Gabby’s post about tourism keeping
the park forever wild inspired me to look into one of my favorite forms of
tourism in the Adirondacks. I work at a camp called Double H Ranch in the
winter on Lake Vanare (same exit as Lake George Village off the Northway). The
founder of the camp was Charles Woods, with a little help from Paul Newman.
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| Newman and Woods |
Woods owned two of the first “all-inclusive” resorts in the 40s, located on
Lake George and Scroon Lake. The all-inclusive business method must have been
successful for him, because that’s the method we use for the camp today.
Families come to camp and get room and board for free. If they can’t afford gas
or plane tickets, camp usually helps them out. There is also a hill with two
trails and a chairlift, so each family member gets free skiing or snowboarding
lessons from one of the volunteers.
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| Double H Ranch |
Before Wood bought this camp, he built two theme
parks in the Adirondacks: Storytown USA in Queensbury and Gaslight Village in
Lake George Village. Storytown USA became The Great Escape and is now owned by
Six Flags, but when Wood sold his park, he made a stipulation that campers from
Double H Ranch would get to go free every summer. In addition to the
all-inclusive resorts, Woods had hotels all over the park (like the Tiki Resort
in Lake George Village). In my research for this post, I’ve come to the
conclusion that Woods was basically the monopoly guy in real life; he owned
huge amounts of property all over the park and built hotels and theme parks.
All of Wood’s businesses relied on tourism and travel: hotels, theme parks, and
a camp. But none of them are particularly ecofriendly. The theme park, even
before six flags expanded it, was still a huge plot of cleared land with
parking lots that increase runoff. Gaslight village was built in 1959 on an area of
wetlands and that natural plot of water storage was lost, leaving water to
flood other places.
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| Gaslight Village, built so close to the lake on wetlands |
However, there is an ecologically happy ending to the story
of Woods. Lake George Association and Lake George Land Conservancy bought the
land and, with a donation from the Charles R. Wood Foundation, created Charles
R. Wood Park, with a constructed wetland to treat water that runs off of Route
9 before it enters the lake. I had on idea the impact that one man could have on
the park, and even if his impact was harmful to the land, the joy he spreads to
children and their families balances it out in my opinion.
http://charlesrwoodfoundation.com/
http://www.doublehranch.org/about/history/
http://www.adirondackalmanack.com/2008/01/gaslight-village-lake-george-fun-yesterday.html
Do you know if Wood's parks, which you mention negatively impact the local ecosystems, followed the constitutional amendment process in order to approve development? Many people are concerned whether this government procedure is actually effective in preserving the park wilderness, since many destinations like the Whiteface and Gore Mountains Ski Resort managed to bypass approval via constitutional amendment. While these areas are often a large tourist attraction and boost the local economy, if the foundations the Adirondack Park were created on are not followed, how are we assured the park will really remain "forever wild".
ReplyDeleteThat's a great point Anne, but that clause only applies to state land, and the plots that Wood bought are all privately owned so I don't think that law applied to him.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.dec.ny.gov/lands/55849.html