The Park is a White Board

The Terrie reading highlighted his overall opinion (which was mentioned at the talk) that what happens in the Adirondack Park is very reflective of what is going on in the United States at the time. The quote "...because of...increased mobility provided by the family car, America experienced yet another boom in outdoor recreation..." conveys how a major structural change in American society is specifically highlighted in the Adirondack Park more so than in other areas.

I think it is interesting to think about why this might be. What is it about the Park region that reveals more about national events and trends than other areas of the country? My theory is two pronged. The first prong is that because the Adirondack Park is an area that is so underdeveloped, it is easy to see any type of developmental change. The second prong is that it also has just enough civilization, so national changes affect lifestyles there, which allows us to see the change and its effects. One can think of the Park as an almost clean white board, and every change is another line or mark from a marker. If we had a more developed area, such as a suburb, that white board would be already fairly covered, which inhibits our ability to see the next mark, or change. 

So, will this region always be able to play this role? In theory, the more developed it gets, the harder it will be to se change, but for now, it leads as a great example of an experiment in which we can analyze national issues at their core and on a specific level.