Growing up in a city, I’m engulfed in the everyday background noise of car engines revving, keyboards clicking, and phones buzzing. It wasn’t until I backpacked in the Sierras this summer that I was able to experience true peace and quiet. The outdoors is an escape from the ceaseless sounds of the city, yet barriers to entry prevent many from appreciating it; therefore, the Adirondacks should make the outdoors more accessible through volunteer programs for people of color and low-income households.

On May 16th, backpacks on and rain sprinkling from the dark clouds above, nine schoolmates and I were bound for the Sierras for a three-week backpacking trip. It wasn’t until the following morning, meditating on the flat surface of a granite boulder with a lone, 50-foot pine to my right overlooking Rock House Basin that I immersed myself in the peace of the wilderness. I exhale and am grounded by the astral sound of wind dancing about the atmosphere, brushing through the forested mountains, and flowing through the pine needles of the tree beside me. My mind was cleared of the million thoughts, worries, and daydreams. I was at last present in the space and time I existed in. There was no feeling as gratifying, and it only grew deeper as I continued my journey. Figure 1 below is one of my favorite pictures from the trip taken at the end of week 2.

Twenty days later, my schoolmates reunited with the thirty other people on the trip, hugging each other with our wilderness-musk and sharing our desperate-for-toilet-paper-stories. Something was different about all of us, as if we were completely new people, but somehow more ourselves than before. Figure 2 below was taken at the end of the trip when all of the groups reunited at Kennedy Meadows.

I am grateful to have had this experience, yet I am aware of the barriers that hinder people’s access to the outdoors and its serenity. Transportation to the wilderness, expenses of gear, knowledge, and time taken away from work are among the many obstacles. As a result, the outdoors remains an area dominated by the white and wealthy. Making wilderness more accessible is essential as everyone should have the opportunity to experience its peacefulness. There are some volunteer-based organizations that are working to open doors to those who wouldn’t be able to otherwise. Outdoor Afro is an extraordinary example of an organization that focuses on breaking those barriers. This non-profit founded in 2009 “celebrates and inspires Black connections and leadership in nature” (Outdoor Afro). Over the summer, Outdoor Afro took a group out to Little Clear Pond in the Adirondacks for a canoe day-trip (Loomis). Outdoor Afro and other organizations are revolutionizing parks like the Adirondacks, making them more welcoming and inclusive for people to enjoy its rejuvenation.

Works Cited

Loomis, Brandon. “Outdoor Afro Helps People of Color Find Their Adirondack Comfort Zone.” Adirondack Explorer, 24 July 2021, www.adirondackexplorer.org/stories/outdoor-afro-helps-people-of-color-find-their-adirondack-comfort-zone.

Outdoor Afro . “About Us.” Outdoor Afro, CGR, 20 Oct. 2021, outdoorafro.com/about-us/.

As Bill Mckibben remarked in his book, Wandering Home: A Long Walk Across America’s Most Hopeful Landscape, “If we’re going to talk about the wilderness, we have to face the truth that it’s hard to separate out the natural and the artificial” (McKibben). When considering our current climate crisis and the steps we have taken to reach this critical point in our existence, it is crucial to question to what extent these federally and state-protected wilderness lands are truly “wild” anymore and whether humans permanently blurred the line between the natural and artificial; however, the vagueness of the term “wilderness” can be interpreted in multiple facets, leading to issues with adequate protection of what we consider “wilderness.”

Drought, hurricanes, severe flooding are among some examples of natural disasters that are becoming more common as a direct result of human activity in recent centuries. For example, according to the Adirondack Council founded in 1975, the Adirondacks has experienced some of the worst recent damage from acid rain, which not only parches its forests and suffocates fish populations, but has adverse effects on the people who call this lush area of New York home (Adirondack Council). The Adirondacks has seen fewer cases of acid rain in the past year, yet one must wonder how much its ecosystem was permanently scarred as a result (Foley). Figure 1 below shows the damage to the Adirondack wilderness as a result of acid rain (Grabar).

