A Wild Idea (eBook)

How the Environmental Movement Tamed the Adirondacks

Brad Edmondson (Autor)

eBook Download: EPUB

2021
304 Seiten
Three Hills (Verlag)
978-1-5017-5903-1 (ISBN)

Infos

A Wild Idea shares the complete story of the difficult birth of the Adirondack Park Agency (APA). The Adirondack region of New York's rural North Country forms the nation's largest State Park, with a territory as large as Vermont. Planning experts view the APA as a triumph of sustainability that balances human activity with the preservation of wild ecosystems. The truth isn't as pretty. The story of the APA, told here for the first time, is a complex, troubled tale of political dueling and communities pushed to the brink of violence.

The North Country's environmental movement started among a small group of hunters and hikers, rose on a huge wave of public concern about pollution that crested in the early 1970s, and overcame multiple obstacles to "save" the Adirondacks. Edmondson shows how the movement's leaders persuaded a powerful Governor to recruit planners, naturalists, and advisors and assign a task that had never been attempted before. The team and the politicians who supported them worked around the clock to draft two visionary land-use plans and turn them into law. But they also made mistakes, and their strict regulations were met with determined opposition from local landowners who insisted that private property is private.

A Wild Idea is based on in-depth interviews with five dozen insiders who are central to the story. Their observations contain many surprising and shocking revelations. This is a rich, exciting narrative about state power and how it was imposed on rural residents. It shows how the Adirondacks were "saved," and also why that campaign sparked a passionate rebellion.

Autor

Brad Edmondson is the author of Environmental Affairs in New York State, Ice Cream Social, and Postwar Cornell. Visit bradedmondson.com for more information.

Inhalt

Introduction: Two Views of the Landscape
1. Whose Woods These Are
2. "A Three-Year Vacation"
3. Quickening
4. Brotherly Love
5. Going Rogue
6. Order Must Be
7. "Pass the F*cking Thing"
8. The Big Map
9. The Nature Business
10. The Big Push
11. Cashing the Chips
Conclusion: Convinced against Their Will

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 15.5.2021
• Zusatzinfo: 20 color photos, 2 maps
• Verlagsort: Ithaca
• Sprache: englisch
• Maße: 150 x 150 mm
• Themenwelt: Sachbuch/Ratgeber ► Geschichte / Politik ► Regional- / Landesgeschichte
• Themenwelt: Sachbuch/Ratgeber ► Natur / Technik
• Themenwelt: Reisen ► Hotel- / Restaurantführer
• Themenwelt: Reisen ► Reiseführer
• Themenwelt: Geisteswissenschaften ► Geschichte ► Regional- / Ländergeschichte
• Themenwelt: Naturwissenschaften ► Biologie ► Ökologie / Naturschutz
• Schlagworte: 1971 • Adirondack Mountains • Adirondack Mountains, Nelson Rockefeller, Clean Water Act of 1972, Environmental Policy, Adirondack park agency, New York State Parks • Adirondack Park • Adirondack Park Agency • Agency • American History • Backpacking • biodiversity • campgrounds • Camping • Clean Water Act of 1972 • conservation • Development control • Environmental history • Environmental Policy • environmental protection • Environmental Studies • land use • natural resources • Nelson Rockefeller • New York • new york conservation • new york history • new york state parks • public lands • Rural Planning • State legislature • State Parks • Upstate New York • wilderness preservation • zoning
• ISBN-10: 1-5017-5903-5 / 1501759035
• ISBN-13: 978-1-5017-5903-1 / 9781501759031