New York state law is explicit when it comes to regulating
environmental concerns with in the Blue line. Logging, mining, tourism, all the
major industries within the park, on public and private land, are held to a
specific standard deemed acceptable for a wilderness area. Wildlife are
protected, except for certain periods of the year, and mountains are kept
whole, impeding the topless hills found in southern sections of the
Appalachians, but once outside the Blue Line, the law is more flexible and
accommodates toxic behavior unseen within the park. The sulfuric and nitric
acids which can level forests when sufficiently concentrated in rain, are
products of the factories west and south, and the Adirondacks are the unknowing
bystander injured in their wake. The acidic precipitation can travel hundreds
of miles thought the same systems that make Adirondack weather so treacherous,
before settling on the vulnerable forests and lakes of the northeast. Thus,
external forces are again dictating the fait of the park. Like legal decisions
emanating from downstate, pollution from the Midwest is testing the durability
of the wilderness, leaving the park’s inhabitants at the mercy of others. And
like with legal decisions, nature’s ability to cope with the changes is variable.
Lakes formed on top of limestone form a natural chemical defense against the
acidic precipitation. Calcium carbonate, the main component of limestone
dissolves into the water and forms a natural buffer against the acid, but lakes
of granite floor lack such a defense. In granite lakes and streams, we can see
the full effect of acid precipitation on the flora, fauna and overall health of
the ecosystem.
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