The only independent, nonprofit news organization solely dedicated to reporting on the Adirondack Park.
By Explorer archives
There’s a wonderful opportunity that has been staring us in the face—the opportunity to open up a whole new recreational dimension in the Adirondacks that will also provide important economic benefits. The map above suggests the possibilities. Right now, it’s a dangerous, even death-defying proposition to bicycle between Lake Placid and Saranac Lake. The traffic…
By Explorer archives
When the state decided in 1885 to set aside land for protection in the Adirondacks, it was to be an experiment to show it is possible to have sustainable communities while still preserving a great wilderness area. It becomes more and more evident that the experiment has failed. I have been working for several years…
By Explorer archives
In the November/December Adirondack Explorer you have a beautiful picture by Mark Bowie captioned “Tiger Lilies on Hackensack Mountain.” Those are actually wood lilies, not tiger lilies. Dr. Stuart Delman, Chestertown
By Explorer archives
In his article in the November/December issue of the Explorer about the prospect of a trail being constructed on the mining company NLI’s thirty-mile D&H rail spur to Tahawus, Alan Wechsler noted that if the rails are removed, the seventeen miles of so-called permanent easements and the thirteen miles of temporary easements on the Forest…
By Explorer archives
Working homeowners in the Adirondacks are losing ground, and community life suffers as we go elsewhere. The recent APA farm-housing suit got me thinking: what if everyone whose principal residence is in the Adirondack Park was allowed to develop an extra residential unit on their property regardless of APA classification? A unit that couldn’t be…
By Explorer archives
I’d like to express our appreciation to the Smith and Kingsley families for their generous thoughtfulness in setting aside their parcel of land on Lake Placid (Land Savers, November/December 2009). Most people don’t have the ability to make significant donations to conservation in the Park. But we enjoy being in the woods thanks to contributions…
By Explorer archives
In your article headlined “Alien bugs at our door” (November/December), the first paragraph says: “Since the 1960s, the beech-scale insect has devastated the region’s beech trees—so much so that scientists believe the species may not survive here.” I don’t know any scientist working on beech-bark disease who thinks the species won’t persist here. After all…
By Explorer archives
The question of how much environmental protection is enough has always been a contentious one in the Adirondacks. So has the related question: Do strong environmental protections damage our economy? Most elected officials who represent us locally and in the state legislature think the Adirondacks already has too much protection, and they claim that our…
By Explorer archives
Perhaps it was inevitable that Mark Bowie would become an Adirondack photographer. He grew up just outside the Blue Line and spent most of his childhood summers in the Park. Both his grandfather and father are professional photographers. Mark always liked taking pictures, but he didn’t turn pro until after getting a master’s degree in…
By Explorer archives
Hungarian-born Arpad Gerster was a 19th-century Renaissance man, an artist, writer, musician, keen observer of the natural world, early conservationist, pioneer of thoracic surgery at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City and the author of Rules of Aseptic and Antiseptic Surgery, the textbook that set the standard in the United States for maintaining a…