Unless Environmental Protection Fund (EPF) monies are available, many of the lands listed below may soon be at risk due to development or unsustainable logging. Failure to secure these vital lands would jeopardize a Park that is a global conservation model and a landscape that offers the greatest of New York’s natural heritage.

1. Hudson River Gorge and watershed. Adirondack Nature Conservancy (ANC) has secured, but cannot hold indefinitely, critical Hudson watershed lands from Finch Pruyn paper company.

a. Wild Rivers (Upper Hudson) Wilderness: Acquire the Essex Chain of Lakes, stretches of the Hudson and Cedar rivers, the confluence of the Hudson and Indian rivers, and OK Slip Falls (one of the Adirondack Park's highest waterfalls) and expand the current Forest Preserve for a new Wilderness area with outstanding opportunities for paddling recreation and riparian ecosystem protection. Boreas Ponds Photo © Carl Heilman II/Wild Visions, Inc

Hudson River Photo © Carl Heilman II/Wild Visions, Inc  b. High Peaks Wilderness: Acquire Boreas Ponds and Mountain, with spectacular views of the High Peaks, along with lands east of Santanoni Mountain and along the Opalescent River in the heart of the Adirondack Park's most popular outdoor recreation area.

c. Blue Ridge Wilderness: Adding lands north of the Cedar River to the Blue Ridge Wilderness will bring into public ownership the dramatic cliffs of Sugarloaf Mountain. These will offer outstanding rock-climbing and sight-seeing opportunities.

2. Raquette River watershed, Follensby Pond. The longest river in the Adirondack Park is fed by the largest privately owned water body in the Park, Follensby Pond. Part of a 15,000-acre tract recently secured by ANC (only temporarily, due to heavy financial burdens and other pressing conservation demands), Follensby Pond and its surrounding forest have a rich cultural and natural history - including Emerson's famous Philosophers Camp and New York's successful Bald Eagle reintroduction - that will best be protected through addition to the Adirondack Forest Preserve.

3. Low-elevation boreal forests. In the northwestern Adirondack Park, this forest land shelters some of the rarest and most fragile plant and animal species in the entire state. Endangered spruce grouse and carnivorous pitcher plants and sundews are among the species here that are generally found in Canada and Siberia.

Jordan River photo by Ruth Hazaard

4. Champlain watershed. The Champlain Valley has important river systems that are worthy of protection. These include the Boquet River, Ausable River, Saranac River, Chazy River and others. Conserving the riparian areas along these rivers will help to protect their water quality, recreational values, and biodiversity, which includes floodplain forests, ice-meadows and the myriad of aquatic species.

5. Southern Lake Champlain Valley and Lake George watershed. Connecting protected lands from the Tongue Mountain range on the western shores of Lake George across the southern most tip of South Bay on Lake Champlain and eastward into Vermont will protect water quality and provide a critical habitat linkage between New York's Adirondacks and Vermont's Green Mountains. Former Finch Pruyn paper company lands near South Bay are botanically rich, and dramatic cliffs, known as "The Diameter," tower over the bay.

6. Whitney Park. Over 15,000 acres are currently protected as the William C.Whitney Wilderness. An adjacent parcel of 35,000 acres has no protection and is vulnerable to development. Within the Adirondack Council's proposed 408,000 Bob Marshall Great Wilderness, these lands contain numerous water bodies offering spectacular paddling opportunities.

7. Bog River/Beaver River headwaters. Within the Adirondack Council's proposed Bob Marshall Great Wilderness, protecting new lands when available will connect wild lands, expand paddling opportunities protect water quality and secure habitat for sensitive and wide-ranging species like pine marten, black bear, moose, and loon.

8. Wilderness inholdings. There are ecological, recreational, financial, and management benefits of consolidating public ownership of large blocks of land. To this end, inholdings within Forest Preserve units, if and when they go on the market, should be considered high priorities for state acquisition. Forest Preserve roads to private inholdings are particularly troublesome, inviting all-terrain vehicle trespass into some of the Adirondack Park's most remote areas.

9. Black River corridor. In the under-appreciated southwestern part of the Adirondack Park, the Black River Wild Forest encompasses the upper Black River, a major tributary of the St. Lawrence River. Additional land acquisitions of private lands in the region will protect the watershed and provide new opportunities for hiking.

10. Moose River. A miles-long stretch of the Moose River in Lewis County is owned by National Grid, whose predecessor had planned a hydro-electric power project that would have altered the river's natural course. Instead, the company has agreed to the opportunity to add this stretch of the river to the Forest Preserve, creating a new tourism asset for the Town of Lyonsdale. Oswegatchie River Photo © Carl Heilman II/Wild Visions, Inc

Moose River Photo by Gary Randorf  11. Northern flow rivers corridors. North and west through both the Adirondack Council's proposed Bob Marshall Great Wilderness and Low Elevation Boreal Reserve flow the Oswegatchie, Grass, Raquette and St. Regis rivers, all of which deserve wider and stronger protection. Securing the unprotected properties in these wildlands complexes would help ensure a safe future for the reclusive and boreal species unique in New York to these areas.

12. Southeastern Foothills. A transition area between the Adirondack uplands and the Hudson lowlands, this area is threatened by heavy development. Additional protected lands (former Finch Pruyn lands are available in this region) will provide habitat linkages between the Adirondacks and the Green Mountains and additional recreational opportunities close to the expanding communities just south of the Adirondack Park.

13. Tub Mill Pond. Adjacent to the Hammond Pond Wild Forest, the Tub Mill parcel includes several sizable ponds fringed by large white pines. A less well-travelled part of the Park, the area has classic Adirondack scenery and opportunities for hiking and paddling.

14. Styles Brook watershed and the Jay Range. Around the Jay and Hurricane Mountains Wilderness & Primitive Areas are private lands that could be excellent Forest Preserve additions, if they become available, or protected by conservation easements to maintain working farms and forests, protect water quality and expand wildlife corridors.