For Immediate Release
September 27, 2024
Contact: Dave Gibson, 518-469-4081, dgibson@adirondackwild.org
Or Ken Rimany, krimany@adirondackwild.org

60th Anniversary of the National Wilderness Preservation Act

Preservation Act, October 11 in North Creek

North Creek, NY – Adirondack Wild’s 2024 Annual Meeting on Friday, October 11 at Tannery Pond Community Center in North Creek, NY will also serve as a celebration of the National Wilderness Act’s 60th anniversary. “National wilderness in law was inspired, in large part, from our state’s constitutional protection of the Adirondack and Catskill Forest Preserve dating to 1894,” said Adirondack Wild’s David Gibson.

Adirondack Wild’s meeting runs from 11 AM until 3:30 PM and is free and open to the public. Light refreshments will be available. Please bring your own bag lunches. Advance registration is appreciated by visiting www.adirondackwild.org or emailing Ken Rimany at krimany@adirondackwild.org.  

The National Act’s author, Howard Zahniser and his wife Alice Zahniser raised their children during summers near North Creek in the Johnsburg hamlet of Bakers Mills. Zahniser was schooled in New York’s “forever wild” constitution by Adirondack wilderness champion Paul Schaefer. The two men hiked and explored the Siamese Ponds, High Peaks, and other Adirondack Wildernesses.  Zahniser began to draft the National Wilderness Act from his Bakers Mills cabin.

“We invite the public to our North Creek meeting to celebrate the fact that the Adirondacks, the North Creek area, and the Town of Johnsburg are, in a real sense, where the National Wilderness Act took root.”

Adirondack Wild will show its film “Forever Wild,” and then invites attendees to speak briefly about what wilderness, including the Adirondack or Catskill Forest Preserve, means to them and to their lives and quality of life. “We would enjoy hearing how and why wilderness is constantly relevant to Adirondack residents and visitors,” Gibson added.

2024 Award honorees to be recognized at the meeting include:

  • Neil Woodworth, former executive director of the Adirondack Mountain Club. Woodworth will receive Adirondack Wild’s Paul Schaefer Wilderness Award.
  • Sara Frankenfield, GIS Coordinator for the Warren County Department of Planning and Community Development. She will receive Adirondack Wild’s Wild Stewardship Award.
  • Helen Chase, former chair of the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation’s Forest Preserve Advisory Committee, and former chair of the Catskill Park Centennial Committee. She will receive Champion of the Forest Preserve recognition.

For more information about the meeting and to register, visit adirondackwild.org/events/annual-meeting-2024.

Adirondack Wild: Friends of the Forest Preserve is a not for profit, membership organization devoted to the protection and stewardship of wilderness and other wild lands through advocacy and education. The organization protects wild lands from threats, holds officials accountable and proposes policy reforms.