It is challenging to settle on whether our state and national parks are still “wild” without understanding the definition of “wilderness.” However, according to the WILD Foundation, the term “wilderness” is “subject to interpretation” as multiple frames of context are required and can either be used relatively loosely or precisely (WILD Foundation). Therefore, depending on whether you are reading state law or at the dinner table, this term can be used and interpreted in many ways. The WILD Foundation defines wilderness as: “The most intact, undisturbed wild natural areas left on our planet – those last truly wild places that humans do not control and have not developed with roads, pipelines or other industrial infrastructure” (WILD Foundation).

When reading this definition, however, it is difficult to think of places in this country, and even around the world, that aren’t controlled or developed by humans. It is no question that we have control over our planet, whether it is physically altering its topography or provoking upticks in natural disasters and changes to the climate. Whether or not protected lands are truly “wild” is completely up to interpretation and personal perspective, yet in order to continue preserving these vital ecosystems, we must consider making the term “wilderness” more applicable. If we define this term more clearly, the way in which we connect with our planet will change for the better. 

Works Cited

Adirondack Council. “Acid Rain.” Adirondack Council, 2021, www.adirondackcouncil.org/page/acid-rain-86.html.

Foley, Martha, and Curt Stager. “Adirondack Lakes Recover from Acid Rain, but with an Altered Ecosystem.” NCPR, 10 Sept. 2020, www.northcountrypublicradio.org/news/story/35553/20200910/adirondack-lakes-recover-from-acid-rain-but-with-an-altered-ecosystem.

Grabar, Henry. “50 Years After Its Discovery, Acid Rain Has Lessons for Climate Change.” Bloomberg.com, Bloomberg, 10 Sept. 2013, www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2013-09-10/50-years-after-its-discovery-acid-rain-has-lessons-for-climate-change.

McKibben, Bill. Wandering Home: A Long Walk Across America’s Most Hopeful Landscape. St. Martin’s Griffin, 2014.

WILD Foundation. “Defining Wilderness – Wild Foundation.” WILD Foundation – Defending Earth’s Life-Saving Wilderness, 15 July 2020, wild.org/defining-wilderness/.

Need an escape from life’s constant hustle? Would you prefer to relax in a lounge chair on a white sand beach or on a lake surrounded by forest? If you chose the latter, you’re in the right spot at the right time!

Welcome to your weekend trip to the Adirondacks! This is an interactive journey where you and three friends plan your escape to the wilderness! Intrigued by an option? Keep reading and make sure to keep a tally of how much you’ve spent on your trip! The Adirondacks offer a wide variety of travel options that cater to multiple audiences with varying financial backgrounds and adventure goals, making it a unique place to visit; however, access to the park without a car or ownership of property in the park present accessibility challenges.

All packed and ready? Let’s hit the road!

(Disclaimer: You don’t have your own car or own a home in the Adirondacks)(Clarification: Trip length is 4 days, 3 nights. You can go on this trip with up to three other people and split the cost. Prices have been adjusted.)

First things first, you’ll need to find a ride to the park. Let’s start from New York City and meet in Lake Placid. Here are a few options:

A) Amtrak from NY Moynihan Train Hall At Penn Station to Westport ($40 – $60 per person) (Rome2rio)

B) Your friend who is going to Montreal is willing to give you and your three friends a ride to Westport on their way up (Approximate fuel cost = $28 – 40 total / $7 – $10 after dividing per passenger) (Rome2rio)

Almost there! You just need to get from Westport to Lake Placid. Unfortunately, there is no direct connection between Westport and Lake Placid through shuttle. You either …

A) Uber (standard = $52 – 72; XL = $86 – $114 total / $13 – $18; XL = $22 – $29 per person)

B) Hitch hike (free)

Welcome to Lake Placid! Now you have to find a place to stay for the weekend. Would you rather…

