In case you didn’t know, that six-million acres just to our north, is a combination of these two, not just one. Each is a separate animal, although administered in much the same way.

The hot topic, since that latest activity between the recently formed land conservancy and the state adding a couple of hundred more acres to the ADK, has become “when is big to big?”  Is the Adirondack Park/Forest Preserve big enough or should the state continue to take every opportunity to add additional land when or if it becomes available? How much land set aside as “forever wild” is enough?

The tug of war exists between many parties. The state, the general public, those that live within the Blue Line, the ADK, and, most concerning of all, those who would like to open up the commercial development of parts of the land now set aside. 

There are two schools of thought: conservation or preservation. For the sake of this article, I’ll give you my definition of these two points of view. Conservationists would like the land set aside and protected with controlled use such as hiking, camping, hunting and boating.  Preservations would like the land set aside and protected with little or no use except as nature sees fit.

Both points of view have their valid points which are not the issue of this article.  My point is do we add more land or do we stop where we are and protect what we have?  Can we protect what we have?  That to me is the real question.

The way I see it is that politics and politicians are the real issue.  Land is money and if you follow the string tugging at any politician’s heart, it usually leads to his/her wallet.  Sooner or later, some politician is going to take a serious run at some sort of commercial development within or bordering on the preserved land.  Trust me when I tell you that it is already and has been happening for more years than you can imagine.  The fortification against development is Article 14 of the law that created the park and preserve, the “forever wild” clause.

Is it impenetrable?  So far it has held up.  But, we all know how Albany works and if there is a way…

So, bigger is better the way I see it for two primary reasons.  The first is or should be quite obvious.  I love the outdoors and the more of it that is as God made it, the happier I will be. 

Simple, right?  Secondly, imagine the entire six million acres to be a middle ages castle with a big high wall and moat around it and the black knight is attacking lobbing rocks and arrows at the wall and trying to cross the moat with bridges of stone and logs.  Little by little the big high wall begins to crack and the moat is breached and the white knight inside the wall gathers his citizens and yells “fall back…fall back” and they all retreat within an inner wall.

What we need to be sure of is that there is room to fall back on, to set up a second line of defense to rally behind.  Basically, the bigger and thicker the wall, the longer and more difficult it is to chip at it until it falls.  Time for all those in support of protecting our mountains to rally and stop those who don’t.

If you think this is far fetched, take a look at the area around exit 15 of the Northway.  When I moved back here ten years ago, there was no Lowes, no Home Depot, no Target, no A.C. Moore or Staples, no Best Buy or Moe’s Southwestern Grill, no Super 8, no UPS Store or Block Buster.  There was only one place to have dinner east of the interstate highway.  Now there’s a dozen.  Get my drift????  Could the same happen at…..let’s say exit 23?  I’m not saying all of this is bad, but I’m asking “when is enough enough?”

See you outdoors!

Dick Totino can be reached at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it