Adirondack Wilderness Experience
Summer 2007
ES 241
(4 credits)
Bob Turner
Assistant Professor
Government Department
Kyle Nichols
Geoscience Department
The Adirondack Park is the birthplace of the American concept of wilderness and land conservation. It is the second oldest park in the U.S. and the largest publicly protected area in the contiguous United States, larger than Yellowstone, Everglades, Glacier, and Grand Canyon parks combined. Today, it is on the cutting edge of how to turn the abstract principles of environmental sustainability into a set of feasible political, economic, and ecological principles. This class will examine the natural setting of the park, the environmental impact of humans on the park, the evolution of popular views of the wilderness, the attempts to balance development and preservation, the prospects of bio-regional level governance, and the major challenges to ecological, social, and economic success in the Adirondack Park.
The emphasis in this class will be in experiential learning. The course will draw on practitioners and scholars who have created and managed the Park while at the same time debating its merits. We have recruited individuals for their depth of understanding of the issues and the divergence of their perspectives. Moreover, we will also go into the wilderness itself in various hikes and/or canoe trips. Ebenezer Emmons, the director of the State Survey of the Adirondacks in 1836, wrote, “It is not however by description that the scenery of this region can be made to pass before the eye of the imagination. It must be witnessed; the solitary summits in the distance, the cedars and firs which clothe the rock and shore, must be seen; the solitude must be felt.”
Learning
Objectives
Students will be able to:
- Discuss the dominant human uses (forestry, wildlife, agriculture, mining, recreation) of the physical and ecological resources of the park, how they have changed over time, and how patterns of human interactions have affected the environment.
- Analyze how the public’s attitude towards the wilderness has changed over the years and how it has impacted public policy on the wilderness.
- Analyze how the regional governing arrangements of the Adirondacks have evolved over time in response to conflicting public demands.
- Synthesize the conflicting or complementary perceptions of how to balance development and preservation.
- Evaluate the major challenges to ecological, social, and economic success in the Adirondack Park.
Books and Readings
Schneider,
Paul. The
Adirondacks: A History of America’s First Wilderness.
Jenkins,
Jerry. The
Adirondack Atlas: A Geographic Portrait of the Adirondack Park.
Reading Packet of articles, to be provided
Schedule
p
June 3
Day Long Field Trip, Pharaoh Lake Wilderness Area
Section
I. Early Land Use and the Emergence of the Wilderness
Aesthetic
June
6 Settlement and Industry
Schneider 4–12
Adirondack Atlas: p. 14-18, 69-77; 80–83, 99-111,
June 7 The Arrival of Tourists
William Murray, from Adventures in the Wilderness, 1869
J.T. Headley, from The Adirondacks: Or, Life in the Woods, 1864
Ralph Waldo Emerson, “The Adirondacks”
and Nature
Terrie: 20–43; 106–113.
Schneider 21–23; Atlas: 88-91.
Reading Essay 1 due
June
8 and 9 Overnight Field Trip
June 8, Tour Adirondack Museum, Presentations by Museum Staff
Stay overnight at Great Camp Sagamore, Raquette Lake
June 9, Trip to Paul Smiths Hamline Pond Wilderness Restoration Project
Reflection Essay 2 Due
Section
II. Governance of the Adirondack Park
June
13 Creation of Adirondack Forest Preserve and
the Forever Wild Clause
Atlas: 25-27;
Verplanck Colvin, from Adirondack Explorations, 1997: pp, 87–97, 98–110
Terrie 6 and 7
Schneider 25: 287-304.
June
14 The Creation of the Adirondack Park Agency
and Land Use Conflict
Terrie 8:134–183;
Atlas: 24-33.
Catherine Henshaw Knott, from Living with the Adirondack Forest, 1998: Chaps. 7
Schneider 26–28: 305–334; Atlas: 205-7.
Reading Essay 2 due
June
15 Field Work- Ascent of a High Peak to be determined
Isachsen et al., Geology of New York, 1991: Chaps. 3–4, 11–12
Review DEC High Peaks Regulations http://internal/website/dlf/publands/adk/hpwa/index.html
Stay at Adirondack Loj-- http://www.adk.org/ad_wilderness/rates.aspx
June 16 Competing Views on the Future of the Adirondacks
Proposed Speakers
Ross Whaley, Chairman, Adirondack Park Agency (APA)
John Sheehan of the Adirondack Council,
Peter Litchfield of the Blue Line Council,
Virginia Brandreth of the Adirondack Landowners Association,
J.R. Risley, Supervisor of the Town of Inlet and member of the Adirondack Association of Towns and Villages
Reflection Essay 3 Due
Section III Environmental Challenges to the Adirondacks
June
20 Economic and Ecological Challenges Facing the
Adirondack Park
Is Industrial Logging Better Than Vacation Homes
Schneider 17–18: 197–217
Atlas: 99-111;
Knott 7: 153–215.
June
21 Competing Recreational Visions --Motorized
Vehicle Use in the Adirondack Park
Guest Speakers
David Gibson, Exec. Director, Assoc. for the Protection of the Adirondacks
Reading Essay 3 due
June 22 Field Trip to Adirondack Lakes Survey Corporation
Guest Speaker Karen Roy, Scientist, Adirondack Lakes Survey Corp.
Hubbard Brook Research Foundation, Acid Rain Revisited, 2004. http://www.hbrook.sr.unh.edu/hbfound/report.pdf
Volker Mohnen, “The Challenge of Acid Rain,” Scientific American 259(2):30–38
June 23
Reflection Essay 4 Due
June 27 The Proposed Oswagatchie Wilderness Area
Proposed Guest Speakers
Wilderness Coordinator, Atlantic Chapter, Sierra Club\
Andy Keal, GIS Coordinator, Wildlife Conservation Society
Tom Martin, NYS Department of Environmental Conservation
June 28-29 Overnight Canoe Camping Trip on the Oswagatchie River
Reflection Essay 5 Due