Overview

A Wild Ideashares the complete story of the difficult birth of the Adirondack Park Agency (APA). The Adirondack region of New York's rural North Country forms the nation's largest State Park, with a territory as large as Vermont. Planning experts view the APA as a triumph of sustainability that balances human activity with the preservation of wild ecosystems. The truth isn't as pretty. The story of the APA, told here for the first time, is a complex, troubled tale of political dueling and communities pushed to the brink of violence. The North Country's environmental movement started among a small group of hunters and hikers, rose on a huge wave of public concern about pollution that crested in the early 1970s, and overcame multiple obstacles to ""save"" the Adirondacks. Edmondson shows how the movement's leaders persuaded a powerful Governor to recruit planners, naturalists, and advisors and assign a task that had never been attempted before. The team and the politicians who supported them worked around the clock to draft two visionary land-use plans and turn them into law. But they also made mistakes, and their strict regulations were met with determined opposition from local landowners who insisted that private property is private. A Wild Idea is based on in-depth interviews with five dozen insiders who are central to the story. Their observations contain many surprising and shocking revelations. This is a rich, exciting narrative about state power and how it was imposed on rural residents. It shows how the Adirondacks were ""saved,"" and also why that campaign sparked a passionate rebellion.

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9781501759017

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Reviews

Edmondson has told his complicated story well. He writes clearly, shows a grasp of broad swaths of information and opinion, and capably explains how the various players evolved in their thinking... A Wild Idea merits the attention of everyone deeply interested in the Adirondack region. * Adirondack Daily Enterprise * Brad Edmondson's thoroughly researched book... details the difficult process behind the enactment of this law. * ALBANY TIMES UNION *

Edmondson has told his complicated story well. He writes clearly, shows a grasp of broad swaths of information and opinion, and capably explains how the various players evolved in their thinking... A Wild Idea merits the attention of everyone deeply interested in the Adirondack region. * Adirondack Daily Enterprise * Brad Edmondson's thoroughly researched book... details the difficult process behind the enactment of this law. * ALBANY TIMES UNION * Brad Edmondson, the author of [A Wild Idea,] published this month to coincide with the anniversary of Governor Nelson Rockefeller's signing of the APA bill on June 25, 1971, reminds us how broadly popular environmentalism was in the early 70s, unifying a nation still fractured along generational, cultural and political fault lines. * The Lake George Mirror * A Wild Idea is essential reading for anyone interested in how human beings can coexist in reasonable harmony with our natural world. * Adirondack Explorer *

Edmondson has told his complicated story well. He writes clearly, shows a grasp of broad swaths of information and opinion, and capably explains how the various players evolved in their thinking. A Wild Idea merits the attention of everyone deeply interested in the Adirondack region. * Adirondack Daily Enterprise * Brad Edmondson's thoroughly researched book details the difficult process behind the enactment of this law. * Albany Times Union * Brad Edmondson, the author of A Wild Idea, published to coincide with the anniversary of Governor Nelson Rockefeller's signing of the APA bill on June 25, 1971, reminds us how broadly popular environmentalism was in the early 70s, unifying a nation still fractured along generational, cultural and political fault lines. * The Lake George Mirror * A Wild Idea is essential reading for anyone interested in how human beings can coexist in reasonable harmony with our natural world. * Adirondack Explorer * Much of the journalistic-style narrative reported in A Wild Idea is derived from Edmondson's more than five dozen interviews with people who, in one way or another, were first-hand participants in the APA's founding. While the author's sympathies are clearly aligned with the APA and its supporters, his text offers a fair, measured treatment of the arguments, reasoning, and passions of opponents. * New York-Pennsylvania Collector * A Wild Idea is an important and timely intervention in Adirondack historiography as well as a helpful addition, particularly in its methodology, to the study of the American wilderness movement and the history of regional planning. * New York History *

Author Information

Brad Edmondson is the author of Environmental Affairs in New York State, Ice Cream Social, and Postwar Cornell. Visit bradedmondson.com for more information.

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