Ever get the opportunity to visit the Adirondack Mountains National Park? Now, this is not to be confused with the New York State Adirondack Park.
If Laurance Rockefeller, as chair of the New York State Council of Parks, had his way in 1967, the Adirondack Mountains National Park would be reality and not resemble today’s park. Instead, that would appear like a donut, and in the very large hole in the center would be the National Park—all 1.2 million acres of it.
Rockefeller’s dream had the potential to be the region’s nightmare. It should be mentioned that Laurance Rockefeller’s older brother Nelson was the governor of New York in 1967.
The story broke in late July 1967 and Saranac Lake’s Adirondack Daily Enterprise believed “In view of the importance of the issue” it would publish the entirety of the report presented to Rockefeller.
Excerpts of the cover letter immediately stated what direction the project was headed.
“We are convinced beyond any doubt that the Adirondacks are of National Park quality, and if established as a National Park would rate second to none. . . . It is our strong opinion that sufficient study has been made to determine that the Adirondacks are of national significance and that their establishment as a National Park is highly desirable.”
The paper printed sections of the report over four consecutive days and followed up with a summary that highlighted the economic benefits: transfer of state employees to the federal payroll, capital improvements, land acquisition and a tripling of park visitors’ expenditures within fifteen years. Though the monetary benefits were considered important the “real purpose” of the proposed park was “to preserve a unique segment of our Country for human enjoyment.”
Of course, the Adirondack Park managed by New York State had been fulfilling the final criteria since 1892.
After summarizing all the positive attributes, the editor of the paper, James Lynch, declared about the project, “we should ask plenty of questions, but shouldn’t we be interested, even favorably?”
Other regional newspapers carried the breaking story with mixed support.
The Lake Placid News urged patience. The paper poised an excellent question; that “the people of the State of New York must make the decision as to whether our beloved state owned lands shall fall to the jurisdiction of our Federal government’” Potsdam’s Courier and Freeman spared few words in endorsing the national park idea. The editor wrote the proposal “strikes us as being an absolute thrilling idea and maybe just what the doctor ordered to cure the ills of the Northern New York area.”
What was the Adirondack Mountains National Park proposal?
The park would include 1,720,000 acres, 1,120,000 state-owned and 600,000 acres under private ownership. Within the suggested boundaries lay a number of communities. Five of these: Lake Placid, Saranac Lake, Blue Mountain Lake, Fourth Lake Inlet and Cranberry Lake would be designated as resort exclusions to serve as “principal and services of a commercial nature sought by park visitors.” As the federal government purchased up the private lands, the remaining non-designated communities would disappear and cease to exist. The new park would be within reach of almost 100 million people. The National Park Service had previously created parks using this format.
Even Life Magazine, with an estimated national circulation of 8.5 million, chimed in with a supportive editorial. Part of its commentary read, “The idea is a good one. . . . the new park would be within striking distance of the 100 million Americans who live in the northeast quadrant of the country.” And it closed with, “In the words of Secretary Udall (Secretary of the Department of the Interior), in all the East, ‘It is the last true national park option left.’”
Though proponents kept emphasizing the positive economic issues, questions arose in other areas. The strongest discussion centered on the termination of hunting on national park land. Fishing would still be permitted, but no hunting. This struck a sour chord with local hunters who accessed state property. They refused to accept the explanation that the region did not maintain a good deer population.
The question of private land surfaced, with the thought of condemnation raising critical comments. Also, why federal control? Wasn’t New York State doing a proper job on managing the land? And, whatever the outcome, if there was to be an Adirondack National Park, it would not be a simple land transfer, but require a constitutional amendment due to the ‘forever wild’ clause.
Many roadblocks popped up.
Soon, organizations announced their resistance to Rockefeller’s plan.
The New York State Conservation Council played up the no hunting topic. The board of directors declared, “We would be hypocrites if we did not express our deep concern over the loss of over one million acres of public hunting land. The per cent of deer and bear kill in the area is relatively unimportant—what is important is the opportunity.”
The Adirondack Park Association acted quickly following the news of the park proposal. The organization’s president sent a telegram to Governor Rockefeller stating in part that New York was “already preserving this unique segment of our country for human enjoyment without placing it under the jurisdiction of the Federal government.”
Over in Tupper Lake, a town outside the proposed park, the local editor expressed apprehension of the concept very early. On September 7, in an editorial headline “Time For Action!”, the writer declared in the effort to ‘sell’ the park idea the “more concerned we become that this is not just a far-out and impossible dream which will sputter out after the novelty wears off.” He urged opposition from the citizens.
A month later, Tupper Lake Village Board of Trustees passed unanimously a resolution that described the park proposal as “detrimental to the interests of the people of the village of Tupper Lake and, in fact, to the interests of all the people in the Adirondacks.”
With opposition mounting, Governor Rockefeller authorized New York Conservation Commissioner R. Stewart Kilborne to write a report about the feasibility of the national park. The commissioner submitted the report in early January 1968. Word leaked out that Kilborne did not support the park.
One local paper stated Kilborne’s negative report echoed a comment made by the Governor several weeks earlier, “I don’t see any situation that would lead to any rapid action in this direction at all.” Rockefeller ‘shelved’ the proposal and recommended the formation of a committee to examine land use in the Adirondack Park.
Reading the news release the Tupper Lake Free Press titled an editorial about the park, “Dead? . . . We Hope So.”
The opening paragraph stated, “Laurance Rockefeller’s Adirondack National Park baby seems to have ‘died a-borning’, and a lot of Adirondackers, native and adopted alike—will be happy to attend the obsequies.”
However, the editor did warn that such a proposal “is not buried so deep that it could not be readily resurrected.”
The notion of the Adirondack Mountains National Park has never resurfaced.
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