The Adirondack Park is a national treasure—a legacy we inherited more than 100 years ago—that we must collectively protect for current and future generations. The Adirondack Council, with input from experts and other stakeholders, offers VISION 2050 to achieve a future with intact natural systems, vibrant and diverse human communities, and cutting-edge management. This proposal for a long-range strategy for the next 30 years of the Adirondack Park offers a path forward.

This place is for all—the wild creatures, the people who live here, those who visit, and those that may never set foot inside the Blue Line. Its successes belong to all New Yorkers. So, too, does the responsibility to take bold action to preserve this legacy for the future.

The Adirondack Council’s VISION 2050 Project grows out of the need to understand the forces of change within the Adirondacks. We bring long-range strategic thinking about the future of the Park, even as we remember the historical context of today’s policies. VISION 2050 embraces a holistic Adirondack Park, where public and private, human and natural, and different aspects of governance are considered as pieces of one whole.

In the Adirondack Park, people and nature do coexist and can thrive together. Public and private landscapes model the success of people and nature rather than people versus nature. The scale of this effort is hard to comprehend—six million acres, forests sequestering carbon, protecting waters on which over 11 million people and countless wild creatures depend.

Today, the Adirondacks are threatened. Natural and human systems are at risk from climate change, economic forces, and inadequate, under-funded management. Short-term thinking that is too focused on immediate issues can lose sight of larger preservation goals. Lasting protection will require a long-range vision that guides all management decisions year after year. A new vision is necessary to chart a course to a brighter future.

To read more about VISION 2050, please view our online PDF of the report or download a printer-friendly version HERE. 

The Adirondack Park—a landscape where a resident can go home at the end of the day and see the milky way in all its glory or hear a loon call across the waters…is worthy of the effort.

Recognizing the need for a new plan, the Adirondack Council launched the VISION 2050 project. Its goal was to engage with stakeholders and experts to create a narrative of the Park’s future that inspires support and specific actions to preserve natural communities, foster vibrant human communities, and manage the Park. From the beginning, listening to and learning from a variety of different voices was essential.

To preserve the Adirondack Park forever we need consistent principles and a comprehensive plan, based on sound science. The need and the will exist to launch a period of rapid transformation in management within the Park. When those who care about the Adirondacks see beyond the turmoil of the moment to a shared vision, we can fulfill the promise of a Park, where people and nature can thrive together, meeting the challenges of our time. 

The VISION 2050 project lays out paths to reach this vision for the Adirondack Park by 2050. The work to achieve a better future lies ahead.

VISION 2050 is a vision for the Park. It can be a North Star to help guide the efforts of Adirondack advocates and others, including the Adirondack Council, over the next 30 years. Its values and principles can be a filter that informs priorities, strategies, decision-making, and work plans going forward.

Arriving at a destination requires action. Doing nothing is a choice as well, but not a static one. If no change is made, the ecological integrity of the Park will continue to erode, the human communities will struggle to retain a quality of life, and management will drift further and further from the cutting edge leadership that is needed.

The path ahead calls for collective action. Fortunately, many are committed to the future of the Park. This project brought together wise and engaged people who treasure the Adirondacks, an experience that demonstrates that there is great reason for optimism. Just as many diverse voices shaped VISION 2050, all who love the Adirondacks must join in taking the bold steps necessary to reach a better future.
 

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To read more about the VISION 2050 project, you can view our online PDF of the report or download a printer-friendly version HERE. You can also click HERE to see a list of the top 28 threats listed on the report. Soon, hard copies of the report will be available for you to view at the places listed below. Please contact the individual location to find out when public access will be available.

Northern Adirondacks
Adirondack Council Saranac Lake office
Paul Smith’s College Library
North Country Community College Library (Saranac Lake)
Saranac Lake Free Library
Keene Valley Free Library
The Wild Center
Goff-Nelson Library (Tupper Lake)
Lake Placid Public Library
North Country Community College Library (Malone)

Eastern Adirondacks
Adirondack Council Elizabethtown office
North Country Community College library (Ticonderoga)
Adirondack History Museum
SUNY Plattsburgh Library
The Hyde Collection Art Museum and
Historic House (Lake George)
Caldwell-Lake George Library

Central Adirondacks
Adirondack Experience - the Museum on Blue Mountain Lake
Long Lake Public Library
Indian Lake Public Library
Lake Pleasant Public Library
Northville Public Library
Town of Johnsburg Library

Western Adirondacks
SUNY ESF Ranger School
SUNY Canton Library
St. Lawrence University Library
Clifton Community Library
Raquette Lake Library
Old Forge Library

Capital Region
Adirondack Council Albany office
Kelly Center at Union College
Gloversville Free Library
New York State Library
New York State Museum
SUNY Adirondack Library
Fulton-Montgomery Community College Library

Central New York
SUNY ESF Library

VISION 2050 would not have been possible without the generosity of the many individuals who gave of their time, expertise, and resources. The Adirondack Council gratefully acknowledges the support of the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, the Board of the Adirondack Council, and the following contributors: 

Anonymous
Michael & Ellen Bettmann
Marilyn Burns & Jeffrey Sellon
Tom Curley & Marsha Stanley
Cloudsplitter Foundation
Georgina Cullman & Chris Berry
Diane & Peter Fish
Hamill Family Foundation

Eric & Beverly Lawson
Annette Merle-Smith
Jerome F. Page & Linda Hirsch
Meredith M. Prime
John & Sandra Reschovsky
Brian & Ginny Ruder
Douglas & Alyson Schultz

Michael & Hazel Schultz
Laurel & Michael Skarbinski
Charles & Sue Snyder
Lise Strickler & Mark Gallogly
Craig & Connie Weatherup
Curt & Kathy Welling
Ethan & Anne Winter