Edited by William F. Porter, Jon D. Erickson, and Ross S. Whaley
Cloth $45.00s
| 978-0-8156-3231-3
| 2009
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With keen insight and deep passion, the authors reveal the Adirondack Park’s rich natural and cultural history in shaping conservation policy, providing vital contributions to the future study of land preservation.
Description
The Adirondack region of New York State is, in many respects,
America’s cauldron of conservation. It was there, more than a century
ago, that wanton exploitation of forests first aroused concern
about human impact on the environment. It was there that
Americans first began to set aside lands proclaimed as "forever
wild." The establishment of the Adirondack Park created an
immense landscape of 6 million acres composed of a mixture of
public and private lands in nearly equal proportion. This unprecedented
blend of human communities within wild lands makes the
Adirondack Park perhaps one of the greatest case studies in conservation
and development in U.S. history.
Representing a remarkable achievement in environmental
scholarship and drawn from decades of research, The Great
Experiment in Conservation captures the wisdom born of the last
thirty years of the park’s evolution. The editors bring together leading
scholars, activists, and practitioners—those who know the
Park’s origin and the realities of living in a protected area—to narrate
this history. Organized into three sections, contributors explore
the ecological, cultural, and economic aspects of the region, drawing
lessons from successes and failures as they struggle to find the
right balance of private interests and public controls. With keen
insight and deep passion, the authors reveal the Adirondack Park’s
rich natural and cultural history in shaping conservation policy,
providing vital contributions to the future study of land preservation.
Contributors include: Herman Daly, Bill McKibben, Barbara
McMartin, Philip G. Terrie, Amy Vedder, and Bill Weber.
Editors
William F. Porter is professor of wildlife ecology and
director of the Adirondack Ecological Center at SUNY ESF.
Jon D. Erickson is associate professor of ecological economics at
the Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources,
faculty of the Environmental Program, and fellow of the Gund
Institute for Ecological Economics at the University of Vermont.
Ross S. Whaley is emeritus president and professor of SUNY ESF.
He is former chairman of the Adirondack Park Agency and
served on the Governor’s Commission for the Adirondacks in
the Twenty-First Century.
6 x 9, 640 pages, 6 black-and-white illustrations, 13 tables, notes, bibliography, index
|
Syracuse University Press
