The Adirondack Park is a publicly protected, elliptical area encompassing much of the northeastern lobe of Upstate New York. It is the largest park and the largest state-level protected area in the contiguous United States, and the largest National Historic Landmark. The park covers some 6.1 million acres (2.5×106 ha), a land area roughly the size of Vermont and greater than the National Parks of Yellowstone, Yosemite, Grand Canyon, Glacier, and Great Smoky Mountains combined.
The Adirondack Park boundary, commonly referred to as the ‘Blue Line,’ contains the entire Adirondack Mountain range, as well as some surrounding areas, all within the state of New York. The park includes all of Hamilton and Essex counties, as well as considerable portions of Clinton, Franklin, Fulton, Herkimer, St. Lawrence, and Warren counties and small portions of Lewis, Oneida, Saratoga, and Washington counties as well. (The Clinton County towns of Altona and Dannemora, despite being entirely within the park boundary, are specifically excluded from the park by statute, due to the large prison facilities in both towns.)
Not all of the land within the park is owned by the state, although new sections are frequently purchased or donated. State land comprises 2.7 million acres (1.1×106 ha), about 45% of the park’s area, including the highest peaks in New York State, as well as Mount Marcy, the highest elevation in the state. About 1 million acres (400,000 ha) of this is classified as wilderness, with most of the remainder managed under the somewhat less stringent wild forest classification. Villages and hamlets comprise less than 1% of the area of the park; the remaining area of more than 3 million acres (1.2×106 ha) is privately held but is generally sparsely developed.[3] There is often no clear demarcation between state, private, and wilderness lands in the park. Signs marking the Adirondack Park boundary can be found on most of the major roads in the region, but there are no entrance gates and no admission fee.
The sale of the 36,600-acre Whitney Park estate in the Adirondacks to Texas developer Todd Interests has failed after six months. The $125 million deal collapsed due to restrictions preventing state ownership of any of the land.
A final compromise—a 200-year lease of 32,000 acres to the state—was proposed to bypass the estate terms of the late John Hendrickson, who had opposed state ownership due to poor stewardship of a previous land sale (citing the eradication of native trout from Little Tupper Lake). However, according to Todd Interests, Gov. Kathy Hochul’s administration rejected the lease option.
“The one clear plan that we could execute on with our seller’s consent, was a 200-year lease to the state of New York,” said Shawn Todd, chairman of Todd Interests, in a statement to Adirondack Explorer. “In contrast, the state wants solely to acquire the 32,000 acres of land from us upon our acquisition, which is something we are willing to do but do not have the capability of doing so, absent relief from our seller. To that end, this seems to be an unsolvable challenge.”
Back in my college days I used to either ride my bike or drive up in the pickup to Point Au Roche State Park, which is located about 8 miles from Plattsburgh. It has fantastic views of Lake Champlain, and on less humid days, some great views of the Adirondack Mountains.
I went for a walk out along Long Point on Sunday Night and Monday morning. It was amazing to come back to the place which I so much remember from when I was back in college. The only difference I noticed was the wind turbines you could see on Rand Hill, just barely through the evening haze.
When I went for the walk this night, it was very hazy and hot. It wasn’t raining, but from the amount of fog and humidity you might not have guess it.
The next morning was almost as hazy and hot and humid, but with some nicer views.
