Wild Forest Lands: Finding History and Meaning in the Adirondacks

By Philip G. Terrie

The Adirondack Park stands alone as one of the largest publicly protected areas in the United States, a constitutionally protected forest preserve with a provision guaranteeing that it must be "forever kept as wild forest lands." But, just what does "wilderness" mean today and how can the concept be untangled from the colonial implications of the term as it first applied to the Adirondacks?

Part memoir, part New York history, and part meditation, Wild Forest Lands ponders on the rhetorical and spiritual meaning of the Adirondack "wilderness." Terrie revisits the literature and history of the region, reckoning with how his views on the places he has defended have evolved over time. Rich with detail, Wild Forest Lands grapples with the enduring power of the Adirondacks and what it truly means to preserve something that is, by nature, wild.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0815611889
• ISBN13: 9780815611882
• Release Date: September 2025
• Publisher: Syracuse University Press
• Length: 262 Pages