The Adirondack Park - (New York State) by Barbara McMartin (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

Long considered one of the most respected authorities on the history and geography of the Adirondack region, award-winning author and conservationist Barbara McMartin focuses on the uniqueness of the forty four individual tracts that make up the two-and one-half-million-acre Forest Preserve within the Adirondack Park.

In The Adirondack Park, McMartin has aptly likened the various wild forests, wilderness, recreation and primitive areas to a patchwork quilt, with landscapes connecting to jagged boundaries following rivers and narrow valleys. Sidebars of "views and visits" give readers an insider's advantage to making the most of any Adirondack expedition. With a storyteller's ease, McMartin provides a brief history and description of each area.

Skillfully combining the results of meticulous research and her life-long passion and advocacy for the Adirondack region, she illuminates the story of how the land parcels were pieced together to become the most sought-after and protected acreage in the east. The book is generously interspersed with maps and vivid geographic descriptions of the forest cover, lakes, mountains, and natural and human history.

From the Back Cover

In The Adirondack Park McMartin has aptly likened the various wild forest, wilderness, recreation, and primitive areas to a patchwork quilt, with landscapes connecting to jagged boundaries following rivers and narrow valleys. Recommended "views and visits" give readers an insider's advantage to making the most of any Adirondack expedition. With a storyteller's ease, McMartin provides a brief history and description of each area. She chronicles the preserve's unusual origins, people, politics, and economics that created what is now one of the most important wilderness areas in the eastern United States.

Review Quotes

This is a gem of a book. It makes full use of Barbara McMartin's unique status as the most knowledgeable person alive and at work today in the Adirondack region.-- "Adirondac"

About the Author

Barbara McMartin is the author or coauthor of twenty books and guidebooks on the Adirondacks, among them Hides, Hemlocks, and Adirondack History and The Great Forest of the Adirondacks. She has been active in several
environmental groups and citizens advisory committees and is currently chair of the Department of Environmental Conservation's Forest Preserve Advisory Committee, of which she has been a member for two decades.