A) Stay in this cozy Boutique Hotel for up to 4 guests ($194 per night / $48.5 per night per person before taxes and fees) (Airbnb)

B) Relax in this luxurious waterfront Airbnb ($2,145 per night / $536.25 per person per night before taxes and fees) (Airbnb)

C) Set up camp (no amenities) in the McKenzie Wilderness (free year round) (McKenzie Mountain Wilderness)

D) Meadowbrook Campground (with amenities) ($18 per night / $4.5 per person per night) (Meadowbrook Campground)

Enjoyed your adventure? I hope you did! Sadly though, Monday is right around the corner and it is time to make it back. Don’t forget transportation back to New York City!

The Adirondacks offer a wide variety of activities and accommodations, providing flexibility to those who either want a calm weekend in a cabin or an adventure in the deep forest; however, for those without a car or home in the Adirondacks, planning is complex and trip expenses can add up quickly, preventing many from appreciating its beauty. Of course, this hypothetical trip was highly simplified. For example, food, activity, and gear expenses were not included. Moreover, there are a multitude of cheaper options that were not included. Feel free to comment below what your total trip expenses were!

Works Cited

Airbnb. “Vacation Rentals, Cabins, Beach Houses, Unique Homes & Experiences.” Airbnb, 2021, www.airbnb.com/rooms/51594021?adults=2&location=Lake+Placid%2C+New+York%2C+United+States&previous_page_section_name=1001&translate_ugc=false&federated_search_id=4c844afd-aced-40ed-84ea-3d4998892449&guests=1.

Department of Environmental Conservation. “McKenzie Mountain Wilderness.” McKenzie Mountain Wilderness – NYS Dept. of Environmental Conservation, 2021, www.dec.ny.gov/lands/105647.html.

Department of Environmental Conservation. “Meadowbrook Campground & Day Use Area.” Meadowbrook Campground & Day Use Area – NYS Dept. of Environmental Conservation, 2021, www.dec.ny.gov/outdoor/24482.html.

Rome2rio. “Pennsylvania Station (New York City) to Westport – 5 Ways to Travel.” Rome2rio, 2021, www.rome2rio.com/map/Pennsylvania-Station-New-York-City/Westport-NY-USA.

Growing up in a city, I’m engulfed in the everyday background noise of car engines revving, keyboards clicking, and phones buzzing. It wasn’t until I backpacked in the Sierras this summer that I was able to experience true peace and quiet. The outdoors is an escape from the ceaseless sounds of the city, yet barriers to entry prevent many from appreciating it; therefore, the Adirondacks should make the outdoors more accessible through volunteer programs for people of color and low-income households.

On May 16th, backpacks on and rain sprinkling from the dark clouds above, nine schoolmates and I were bound for the Sierras for a three-week backpacking trip. It wasn’t until the following morning, meditating on the flat surface of a granite boulder with a lone, 50-foot pine to my right overlooking Rock House Basin that I immersed myself in the peace of the wilderness. I exhale and am grounded by the astral sound of wind dancing about the atmosphere, brushing through the forested mountains, and flowing through the pine needles of the tree beside me. My mind was cleared of the million thoughts, worries, and daydreams. I was at last present in the space and time I existed in. There was no feeling as gratifying, and it only grew deeper as I continued my journey. Figure 1 below is one of my favorite pictures from the trip taken at the end of week 2. At this point in the trip, I had grown close with classmates that I would rarely talk to at school, and I felt truly alive.

Twenty days later, my schoolmates reunited with the thirty other people on the trip, hugging each other with our wilderness-musk and sharing our desperate-for-toilet-paper-stories. Something was different about all of us, as if we were completely new people, but somehow more ourselves than before. Figure 2 below was taken at the end of the trip when all of the groups reunited at Kennedy Meadows.

