In Chapter 2 of
Philip Terrie’s Contested Terrain, a
particular passage explaining the early impacts of tourism stood out to me. Terrie
writes:
“While the tourist-based economy became
absolutely essential to the livelihoods of Adirondackers, it necessitated
fundamental change in the way local people related to the Adirondack
landscape….The arrival of tourists was more than just a welcome source of
outside cash; to some Adirondackers it meant the end of an era marked by
self-sufficiency and personal intimacy with the wild country all around them.
As the tourists made their mark on the wilderness, the Adirondacks that the
local residents had known began to disappear. This was a development both
welcomed and questioned” (40-41).
Although there will be separate readings
on tourism in the Adirondacks today, I thought it was interested how the first
traces of tourism had a significant impact on the early settlers. As the locals
finally became both accustomed to working with the land and harmonious with the
land, it is fascinating how tourism altered the relationship with the locals
and their surrounding environment.
Today, it is estimated that over 10
million tourists visit the Adirondacks each year. This generates $1.1 billion
in revenue and creates 20,000 jobs. As the graph below demonstrates, tourism
is an integral part of every region’s economy, generating from 6% to 17% of
employment. However, it is important to note that in New York, tourism is most
important to the Adirondacks, generating 17% of the region’s employment. But do these benefits of tourism outweigh
the huge disruptions to the local people who have established their livelihoods
in the park? It’s hard to say.
Nevertheless, Terrie notes that locals
will always share a special and different kind of relationship with the
wilderness than tourists ever will. For example, he draws a distinction between
the sport hunting conducted by tourists and the hunting of people trying to
feed themselves and their children. While one is solely for recreation
purposes, the other is integral for survival. Terrie suggests that even with
the new development of tourism, locals will always share a special
interdependence with the land. Even if tourism ruined the intimacy between the
local people and the park, Terrie suggests that there is still a sense of
“home” felt among locals with the park that tourism will not ever be able to
take away.
Source: http://www.adirondackbasecamp.com
Sarah, I had this same passage underlined and starred in my book as well. The part that really stood out to me was in the middle when Terrie writes "...it meant the end of an era marked by self-sufficiency and personal intimacy with the wild country all around them." When I read this passage, I envisioned it as the tourists acting as a kind of bulldozer, ramming through the relationship between the Adirondackers and the Adirondacks. The locals had finally fine tuned this delicate relationship between their selves and their surroundings, when all of a sudden, here come the loud and bustling tourists to disrupt it all. Then again, Terrie describes this influx of new people as both questioned and welcomed, so we must consider the benefits that these people brought with them.
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