; (2) has outstanding opportunities for solitude or a primitive
and unconfined type of recreation; (3) has at least ten thousand acres of
land and water or is of sufficient size and character as to made practicable
its preservation and use in an unimpaired condition; and (4) may also
contain ecological, geological or other features of scientific, educational,
scenic or historical value.
Man has affected wilderness areas the least out of any of the other six
classifications, and therefore wilderness areas have the most restrictions
placed upon their use. The only conforming "structures and
improvements" are lean-tos, privies, existing dams, and foot trails and
their respective bridges and signboards. Ranger cabins, aside from the Lake
Colden outpost, are non-conforming, and should be removed (the state has in
fact carried out this mandate). The Lake Colden station is explicitly
excluded from this death sentence, and "may be retained
indefinitely" due to its location in one of the most heavily used
sections of the most heavily used wilderness area. Perhaps most notably,
motorized vehicles are prohibited from operating within the boundaries of a
wilderness. The use of snowmobiles, float planes, ATV's, and chains saws, is
therefore not allowed in a designated wilderness. Fifteen such wilderness
areas were initially designated by the Plan, making up about 45% of the
public land within the park.
On the other side of the coin are intensive use areas, which have the fewest
restrictions placed on them. These areas include state campgrounds,
developed beaches, boat launches, etc. Also included within the
classification of "intensive use" are the bobsled and luge runs on
Mt. Van Hoevenberg, the ski area and highway on Whiteface Mt, and the Gore
Mt ski area.
Adirondack Park Land Use and Development Plan
The plan for Public Lands was relatively quietly approved by Governor
Rockefeller. The same could not be said for the plan for Private Lands in
March 1973. In generating the plan, the Agency consulted with
representatives from Vermont who, in response to growing second-home and
condominium development, enacted land-use regulations in the late 1960's and
early 70's. The APA again divided the land up into several different
classifications based upon intended use. These were industrial use, which
was the least restrictive; hamlet; moderate intensity use; low intensity
use; rural use; and resource management, which was the most restrictive.
Lands owned by paper companies or sportsmen's clubs, such as the Adirondack
League Club south of Old Forge, typically fell into the category of resource
management. Further, the plan divided all proposed development projects into
two categories: large-scale projects, or Class A; and small-scale ones,
termed Class B. Class A projects required the direct approval of the APA,
while Class B projects would be approved by the government at the local
level.
The plan was eventually passed by the legislature after a number
compromises, one of which guaranteed that the state would continue paying
the towns property taxes on its lands, and a few of which weakened the
development restrictions, particularly along shorelines. As Governor Nelson
Rockefeller signed the Adirondack Park Land Use and Development Plan into
law on May 22, 1973, he exclaimed, "The Adirondacks are preserved
forever." In his book The Adirondack Park: A Political History,
Frank Graham, Jr. notes, "'Forever' carries a lot of weight in a
Constitution. Its weight is less easily gauged when it issues from the mouth
of a governor who has one eye cocked on national office."
Opposition
The heat generated by the Land Use plan was immediate. Adirondackers said
the APA was effectively stealing their property, and that they were being
denied basic rights to do as they wished with their own property. A
nation-wide economic slump soon after the Agency's regulations took effect
did nothing to help the image either; it was easy for Adirondackers to blame
their troubles on the APA despite the fact that everyone else in the nation
at the time had the same troubles. Paul Schneider, in The Adirondacks: A
History of America's First Wilderness, writes: "It didn't seem to
matter that the region had failed as an agricultural center, failed as a
mining center, and failed as a manufacturing center all by itself long
before the advent of the APA." For the most part, the hostility never
amounted to more than harsh words. There were flare-ups, however, including
one incident where a man was caught attempting to burn down the Agency's
headquarters. The APA didn't do much to help its own image, however. It
handled itself in a very beaurocratic fashion much of the time, and often
took its time in processing permits. The first man cited for a criminal
zoning violation was a DEC forest ranger, the second, a Boy Scout leader.
Many of its actions were a public relations nightmare. It was easy to hate
the APA.
Things did begin to get better, however. The Agency made many efforts to
improve its tarnished image, and to act more on the individual level than as
an official government agency. In 1976, due to a modification of the law at
its own urging, the APA was allowed to provide civil penalties for zoning
infractions, whereas previously its only discourse was criminal prosecution.
The power of the APA was challenged several times in the court system, and
was repeatedly upheld. Eventually the hostilities died down to a dull roar;
things were back to status quo. Many who were originally vehemntly opposed
to the APA now accept as a necessity. Pete Fish, for example, who retired in
1998 after nearly 25 years of service as Forest Ranger in the High Peaks,
had this to say about the APA:
As much as I have wrangled in the past over what the APA has
done, they are dealing with a tough population. ... All you have to do if
you wonder about the APA is to go to the Catskills and see the lack of it,
see what unbridled development and expansion has done there. You can see the
ghastly old hotels crumbling to the ground, and look at bungalow colonies
crumbling to the ground. You can see the tasteless display of crap all along
the roadways and the rest of it to realize what an important thing the APA
is.
The Adirondack Park Agency as it currently exists is made up of eleven
members. Eight of these are citizens of the state that are not employed in
any way by the state, and are appointed by the Governor and approved by the
Senate. Five of these appointees must reside within the Park, each from a
different county. The other three are the Commissioner of the Department of
Environmental Conservation, the Commissioner of Economic Development, and
the Secretary of State. No more than five members can be from any one
political party. The Agency is currently facing budget cuts due to
governmental downsizing under the Pataki administration that are threatening
not only its usefulness, but also its existence. And as of yet, there is
still no one in public relations.
View a breakdown of land use classifications
within the park
View the current Adirondack Park Land Use and Development Plan:
PDF format, 300K (recommended, although
three pages do not appear to display correctly)
Plain text format, 220K
Go back to the Threats to Forever Wild.
Go back to Adirondack Political History main
page.