A Wild Idea: How the Environmental Movement Tamed the Adirondacks
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.

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A Wild Idea: How the Environmental Movement Tamed the Adirondacks
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.

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A Wild Idea: How the Environmental Movement Tamed the Adirondacks

A Wild Idea: How the Environmental Movement Tamed the Adirondacks

by Brad Edmondson
A Wild Idea: How the Environmental Movement Tamed the Adirondacks

A Wild Idea: How the Environmental Movement Tamed the Adirondacks

by Brad Edmondson

Hardcover

$29.95 
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Overview

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.


Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781501759017
Publisher: Cornell University Press
Publication date: 05/15/2021
Pages: 304
Product dimensions: 6.10(w) x 9.10(h) x 1.20(d)
Age Range: 18 Years

About the Author

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

Table of Contents

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

What People are Saying About This

Sam Roberts

A Wild Idea is a compelling narrative full of lessons for anyone who cares about how government works. Brad Edmondson reveals civic engagement as a story of relationships, and he does a masterful job of tale-spinning about beloved and controversial Adirondack Park.

Betsy Lowe

Brad Edmondson's history of public interests and private lands in the Adirondack region is an amazing read. A Wild Idea uses personal interviews wiith many of the key players to help us appreciate how the park came to be.

Adam Hochschild

Ardent environmentalists, eager developers, hard-bargaining politicians: they're all here, skillfully brought to life in Brad Edmondson's fast-paced narrative. A Wild Idea is a fascinating, behind-the-scenes look at one of twentieth-century America's most far-reaching regional conservation success stories.

Philip Terrie

The creation of the Adirondack Park Agency was a critical moment in the history of American land-use policy. Brad Edmondson interviewed all the surviving players and reveals—with drama and rich detail—who got it done and who resisted. A Wild Idea is necessary reading.

Bill McKibben

A Wild Idea is a comprehensive and fascinating account of a truly important moment in the planet's conservation history. The Adirondacks, uniquely, tries to balance human and natural economies in the same place. Thank heaven for the people who made this effort over many generations!

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