Wild Forest Lands: Finding History and Meaning in the Adirondacks

by Philip G. Terrie

Overview

The Adirondack Forest Preserve is the largest publicly protected wilderness in the Eastern United States, with a state constitutional provision guaranteeing that it be "forever kept as wild forest lands." But just what does "wilderness" mean today? How has our understanding of that concept shifted, from the colonial implications of the term as first applied to the Adirondacks to a more inclusive usage, still contested, today? Part memoir, part New York history, and part meditation, Wild Forest Lands explores the rhetorical and spiritual meaning of the Adirondack "wilderness." Terrie revisits the literature and history of the region, reckoning with how his views on the places he has defended have evolved over time. Rich with detail, Wild Forest Lands grapples with the enduring power of the Adirondacks and what it truly means to preserve something that is, by nature, wild.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780815611882
Publisher:	Syracuse University Press
Publication date:	09/15/2025
Series:	New York State Series
Pages:	262
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

Philip G. Terrie is professor emeritus in American culture and environmental studies at Bowling Green State University. He is the author of Forever Wild: A Cultural History of Wilderness in the Adirondacks and Contested Terrain: A new History of Nature and People in the Adirondacks, Second Edition.

Table of Contents

Topophilia Contact Bill Verner Couchsachraga Adirondack Museum Roderick Nash Robert Mashall Forever Kept as Wild Forest Lands The Forest Preserve The Adirondack Park The Constitution 1894 Timber Forever Wild Long Lake William Cronon Wilderness and American Studies Contested Terrain The Constitution, 1915 MacDonald The Constitution, 1938 The Constitution, 1967 Balsam Lake Wilderness and Constitutions Protect the Adirondacks!, Inc v. New York Sate Department of Environmental Conservation and Adirondack Park Agency The Decision in Protect Wilderness in the Sewards Whose Wilderness The Constitution, 2038