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Studies conducted in a wide range of freshwater ecosystems have revealed specific suites of attributes that predispose certain ecosystems to being sites of elevated MeHg bioaccumulation in fish and piscivorous birds and mammals. These hotspots result from a complex sequence of biotic and abiotic mechanisms that occur at critical points in the transfer of Hg in the environment from Hg supply, methylation, transport, bioaccumulation, and transfer in food webs. System-specific case studies are described in which Hg concentrations in biotic endpoints are known to be elevated. These studies highlight mercury sensitivity factors in natural lakes and ponds occupying sensitive landscapes, small and large managed reservoirs, the Florida Everglades, the Great Lakes, and in industrially impacted rivers.

This chapter focuses on beaver reintroductions and other transplants. Both the Eurasian and North American beavers have been transplanted many times and in many parts of the world in order to reintroduce them where they had become extinct and to introduce them as “exotics” to new areas. At the present time, especially the Eurasian beaver is rapidly expanding both its populations and its overall range by artificial and natural recolonization. The purpose of most transplants has been to replenish depleted stocks or replace extirpated populations of the same species in parts of its former range. This chapter considers the decline and recovery of North American beaver stocks in New York's Adirondacks and in the American South as a result of, reintroduction and transplantation. It also discusses the movements of transplanted beavers and concludes by looking at beavers that have been introduced as exotic species.

In August 1871, Theodore (Teedie) Roosevelt, then twelve years old, went camping with his family to the Adirondacks for a holiday near nature. He wanted to be a naturalist. As a boy Teedie became fascinated by a volume by Christian missionary and explorer David Livingstone, who described his journeys through the Dark Continent. He wrote a journal for the Adirondack camping trip entitled “In the bush.” Soon Teedie would own a collection of all kinds of dead and living animals such a frogs, field mice, snapping turtles, and even a woodchuck, complemented by more reading of natural history. An important influence in Roosevelt's interest in the natural world as a young boy was Charles Darwin's theory of evolution, which Darwin described in detail in his book The Origin of Species. Part theology, part ethics and social theory, Teutonic racialism drew the interest of Roosevelt, who spent the better part of his life trying to apply the realities of the natural world not only to the study of history but also to the practice of politics.

Though it was announced with great fanfare in 1846, the reporters and activists who first celebrated the Adirondack land grant experiment initiated by abolitionist Gerrit Smith quickly revealed their growing pessimism over its fate. When the offer of 3,000 40-acre parcels to black New Yorkers succeeded in attracting only a small percentage of willing migrants to the region (including to one settlement in North Elba, New York, nicknamed Timbucto), records show that these same writers struggled to understand and explain the reasons for the lackluster response and the perceived “failure” of those who did eventually make the trip. This chapter will review the accounts written by these commentators and will consider the role that ideas about race and the realities of racism played in their creation. It will also describe recent remembrances of Timbucto and consider the political ethics of present and future commemorations, including those carried out under the auspices of the Timbucto Archaeology Project.

This chapter presents an account of the events leading up to the war between the Adirondacks and Five Nations as told by the French. The war started when the Adirondacks asked some young men of the Five Nations to assist them in their hunting. The Five Nations willingly agreed in hopes that their people might acquire hunting skills. It was a custom among all the Nations of Indians, to divide themselves into small companies while they hunt. One of these parties consisted of six Adirondacks and six Five Nations. The Adirondacks were unlucky and returned to their cabin empty-handed. The Five Nations, however, were “dextrous” with their bows and returned loaded with the flesh of wild cows. Jealous of this success, the Adirondacks conspired together and murdered all the six men of the Five Nations while they slept.

This chapter details events following the Peace of Reswick. After the news of the Peace of Reswick reached New-York, the governor sent an express to Canada, informing the governor there of it, that hostilities might cease. The Five Nations, having an account of the peace earlier than they had it in Canada, took advantage of it, in hunting beaver near Cadarackui Fort. The Governor of Canada, however, being informed of this, and believing that the Five Nations thought themselves secure by the general Peace, resolved to take his last revenge by sending a considerable party of Adirondacks to surprise them, which they did, and killed several, but not without loss of many of their own men.

This chapter focuses on the early life of George Davis, a person who turned the idea for his doctoral dissertation into a big map that transformed life in the North Country. The chapter mentions how Davis worked on plans to preserve the Adirondacks for seven years, then spent another fifteen years fighting to protect those plans. It narrates Davis' work for a commission, which analyzed Adirondack Park's privately owned land in 1970. He found that most of this land was owned by just 626 families, each of which had more than 500 acres. The chapter then shifts to introduce Paul Schaefer, a leader of a coalition of conservation organization who fought the plan after a state agency made a proposal to build several more dams inside the Blue Line to provide flood control and hydroelectric power in the 1940s. The coalition claimed that it violated the Forever Wild clause. It also illustrates how Schaefer, chemical engineer Almy Coggeshall, and generations of activists defended wilderness against the thousands of snowmobiles breaking the silence in woods all over the Adirondacks. Ultimately, the chapter reviews how one can preserve the natural integrity of nearly pristine ecosystems while also letting people who live nearby build homes, take vacations, cut down trees, and dig minerals out of the ground.