I am grateful to have had this experience, yet I am aware of the barriers that hinder people’s access to the outdoors and its serenity. Transportation to the wilderness, expenses of gear, knowledge, and time taken away from work are among the many obstacles. As a result, the outdoors remains an area dominated by the white and wealthy. Making wilderness more accessible is essential as everyone should have the opportunity to experience its peacefulness. There are some volunteer-based organizations that are working to open doors to those who wouldn’t be able to otherwise. Outdoor Afro is an extraordinary example of an organization that focuses on breaking those barriers. This non-profit founded in 2009 “celebrates and inspires Black connections and leadership in nature” (Outdoor Afro). Over the summer, Outdoor Afro took a group out to Little Clear Pond in the Adirondacks for a canoe day-trip (Loomis). Outdoor Afro and other organizations are revolutionizing parks like the Adirondacks, making them more welcoming and inclusive for people to enjoy its rejuvenation.

Works Cited

Loomis, Brandon. “Outdoor Afro Helps People of Color Find Their Adirondack Comfort Zone.” Adirondack Explorer, 24 July 2021, www.adirondackexplorer.org/stories/outdoor-afro-helps-people-of-color-find-their-adirondack-comfort-zone.

Outdoor Afro . “About Us.” Outdoor Afro, CGR, 20 Oct. 2021, outdoorafro.com/about-us/.

Whenever I open up the news app or switch on the news, there’s always a headline about a catastrophic weather event; the deep freeze in Chicago, 2019, and Texas, 2021; Hurricane Isaias, 2020; Hurricane Irma and Maria in the Caribbean; fatal monsoons in Pakistan, 2020, and the list continues. Families lost, economies destroyed, and ecosystems uprooted from these natural disasters are sounding alarms across the world, bringing more attention to the climate crisis and much needed behavioral changes. The Adirondacks are far from immune to extreme natural disasters, both in the past and present, and their aftermaths have left deep scars on economies and ecosystems, still apparent even decades later.

In the second half of the 20th century, there were three unusual storms that left lasting impacts on the Adirondacks: “The Big Blow” (1950), Derecho (1995), and the Ice Storm (1998). “The Big Blow” of 1950 was a cyclonic storm that hit the Adirondacks after the storm had “tracked over the Appalachians, where hurricanes aren’t supposed to go” (Jenkins). This storm severely impacted “softwoods and hardwoods” in the western Adirondacks (Jenkins). The next was “Derecho” in 1995, a cluster of violent thunderstorms with a “six-hundred-mile path and ten-hour life” (Jenkins). Three years later, “The Ice Storm” of 1998 was perhaps the most severe and unexpected storm of them all. This slow moving frontal storm dumped the “largest ice build-up of any storm on record” and damage was felt from as north as “central Quebec to New England, and from Ontario to east Maine” (Jenkins). Figure 1 below demonstrates the severity of the three storms’ impacts on the Adirondacks, estimating that up to 30% of the park faced significant damage.

The Adirondacks have seen some unfathomable storms in the 21st century as well, the most notable among them is Hurricane Irene in 2011. In the midst of Hurricane Irene, rivers and streams overflowed, homes and roads choked under half a foot of rainfall (Bradley). The Atmospheric Science Research Center (ASRC), located at the top of Whiteface Mountain, “recorded 7.5 inches of rain” from Irene (Reed). Figures 2 and 3 demonstrate the horrifying damage Irene ensued on the Adirondacks.

Damage done by such storms are not only felt during or in the immediate aftermath, yet they leave lasting scars on the communities and ecosystems they plow through. Randy Douglas, Town of Jay supervisor and the Chair of the Essex County Board of Supervisors, was interviewed by the WAMC Northeast Public Radio in August of this year. Even ten years after Irene, Douglas continues to experience the impacts of Irene, stating, “when I ride around and I see the loss of the homes, the loss of the residents, the loss that our people suffered, that’s the part that saddens me the most” (Bradley). On the environmental part of the equation, not only were rivers redirected and mountain regions reshaped by landslides but riverbanks were flooded with trash and over 1,100 oil spills were recorded (Mann).

