Where are the Wild Things?

     It is increasingly apparent that human's search for unexplored natural spaces in this world is becoming a harder task to take on than ever before. This is due largely to the small number of places that have avoided the creeping hand of human dominance over the centuries of human exploration. In the face of this shrinking pool of unknown discoveries, there has become a cultural surge in nations like the United States to spend time communing in nature, ideally in areas previously untouched.

A broad depiction of the world's population density

     Here presents a deeply frustrating Catch-22. People are demanding an unending supply of the previously unexplored only so that they may 'conquer' these areas themselves. The concept of finding new places to explore is not necessarily impossible, but since many of these modern day explorers are not working on a geologic timescale, it is an impractical demand to make. Simply, this cycle is wholly unsustainable.
     When this desire to explore is placed in the context of the Adirondacks, conceptual understandings of wilderness are called into question. When these tourists are looking to have these unique experiences, do they need to summit a previously untouched mountain, or are they seeking out unfiltered interactions with the natural world? The answer to this question carries weight given the contentious "forever wild" clause that makes the ADK what it is today. When the fundamental understanding of what wilderness is changes, how does antiquated legislation fit? Does "forever wild" become a promise of state maintenance of the Park in the name of tourism, thereby rationalizing actions such as that of the rotenone treatments described in Schneider? If this is the case, this constitutes a fundamental shift in how individuals should see the park. What this issue is essentially about is who nature is for. Individuals such as Glenon would argue that nature needs no excuse to exist. However, many private land owners would contest that there is no real reason for humans to inhabit land they have access to. An indication of the deeply entrenched belief that American land is a commodity.

Even Wilderness Areas in the Park are well documented

     As more individuals seek time in the natural world, these questions must be answered by the stake holders of places like the Adirondacks so that there may be some type of unified vision of what the future of human involvement in the natural world will look like.  Looking to the past, environmental catastrophes have occurred because of a lack of clear vision. As we head into the future, it becomes imperative that we are conscious inhabitants of our environments, however wild they may be.

Works Cited

Schneider, Paul 1997. The Adirondacks: A History of America’s First Wilderness. Henry Holt & Co.
Porter, W. F., Erickson, J. D., and Whaley, R. S. (eds), 2009. The Great Experiment in Conservation, Syracuse University Press, Chapters 19, 24, 26,31, 32 and Conclusion, Afterward. pp. 451-82; 517-540.
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