“Regulators and Rebels”
This is a nine-part series that tells the story of the at-times contentious campaign to create the Adirondack Park Agency, which marks its 50th anniversary this year. Adapted from the new book “A Wild Idea: How the Environmental Movement Tamed the Adirondacks,” author Brad Edmonson interviewed more than 50 people who fought for and against the APA, some of whom have since died.
Abbie Verner’s head-on collision
Tempers flared at the Adirondack Park Agency’s birth, with a clash between environmentalists and developers.
Clarence Petty’s three years of survey work
From squatter’s cabin to trekking 2.2 million acres, Petty’s work laid foundation for State Land Master Plan
Harold Jerry takes on a Rockefeller
Adirondacks as a national park? The idea proposed in the late 1960s achieved consensus: Everyone hated it
George Davis’s lucky break
How the forever-wilders took charge of the Temporary Study Commission.
Harold Hochschild’s big score
In the showdown over passing the APA Act, Hochschild faced off with NYS Assembly speaker Perry Duryea.
George Davis, a big project and a tiny budget
The new APA had a little over a year to write two huge land use plans.
Push for the plan
As the APA worked to develop its land use plan, backlash against agency continued to grow.
The Rebellion
The APA rolled out its master land use plan, and developer Tony D’Elia and others led a call to abolish the agency.
