Thoreau, wilderness and our community of life A section from Ed Zahniser’s 2004 lecture explores the impact of Thoreau and the wilderness on communities “Henry David Thoreau” aired on PBS. This renewed focus, courtesy of Ken Burns films, on Thoreau’s life reminded me of a presentation by Ed Zahniser entitled “Wilderness and Our Community of…
COMMENTARY: DEC mobility device policy for state lands requires immediate oversight In a letter, the nonprofit wilderness advocate Adirondack Wild: Friends of the Forest Preserve is asking the Adirondack Park Agency’s State Land Committee to immediately review and comment on the new Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) policy draft affecting the state’s wilderness areas and…
Coming of age in the Adirondacks Paul Schaefer grew to become a highly influential Adirondack wilderness conservationist. This chapter of “A Force for Nature: Paul Schaefer’s Adirondack Coalitions” reveals a truth: Family units often discover the healing and teaching properties of Adirondack landscapes and Adirondack people together. In the case of the Schaefer family, Adirondack…
The Legacy of Paul Schaefer Events A Force for Nature: Paul Schaefer’s Adirondack Coalitions (2025 by Syracuse University Press), my biography of Friends of the Forest Preserve founder Paul Schaefer will be featured at three events during the month of April 2026. 30th Annual Conference on the Adirondacks Wednesday, April 15th and Thursday, April 16th,…
By David Gibson Adirondack Fragmentation and the Illusion of Green At its January meeting, Adirondack Park Agency (APA) staff recommended approval of a seven-lot residential subdivision in a Rural Use zone off Route 73 in Keene, NY (the Aylward project). Staff noted that after several years of work with the applicant the subdivision had been…
Remembering Carl George By Dave GibsonDecember 28, 2025 Carl George, Professor Emeritus, Biology Dept., Union College, died earlier this month at age 95, leaving his wife Christine, and legions of friends at Union College, and around the world. Carl came from humble origins in Michigan and Ohio, farmed as a young man, and studied and…
Keeping the Wild in Wilderness By Chad P. DawsonDec. 11, 2025 Wilderness recreation management professor emeritus, and former Adirondack Park Agency member Dr. Chad P. Dawson came to Adirondack Wild’s 2025 Annual Members Meeting in Old Forge to present “Keeping the Wild in Wilderness,” a review of his text Wilderness Management: Stewardship and Protection of…
COMMENTARY: Debar Pond Lodge: 2025 DEC analysis falls short, again Adirondack Wild: Friends of the Forest Preserve challenges DEC plan to raze historic Adirondack lodge By Dave Gibson In 2020, DEC issued a draft unit management plan (UMP) for Debar Wild Forest which included the removal of Debar Pond Lodge and in its place the…
Cabin Fever & Adirondack Storytelling By Dave Gibson As big game season and Veterans’ Day align, I tend to think of my friend, the late Don Brightman, who died in 2019. Don, a resident of Burnt Hills, was a founding board member of Adirondack Wild: Friends of the Forest Preserve. Don visited, fished, hunted, rowed,…
Gibson: APA Members Must Have Their Questions Addressed By Dave Gibson This month’s pressure placed on Adirondack Park Agency members to accept the APA staff’s permit conditions for a very large expansion of an RV Park (Sunset View) on the Great Sacandaga Lake in Mayfield is part of a pattern of exerting tight staff control…