Wild Forest Lands - (New York State) by Philip G Terrie (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

The Adirondack Park stands alone as one of the largest publicly protected areas in the United States, a constitutionally protected forest preserve with a provision guaranteeing that it must be "forever kept as wild forest lands." But, just what does "wilderness" mean today and how can the concept be untangled from the colonial implications of the term as it first applied to the Adirondacks?

Part memoir, part New York history, and part meditation, Wild Forest Lands ponders on the rhetorical and spiritual meaning of the Adirondack "wilderness." Terrie revisits the literature and history of the region, reckoning with how his views on the places he has defended have evolved over time. Rich with detail, Wild Forest Lands grapples with the enduring power of the Adirondacks and what it truly means to preserve something that is, by nature, wild.

Review Quotes

What is 'wilderness, ' anyway? Terrie's thoughtful answer mixes memoir, cultural criticism, and a history of New York's famous 'Forever Wild' clause in a way that keeps you turning the pages.-- "Brad Edmondson, author of A Wild Idea: How the Environmental Movement Tamed the Adirondacks"

Conversational in tone, the book invites readers to wrestle with the same contradictions Terrie has long understood 'wilderness' to represent and to join him in the important work of making meaning of this unique, as so far uniquely protected, landscape.-- "Kevin Sheets, author of Sources of America's History"

Terrie's inspiring Wild Forest Lands succinctly recounts the tumultuous events that culminated in New York's 1894 'Forever Wild' constitutional amendment that is the inspiration and envy of wilderness defenders the world over. It details the relentless efforts to open the Adirondack Wilderness to renewed industrial exploitation and introduces us to many of the heroic defenders of the Adirondack's re-wilding forests. The moral of this epic story: the price of wilderness is eternal vigilance.-- "Jamie Sayen, author of Children of the Northern Forest: Wild New England's History from Glaciers to Global Warming"

The close reading of the debates surrounding the legal construction of the Forest Preserve and the Adirondack Park are worthy additions to the established history. The details on the Protect! court case are intrinsic to the story of the Adirondacks.-- "Jonathan Anzalone, author of Battles of the North Country: Wilderness Politics"

About the Author

Philip G. Terrie is professor emeritus in American culture and environmental studies at Bowling Green State University. He is the author of Forever Wild: A Cultural History of Wilderness in the Adirondacks and Contested Terrain: A new History of Nature and People in the Adirondacks, Second Edition.