The Nature Business

This chapter begins with the introduction of Robert Kafin and his law partner, Ed Needleman who had been talking to Ted Hullar from the Sierra Club, David Newhouse from the Adirondack Mountain Club (ADK), and Courtney Jones, a philanthropist from the Lake Champlain town of Westport at Harold Hochschild's Great Camp in October 1971. The chapter describes Kafin's career shift and how he learned what was going on in the Adirondacks. Kafin saw that the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and other new federal laws were broadly written and not widely understood, especially by law firms north of Albany. The chapter reviews how the Adirondack Pack Agency Act added a big new state law to that pile. These laws could be used to shape or stop development. The chapter then shifts to describe how the Adirondack Project established Kafin & Needleman as the people to talk to if you wanted to block development in the Adirondacks. It also reviews the implications of Horizon and Ton-Da-Lay development for the Adirondack Park Agency (APA). Ultimately, the chapter examines the power and influence of some lawyers in relation to the APA.

Quickening

This chapter highlights the works of Paul Schaefer and the archives of the Association for the Protection of the Adirondacks (AfPA) and other early conservation organizations. It analyses how Schaefer's foundation of a diverse coalition, aimed at protecting pristine Adirondack landscapes, culminated in the creation of the Adirondack Park Agency. The chapter reveals that the quickening of activism for wilderness protection in the United States took place in Schenectady, New York. It illustrates how a group of scientists and engineers who worked in the research labs of General Electric (GE) became more aware of threats to their wilderness and drew their passion toward political action. The chapter also describes the members of the Forest Preserve Association who multiplied their impact by encouraging established groups to join their cause. Their main prospects were the Adirondack Mountain Club, which represented hikers; the New York State Conservation Council, which represented hunters; and dozens of local outing groups like the Mohawk Valley Hiking Club. Ultimately, the chapter examines the impact of the Wilderness Act and how the New York's coalition of environmental became a powerful, well-coordinated political force.

From Catastrophe to Recovery: Stories of Fishery Management Success

<i>Abstract</i>.—Recovery of Brook Trout <i>Salvelinus fontinalis</i> in an Adirondack (New York, USA) lake that was subject to anthropogenic acidification provides a remarkable example of fishery improvement in response to environmental regulation. Studies initiated in the 1950s following a steady decline in Brook Trout populations helped document this recovery. Unsuccessful efforts to maintain a fishery in Honnedaga Lake with hatchery-reared fish in the 1950s forced managers to look beyond stocking, the primary approach employed until that time. As a result, fishery scientists collaborated in the 1960s and 1970s with researchers from other disciplines, providing a broad understanding of atmospheric inputs, watershed processes, and chemical interactions influencing lakes and streams. Extensive studies in the 1980s confirmed the connection between Brook Trout mortality and airborne emissions of strong acid nitrogen and sulfur compounds that released toxic inorganic aluminum from increasingly acidic soils. Political debates in that decade focused on federal regulatory efforts to reduce these emissions, which culminated in passage of the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990. Within the next decade, Brook Trout that took refuge within a few well-buffered, groundwater-fed tributaries began to recolonize Honnedaga Lake as conditions improved in the main lake due to reduced atmospheric deposition of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides. Since then, management of Honnedaga Lake in the 21st century relied upon natural reproduction by wild Brook Trout. Ultimately, social and political decisions made far away from the Adirondack Mountain region developed regulations that fostered recovery of the Honnedaga Lake fishery by restoring necessary water-chemistry conditions. The recovery of Honnedaga Lake highlights three lessons. First, environment and habitat conditions must be suitable before fishery management actions can be effective. This criterion requires a broad understanding of environmental conditions that sustain fisheries, incorporating insights from atmospheric sciences, geology, and limnology. Second, natural reproduction of Brook Trout in Honnedaga Lake successfully increased population abundance without the additional intervention of stocking hatchery-reared fish. Finally, successful management of Honnedaga Lake required political support and regulatory action from beyond the Adirondack region, as well as media attention.