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was >JVl."-JALu< to commemorate the lOath anniversary of MEMBERS CHAIRMAN Herman Cole, Jr. Essex County John R. Collins, Jr., Hamilton County Arthur V. Savage, Pelham Dr. Anne LaBastille, Herkimer County John W. Stock, Franklin County Peter S. Paine, Jr., New York City Elizabeth Thorndike, Rochester William M. Roden, Warren County EX.. OFFICIO Henry G. Williams Commissioner of Environmental Conservation Gail S. Shaffer Commissioner of Commerce Secretary of State Executive Director Thomas A. Ulasewicz 2 Dear Friends of the Adirondacks: in New State are indeed fortunate to be diversity and richness of the public land in the able to talk about a major environmental treasure in Park, a mix devoted to both sports and wilderness our midst. We are extremely lucky to have the values. In this particular case, the Master Plan tries Adirondack portion of the Forest Preserve in its to show a diversity of the public land use and splendor to extol. And even though the Forest wilderness areas of the Park, and although the pre­ came about, in part, as a result of rationales sent reprint is not up to date, it is, in spite of its defi~ for its preservation that were not the same as those of ciencies, a signal that the Adirondack Park Agency our generation, we are giad to have the wild places of and the Department of Environmental Conservation, our six million~acre Park on any terms. along with interested of the state, are always in the process of updating their programmatic Most New Yorkers know immediately of the value of understanding of the State lands. the Forest Preserve to the State. It contributes to a special kind of high quality rural life for people in the The presentation of this specific Centennial edition North Country. The wonders of its forests, i{s lakes, of the State Land Master Plan is very appropriate for its rivers and mountains, its /lora and its fauna make this year because, again, it highlights how important it a grand setting within which to live and work. the people of the State of New York feel the Forest ther, because of its lIuncivilized character, ' it is an Preserve is to both their heritage and their future. In attraction for tourists from all over the world; and its fact, it could be argued that there is no more vital presence is always a source of pride to citizens document to be presented continuously to the public, throughout the State of New York. And part of its to be continuously revised and talked about and uniqueness is the fact that the Forest Preserve is inter~ celebrated, than the State Land Master Plan itself. mixed with private lands and intersts that give it a For in how many ways do we in the State have an op~ special cultural setting, presenting varied hamlet portunity of showing off the greatness of the Adiron~ centers with diverse social backgrounds in conjunc­ dack Park? As you read it over again this time, or as tion with productive private farms, tourist lodges and you make use of its designations and descriptions, if camps, major summer and winter sports facilities and you come across ideas as to how it can be improved, the significant forest products industry. please let us know. In this way, we as a public agency can continue our work of environmental supervision The enclosed special Centennial edition of the State of this portion of the precious Forest Preserve within Land Master Plan is simply an example of how New the Adirondack Park. After all, it's your Forest Yorkers value the Forest Preserve, for the Master Preserve and Park. Plan itself attempts to lift up and show forth the Best to you) Herman F. Cole, Jr. Chairman 8 N I- ' .... , ..... overriding reason Preserve in 1885 was the nr~>CPln!·~nr'.n area as containing an fish, and game, saw the to maintain the watersheds in the headwaters of major rivers by allowing natural to predominate. acres of The continued Hudson, Mohawk, and land. Today consists of nearly 2.5 Black rivers from headwaters in the Adiron- million acres of State twelve Adirondack dacks and their value for transportation and com­ counties. Legislation the Adirondack Park merce demonstrate the merit of the Forest Preserve was passed in 1892 to concentrate Preserve acquisi­ philosophy. Recognition the added benefits of out­ tions within original "Blue Line." Blue Line door sports and recreation came later. The uplift of expanded over the years to delineate the spirit brought by undisturbed forests inspired some of six million acre Adirondack Park as we now the creators of the Forest Preserve and continues to know it. inspire those who visit the Preserve today or view it decade following enactment of statutory from afar. protection the Preserve was marked by The contrast between the Adirondack region a widespread public revelation of mismanagement) century ago and today could not more pronounc­ scandal, and outright corruption on the part of ed. By 1885, much of the land had been logged, various forestry commissions charged with its care. several species of animals had hunted to extinc­ the Constititutional tion, large tracts had burned, sometimes in fires so vention in 1894, could no place their trust in severe that organic topsoils were consumed. In public officials, and of the '-rl-· .. ""'-"'J defense of strengthening the wild" clause part of the fundamental of their governance. and incorporating it in the constitution, one of its They included the Wild clause in Con- sponsors, David McClure, pleaded: stitution, adding that "nor shall the timber theron be The hills, rock-ribbed and ancient as the sold, removed or " sun-the venerable woods-rivers that moved The first two sentences of wild" clause in majesty-and complaining brooks that of the York Constitution are strongest make the meadows green, these for years had preservation law in Not one word has been neglected by people of the State and been changed since their adoption on January 1j the great men of our State, the men of public 1895. spirit generally, forgotten that it was Almost a century of constitutional protection for necessary for health, the safety, and the Forest Preserve has resulted in a natural the comfort not to speak of the luxury of the ecosystem of stability. people of the people of this State, that our forests should be State, through government, have pro- preserved. vided a political stability which is reflected in the By the time the wild" clause was written, wild lands thus ", ... ,--.ror-rQ,rl rw""c.rc,rl the explorers of the 1700s was, in most cases, a highly To be sure, some recent Forest Preserve acqUlsl' disturbed ecosystem. With the exception of 45,000 tions are just scrub brush and aspen groves which acres of virgin forest isolated from logging by the will need another hundred years to revert to the reconstruction of Stillwater Reservoir in 1893, the ancestral types. And, setbacks to the natural early Forest Preserve contained only small stands of occur: windstorms, insect epidemics, or untouched forest. The mature boreal with a such as the "blowdown of 1950," dynamic mosaic of age and type had become patchy are the most Unlike a cen, even~aged stands of young forest. tury ago, wild fire potential in the Adirondacks is The native moose was reportedly killed near almost nonexistent mature expands and Raquette Lake in 1861, and wolves, lynx, and moun, little dry fuel is available. diversity of a natural tain lions were extirpated by the turn of the century. forest makes insect outbreaks less likely. With the loss of natural predators and opening of the However) today there is a new threat. In a and forest through logging, the deer population surged to ironic illustration of interdependence of fill the niche originally occupied by moose. ecosystems, the continued existence of the Beaver had been so heavily trapped for their fur Preserve may as never before in its that they had all but disappeared by 1900. Many of hundred year history. Airborne pollutants from both the best trout streams were clogged with slash and local and distant sources have left hundreds of sunken logs, eliminating miles of spawning beds. unspoiled Adirondack lakes so acidic they cannot Lack of forest cover left the streams too warm for support fish life. If fish are gone from the food chain, trout to inhabit. beaver, fisher) marten, fox, weasel, and avian life, But the seeds that lay dormant beneath the cleared which depend on them will soon disappear. There is lands and charred stumps burst to life once the a growing body of evidence that tree growth may be devastation stopped. The seedlings of 1885 are now similarly affected by industrial pollutants, and that towering mature trees, members of an evolving com' recent observation of hundreds of acres of dead red· munity well on its way to becoming a primeval forest spruce stands at high elevations does not demonstrate again. a natural successional phenomenon. The establishment of the Forest Preserve made With the exception of this threat, the resiliency of possible the re,creation of a wilderness. Most of the nature has made the forests and wildlife in the time this has been a natural process, but people have Adirondacks more stable than they have ever been intervened to speed up the regrowth. In the 1930s, since white man first entered the region. If we solve millions of trees were planted, hastening the return of the air pollution threat, the second century of the forest cover. Preserve will continue to provide mature forests with As a primeval forest returned to nearly half the the most dynamic, diverse, yet stable foundation to Adirondack Park, the wildlife best suited to that en, serve the many concerns of the people of the State.

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