Since the middle of the 20th century, the Adirondack Park has faced numerous catastrophic storms, leaving deep cuts in its economies and ecosystems. People in the Adirondacks were not prepared for any of these storms and felt major consequences as a result. Unfortunately, these unprecedented weather variations are inevitable, and will continue to be for generations. The question is not whether these storms are going to happen, but how prepared we will be in the event these storms come bulldozing in.

Works Cited

Bradley, Pat. “A Look Back at Tropical Storm Irene’s Impact in the Adirondacks.” WAMC, 27 Aug. 2021, www.wamc.org/news/2021-08-27/a-look-back-at-tropical-storm-irenes-impact-in-the-adirondacks.

Jenkins, Jerry, and Andy Keal. The Adirondack Atlas: A Geographic Portrait of the Adirondack Park. Syracuse University Press, 2004.

Mann, Brian. “Post-Irene Cleanup May Damage Environment.” NPR, NPR, 14 Sept. 2011, www.npr.org/2011/09/14/140461854/post-irene-cleanup-may-damage-environment.

Reed, Joann S. “Hurricane Irene Damages in the Adirondacks.” Adirondack Lifestyle, Adirondack Lifestyle ™, 29 Aug. 2011, adirondacklifestyle.net/2011/08/hurricane-irene-damages-in-the-adirondacks/.

Fur hunting is a topic that is sensitive to many with regards to the environment and ethics. As a result of where I grew up, I’ve never gone hunting or trapping, and I’m surrounded by people who are mostly against it. As a result, I have a biased approach to this topic; hunting is unethical and unnecessary given our current impacts on the environment and technologies that allow us to make synthetic alternatives. During this past week, however, after reading varying perspectives from the Adirondacks, I’ve found that the debate over hunting and trapping is remarkably complex, which has led me to critique my bias.

Before diving into the current issue of fur hunting in the Adirondacks, it is important to understand its history. According to The Adirondack Atlas, written by Jerry Jenkins and Andy Keal in 2004, fur trading in New York territory was a notable way in which Europeans fostered a connection with the Iroquois, trading fur and military protection for goods such as corn and tobacco (Jenkins). Down the road, however, the trade became tense, leading to “a hundred and fifty years of war,” also known as “The Beaver Wars” (Jenkins). As a result of this conflict, not only did the Iroquois lose power over the region but the exploitation of beaver pelts took a significant toll on its population. Beaver numbers have been slowly recovering since the early 1900s when they were reintroduced to the Adirondack Park and kept under protection (see Figure 1 below).

Since then, the harvest of beaver pelts continues under state regulation; however, due to a decrease in demand of beaver fur and animal pelts in general, full-time trappers are facing hardships in their craft and more are leaving the industry. Figure 2 below demonstrates the plummeting of the relative purchasing power of beaver pelts since the early 20th century (Jenkins). Evolutions in synthetic fabric technology and growing distaste towards hunting are among some of the factors that are pushing the hunting industry to the ground.

To some, fur hunting is seen as unsustainable and unethical; however, when comparing it to the impacts of agriculture and synthetic fabrics industries, environmental and ethical implications fall short. According to Paul Schneider, the author of The Adirondacks: A History of America’s First Wilderness published in 1997, “the threat to terrestrial species … comes more often from loss of habitat rather from hunting or trapping … [s]econd homes, agriculture, acid rain, clear-cutting, erosion; these … are forces to fear” (Schneider). After reading this passage, I realized how I’d been failing to consider other human practices that have a significantly larger impact on ecosystems than hunting. In a class discussion the next day, my classmate Ben brought up a critical point that we source our synthetic alternatives from petroleum, which harms the environment through drilling, manufacturing, and transporting the oil. Moreover, these practices and their consequences cause ethical and humanitarian issues.