This chapter recounts the Big Blowdown of 1950 in Adirondack, New York. It introduces Clarence Petty, a New York State Forest Ranger who was asked to go up and look at the damage that had happened in the Adirondack Forest Preserve. The chapter outlines the appeal of foresters to the state legislature to start a salvage logging program in the forest preserve. It then turns to narrate the early life of Clarence, from being a park ranger to pilot, as well as the story of his brother's life Bill Petty, a regional director of the Conservation Department. Clarence became the undisputed authority on the forest preserve. He combined his years of aerial observation with three major surveying assignments that took him to every acre of state-owned land in the Adirondacks. He called his first assignment “a three-year vacation.” The chapter examines the statewide version of the disagreement between the Petty brothers, in which Clarence and other Forever Wild advocates were horrified by salvage logging in the forest preserve, while Bill and other scientific foresters replied that the friends of the Forever Wild clause were silly and sentimental. Ultimately, the chapter reviews the work of Neil Stout and Clarence Petty to make detailed maps and gather as much useful data as possible on the large roadless areas in the forest preserve.

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.

This chapter begins with detailing the argument of Peter S. Paine Jr. with Laurance S. Rockefeller, the younger brother and closest friend of New York State Governor Nelson Rockefeller. It presents Paine's criticisms on a proposal Laurance made to turn the core of the Adirondack State Park into a national park. Both Paine Jr. and Laurance Rockefeller considered themselves environmentalists. But neither man belonged to the Association for the Protection of the Adirondack (AfPA). The chapter states that the Rockefeller family directed its giving toward several long-term goals, and one of them was improving public access to parks and open space. It then shifts to outline how Rockefeller's bond acts became major steps forward for the environmental movement and paved the way for federal legislation like the Land and Water Conservation Fund (passed in 1965), the Clean Air Act of 1970, and the Clean Water Act of 1972. Ultimately, the chapter investigates how Laurence persuaded his brother, Nelson to appoint a task force to study the future of the Adirondacks, modeled on the Outdoor Recreation Resources Review Commission (ORRRC), and see if they could maximize the “effective acres” of the Adirondacks through other means.

This chapter focuses on Harold Jerry, a state official who was recruiting staff for a new state commission on the future of the Adirondack Park, and New York governor Nelson Rockefeller. The chapter details the governor's agenda to draft a long-term plan for the Adirondacks. The management of one state park might have seemed trivial to a man like Rockefeller, but the Adirondacks is not just any park. It is an internationally famous nature reserve that is as big as Vermont. The chapter also addresses the concerns of the full-time residents of the Adirondacks who did not think of their home as an occasional vacation spot. Most of the Park is private land, and it is an important source of timber, minerals, and water. Their problem was not overdevelopment, but a lack of economic opportunity. After Rockefeller saw another chance to build his presidential resume, or at least burnish his legacy, by “saving” the Adirondacks, the chapter discusses the recommendations made by Jerry and a group of commissioners that were so uncompromising that Rockefeller was reluctant to endorse. It highlights the commissioners' use of political brinksmanship at least twice, making threats that forced the powerful governor to capitulate. Ultimately, the chapter examines how the recommendations of Harold Jerry and his team led to the success of the Temporary Study Commission on the Future of the Adirondacks (TSC), giving the “forever wilders” power over the North Country.

This chapter addresses the concerns of Harold Hochschild after he learned that Governor Nelson Rockefeller was planning to give responsibility for campgrounds and other public facilities in the forest preserve to the new Office of Parks and Recreation, which was governed by a commission whose chair was Laurance Rockefeller. The chapter argues that the change was a mortal threat, according to Hochschild and Harold Jerry. Hochschild feared that if Laurance's people were allowed to operate public facilities in the forest preserve, he would use his influence to increase the number and size of those facilities. The chapter also discusses the commissioners' vision to protect the natural integrity of wild areas, promote quieter forms of recreation, shift the park's economy toward nature-oriented tourism, and tighten regulations on motorboats, snowmobiles, logging equipment, and other gasoline-powered machines. It highlights how a singular combination of political power and good timing persuaded the legislature to set up a new agency — Adirondack Park Agency (APA). The creation of the Adirondack Park Agency was one of three measures that Jerry considered essential to “saving” the Adirondacks. The other two were specifically focused on the large tracts of private land that defined the park's character.

This chapter discusses the Temporary Study Commission's (TSC) intent to add one more way to protect undeveloped lakes and sweeping vistas that were privately owned in the Adirondacks. It introduces the most influential legislators representing the Adirondack Park in 1971: Assemblyman Glenn Harris and Senator Ron Stafford. Seven other assembly members represented parts of the park, two of these played important roles in the Adirondack Park Agency (APA) legislation: Andrew Ryan, representing the Adirondack counties of Clinton, Essex, and Warren; and Dan Haley, representing Franklin and Saint Lawrence counties. But Glenn Harris's territory and interests were primarily focused on the park. The chapter then demonstrates Harris's relationship with the members of the TSC and how their recommendations were perceived. Ultimately, the chapter examines why Bill Doolittle sided with Adirondack people and opposed the APA while endorsing all of the other bills.

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.

This chapter looks at how the Land Use and Development Plan affect Tony D'Elia, the developer of Loon Lake Estates in the Adirondacks, the vacation-home development where he had invested his life's savings. It examines the draft version of the Land Use and Development Plan and recounts the Adirondack Park Agency's (APA) public hearings. The chapter also emphasizes the agency's mission to enhance the quality of life for local people. The plan had three parts: the first part divided the park's private land into six categories, each allowing progressively less development, the second part described how the regulations on these six categories would be implemented, and the third was a grab-bag of topics like billboard regulations and tax policies. The chapter argues that parts two and three of the draft Land Use and Development Plan proposed a way for the APA to assist town planning boards as they drafted local zoning laws that met these standards. The basic idea was that once the localities had met the APA's standards, the agency would relinquish jurisdiction over all but the biggest projects. Ultimately, the chapter details the arguments of the opposition to the land use plan before it was signed by Nelson Rockefeller at a formal ceremony in the State Capitol building.