Introduction

Abstract

This chapter introduces some of the people who played primary roles in the Adirondack Park Agency's (APA) founding. It includes the elite group of activists and policymakers who were early champions for the idea of regional land use planning; planners, lawyers, and naturalists who implemented the Land Use and Development Plan; activists who fought to abolish or weaken the plan; and public officials who had to find ways to turn it into a workable law. New York State spent twenty years struggling to write a master plan for the Adirondack Park before the APA was established. Activists had been calling for a master plan for twenty years before the state even started trying. The chapter further discusses the two produced plans, led by David Newhouse, each of them organized around a big map. One plan zoned the state land into progressively stricter classifications, culminating with wilderness. The other map rated each acre of the 3.6 million privately owned acres in terms of its suitability for development. Ultimately, the chapter assesses the aftermath of the postponement of the Land Use and Development Plan by one year and argues if the APA either saved or ruined the ecological and economic health of the park.