Defending ‘forever wild’: Adirondack Wild’s commitment to the Forest Preserve

Adirondack Wild serves in watchdog role

This is part of a series from the January/February 2025 issue of the magazine, “Green groups at a turning point: Environmental watchdogs change guard.”

The organization is run by David Gibson and Ken Rimany. Gibson is often the voice for the organization and has an extensive knowledge of the park and its organizations. He was the former executive director of The Association for the Protection of the Adirondacks and Protect the Adirondacks. 

There have been no major changes to the group’s mission or goals, he said, and there are no succession plans as of now. While both Gibson and Rimany are past the “traditional age of retirement,” Gibson joked, he said he has no plans to retire.

But Gibson is one of the few environmental activists answering Janeway’s call of “speaking truth to power.” The watchdog organization’s longer mission statement notes it is a defender of the forest preserve against “threats, many of which come from the very state agencies responsible for protecting the great park, but who, too often, betray their legal responsibilities.” 

“Paul Schaefer said this is a lifelong obligation,” Gibson said, referencing the organization’s founder and notable Adirondack conservationist. 

At a hearing about the proposed changes to the park’s master plan, Gibson asserted that, if such amendments become adopted, Hochul would be the first governor to weaken the state’s wilderness protections. 

“The laws haven’t changed fundamentally,” Gibson said. “They’re just being reinterpreted or misinterpreted by the state agencies, and the latest example is the master plan.”

— Gwendolyn Craig

Top photo: Dave Gibson, managing partner of Adirondack Wild, on Tuesday, March 30, 2021, at Woodward Lake in Northville, N.Y. Photo by Cindy Schultz