After reading
Bill McKibben’s Wandering Home, there was one quote that, for me, embodied
the importance of studying the Adirondacks.
McKibben states, “’Forever wild,’ as the New York constitution puts it,
even if ‘wild’ means a little less than it used to, and if ‘forever’ seems
somewhat shorter” (McKibben, 104). The
term “forever wild,” both a commonly used term in Adirondack readings, and the
namesake for this blog, comes from Article 14 of the New York State
Constitution, which states, “The lands of the state, now owned or hereafter
acquired, constituting the forest preserve as now fixed by law, shall be
forever kept as wild forest lands.”
McKibben’s
aforementioned statement alludes to a struggle that both he and many other
Adirondack authors have attempted to answer, which made me begin to wonder:
what exactly does it mean to be “forever wild”?
Can it have the same meaning since it was enacted 120 years ago? As both McKibben and many of the other
authors have explained, and I have come to realize, this question is anything
but simple. Jerry Jenkins, author of The Adirondack Atlas provides an insight into one of the major complexities
regarding this question. Jenkins states,
“...the park now has three constituencies - those who see it as a home, as a
playground, and as a wilderness - and each has a vision of the future that to
some extent threatens and excludes the others” (Jenkins, 2). Jenkins’ example addresses McKibben’s
question of how long this ambiguous “forever” will last, as proclaimed by the
New York State Constitution.
Even though
Jenkins and McKibben suggest, through these two quotes, a more pessimistic
opinion on what “forever” might mean, there is no real clarity for what it
means to be “wild.” However, I think
that this ambiguity is fitting, not only for the law, but also for students,
visitors, and residents of the Adirondack Park.
On my Pre-Orientation trip in the Adirondacks, I went canoeing on the
St. Regis Lake. This trip was my first
time to the Adirondacks. On our first day
of paddling, it dawned on me that there was something intrinsically different
about this place. I cannot specify
exactly what this “difference” is, as I was only there for four days, though
even in that time, I was able to identify the uniqueness of the park, which
McKibben along with so many others to write, revisit, and love this special
park.
I am excited to
delve deeper into these concepts throughout this semester, and hope that by the
end of the semester, I will have formulated my own opinion of what it means to
be “forever wild,” and to identify what exactly is so enchanting about this
park.
Sources:
New
York State Constitution Article 14: http://www.dec.ny.gov/lands/55849.html
McKibben,
Bill. Wandering Home: A Long Walk across America's Most Hopeful Landscape. New
York: St. Martin's Griffin, 2014. 104. Print.
Jenkins, Jerry, and Andy Keal. The Adirondack Atlas: A
Geographic Portrait of the Adirondack Park. Syracuse, NY: Syracuse UP,
2004. 2. Print.
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