As a result of class discussions and readings, I’ve begun to question my bias on hunting and trapping. Although I wouldn’t go as far to say I would hunt, I don’t think the industry should disappear for good, nor do I wish it for the sake of those who have been hunting for generations and whose livelihoods depend on this practice. So long as hunting and trapping is done legally and protections remain within sustainable means for ecosystems, hunting should continue as recreational and economic activity. 

Works Cited

Jenkins, Jerry, and Andy Keal. The Adirondack Atlas: A Geographic Portrait of the Adirondack Park. Syracuse University Press, 2004.

New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. “Trapping Regulations.” Trapping Regulations – NYS Dept. of Environmental Conservation, 2021, www.dec.ny.gov/outdoor/9209.html.

Schneider, Paul. The Adirondacks: A History of America’s First Wilderness. Henry Holt, 1997.

On the drive to the Sierras with my dad this summer, we saw nothing but dry soil and shrubs for hours. Occasionally, we would come across solar farms, feeling suddenly refreshed by the ocean of blue panels and the wonders it was doing for those who relied on it. When we arrived at camp, I couldn’t stop regretting our lack of benefiting from solar, an energy that powers this planet but that humans don’t take enough advantage of. Why haven’t we transitioned to solar faster? I would ask myself. As I have done more research, however, shifting to renewable energy is more challenging than I thought. In order to curve away from a 2 degree planetary temperature increase, harnessing solar energy is imperative, yet significant complexities lay with its impacts on aesthetic and environmental costs of construction, namely in the Adirondacks.

Solar expansion projects in the Adirondack Park are facing obstacles due to growing concern over their disruption to the visuals of the park. The 53rd governor of New York, George Pataki, who despite being a “proponent” of renewable energy, opposes adding more solar farms to the park because he doesn’t “want to be driving by a 70-acre field full of solar panels when [he’s] bragging about the wild nature of the Adirondack Park.” Pataki, among other decision-makers in the area, are obscured by a concern based heavily on looks, severely impacting the passing of critical renewable energy solutions, taking us three steps back when we should be five steps ahead. Aesthetics, however, is not the only blockade to the further development of solar energy in the Adirondacks; its environmental impact with regards to construction pose another significant question.

The environmental costs of the construction of solar energy present a difficult choice between reducing carbon emissions and protecting the fragile Adirondack ecosystem. In May of this year, the Adirondack Park Agency approved a “a 5-megawatt solar project in the Town of Moriah,” a necessary step towards transitioning away from fossil fuels, but one that will cost the destruction of 15 acres of forest. Moreover, according to the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, “PV panels require some rare materials, like silver, whose extraction is energy intensive and polluting.” The source of solar energy itself is relatively sustainable, but environmental costs are significant in the production of its technology. Despite the pushback, the fossil fuel alternative is far more damaging in the long run.

We can not continue to live in a world where fossil fuels dominate the energy industry, or any industry for that matter. Their environmental consequences are far beyond that of renewable energy. Nonetheless, creative minds are working around the obstacles, finding ways to expand renewable energy with the smallest footprint on the ecosystem. Earlier this year, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo announced a plan to repurpose a “formerly mined land in St. Lawrence County into one of the largest solar projects in the Adirondack Park.” Not only is repurposing land cost effective but it saves the further destruction of ecosystems. We have every sustainable solution just under our noses, it just takes some sniffing around to find it.

Works Cited

Cerbone, Aaron. “Alternate Energy Options for SARANAC Lake?” Alternate Energy Options for Saranac Lake? | News, Sports, Jobs – Adirondack Daily Enterprise, 14 July 2021, www.adirondackdailyenterprise.com/news/local-news/2021/07/alternate-energy-options-for-saranac-lake/.

Craig, Gwendolyn. “Adirondack Park Agency to Prepare for More Solar.” Adirondack Explorer, 14 May 2021, www.adirondackexplorer.org/stories/adirondack-park-agency-to-prepare-for-more-solar.

