Forest Preserve (New York) - Controversies

Controversies

While no one talks seriously of rescinding Article 14 anymore, that hasn't stopped some residents of the state from publicly chafing at its strictures. This is particularly common in the Adirondacks, since the many vast tracts of land under Forest Preserve protection limit economic opportunities in a region where it has always been a struggle to earn a living. Melvil Dewey sounded a common theme in the early 20th century when, advocating another constitutional amendment to open up more land to logging, he complained that the current situation only benefited "the bugs," referring to the blackfly infestations that keep many residents indoors during daylight hours in the early summer.

By contrast, in the Catskills, it is often complained that the state neglects the region to concentrate on the Adirondacks. As a common saying in the region has it, the DEC Commissioner's chair faces north. (Albany, the Capital of New York State, is between the two parks).