Craig, Gwendolyn. “Power Struggle.” Adirondack Explorer, 19 Sept. 2021, www.adirondackexplorer.org/stories/solar-power-struggle.

Gorman, Mark, and View Profile. “Former Mine Turning into Big Solar Project in Adirondack Park, NY.” Solar Builder Magazine, 28 Apr. 2021, solarbuildermag.com/news-feed/former-mine-turning-into-big-solar-project-in-adirondack-park-ny/.

Smith, Olivia. “The Dark Side of the Sun: Avoiding Conflict over Solar Energy’s Land and Water Demands.” New Security Beat, 2 Oct. 2018, www.newsecuritybeat.org/2018/10/dark-side-sun-avoiding-conflict-solar-energys-land-water-demands/.

As Bill Mckibben remarked in his book, Wandering Home: A Long Walk Across America’s Most Hopeful Landscape, “If we’re going to talk about the wilderness, we have to face the truth that it’s a little hard to separate out the natural and the artificial” (McKibben 68). At Middlebury, wilderness is all around us. The lush Green Mountains to our East beam with a vibrant shade of green that I would never see in Los Angeles, where I’m from. However, how much of the Green Mountains, and other protected wilderness in this country for that matter, are truly “wild” anymore? Have humans permanently blurred the line between the natural and artificial? Despite their lawful protection, humans have altered wilderness to an extent that natural systems face severe disruption, both directly and indirectly, losing their vibrancy, biodiversity, and perhaps their “wilderness”.

Drought, hurricanes, severe flooding, and countless other natural disasters are becoming more common as a direct result of human activity. For example, according to the Adirondack Council founded in 1975, the Adirondacks has experienced some of the worst recent damage from acid rain, which not only parches its forests and suffocates fish populations, but has adverse effects on the people who call this lush area of New York home (Figure 1). The Adirondacks has seen fewer cases of acid rain in the past year, yet one must wonder how much its ecosystem was permanently scarred as a result. How much of the Adirondacks’ “wilderness” did we lose over the past few years with acid rain? Considering other factors such as infrastructure, motor vehicles, and private estates, how “wild” are the Adirondacks anymore?

It is challenging to settle on whether our state and national parks are still “wild” without understanding the definition of “wilderness.” However, according to the WILD Foundation, the term “wilderness” is “subject to interpretation” as multiple frames of context are required and can either be used relatively loosely or precisely. Therefore, depending on whether you are reading state law or at the dinner table, the term “wilderness” can be used and interpreted in many ways. The WILD Foundation defines wilderness as: “The most intact, undisturbed wild natural areas left on our planet – those last truly wild places that humans do not control and have not developed with roads, pipelines or other industrial infrastructure.”

When reading this definition, however, it is difficult to think of many places in this country, and even around the world, that aren’t controlled or developed by humans. We essentially have control over our planet, whether it is physically altering its topography or provoking the upticks in natural disasters and changes to the climate. Whether or not protected lands on this planet are truly “wild” is up to interpretation, yet in order to continue preserving these vital ecosystems, we must consider making the term “wilderness” more applicable. Perhaps if we define this term more clearly, the way in which we connect with our one and only planet could change for the better. 

Works Cited

Adirondack Council. “Acid Rain.” Adirondack Council, 2021, www.adirondackcouncil.org/page/acid-rain-86.html.

Foley, Martha, and Curt Stager. “Adirondack Lakes Recover from Acid Rain, but with an Altered Ecosystem.” NCPR, 10 Sept. 2020, www.northcountrypublicradio.org/news/story/35553/20200910/adirondack-lakes-recover-from-acid-rain-but-with-an-altered-ecosystem.

McKibben, Bill. Wandering Home: A Long Walk Across America’s Most Hopeful Landscape. St. Martin’s Griffin, 2014.

WILD Foundation. “Defining Wilderness – Wild Foundation.” WILD Foundation – Defending Earth’s Life-Saving Wilderness, 15 July 2020, wild.org/defining-wilderness/.