The Adirondacks

(exciting rhythmic music) - I tell people who have never been here before, that this is one of the most impressive parts of the world. (man screaming) - The idea of ​​the Adirondack Park was to create a new model for humans and wild spaces to coexist. - The Adirondack is a kind of winter playground. -The people here in the Adirondacks are a very friendly breed. - They are proud of the environment in which they live and the adversities they overcome, whether it is the harsh winters or the black flies in the summer. - You can contemplate a sea of ​​wild nature. - It's really connected to the whole American dream about nature. - The bear ran up the tree.

They are bear claw marks. (peaceful rhythmic music) - This is the Great Adirondack Campground. - This is rustic Adirondack. - The history of the Adirondack is about two centuries of disputes over what the place means and what we are to do with it. - Here we have come closer to a functional balance between the natural world and the human world than anywhere else on Earth. (soft, serene music) (dramatic slow music) - This program was funded in part by the Kevin T Family and Betty Ann Keane, the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation.

The Adirondack Council has provided additional support. (upbeat rhythmic music) And from I Love New York. These supporters also provided funding and contributions to their PBS stations from viewers like you. Thank you. (exciting and fun music) - Imagine a vast wilderness area in upstate New York that is larger than Yellowstone, Yosemite, Glacier and Grand Canyon National Parks combined. Spanning six million acres, Adirondack State Park is the largest park in the lower 48 states. However, unlike national parks, it is the only one on the continent where large human populations live. - The Adirondacks are truly an experiment. The only place I know has a desert and people living right next to it. - The history of the Adirondacks is a history of contested land. - The Adirondack Park is divided almost equally between private property and nearly three million acres of publicly owned, protected forest preserve. - You cannot cut a single stick of wood on these state lands.

There is no place in the world that is so protected. - No matter where you are in Adirondack Park, you will be close to nature and people. Here, human activity, like nature itself, ebbs and flows with the seasons. (soft and serene music) We start in spring. With help from Adirondack naturalist and writer Ed Kanze. (quiet rhythmic music) - Waiting for spring to come in our part of the Adirondacks is like waiting (mumbles). There are delays, setbacks, and cold snaps that make it difficult to believe that the season of new life will ever arrive. And suddenly it's hot, the sun is shining, the birds are singing, the leaves open and the wildflowers bloom.

On the sunny days of April, May and June, the blood of everyone in our house stirs. The cold was gone and forgotten, household chores were neglected and we headed out, eager to explore the world the sun had just claimed. Spring is amphibian time in the Adirondacks. Spotted salamanders emerge from the ground looking unreal, like Dr. Seuss illustrations. (deep, intriguing music) Little frogs called Spring Peepers sing in choruses and sound rather eerily like Jingle Bells. We are pleased to renew old acquaintances with the fat American warty toads and the gentle jade-colored green frogs. It is a pleasure to see the forests and water come back to life, one rejuvenated plant and animal at a time. (soft, serene music) (water flowing) - Row forward, crew, row forward!

Okay, relax, relax! And we will get to the Hudson, it will be 14 miles along the Hudson. (fun, upbeat music) And we went right over a rock, get ready! Okay, left side, pedal back, right side, go! A very narrow river, it will open very wide, we will begin to see part of the landscape, the mountains, and as we advance towards the gorge. The first part of the Hudson will be somewhat gentle, until reaching the gorge area. That's where 90% of the rapids will be. - One of the best ways to see the Adirondacks in spring is to take a raft trip down the Hudson River. - We all get excited when it rains a little and the river rises.

Every river trip is different, different things happen, the weather is different, the water levels are different. You never get bored with that. Keep it up! The source of the Hudson is located in the high peaks of the southern Adirondacks. It comes out of a lake, or Lake Tear of the Clouds. As it moves through the Adirondacks, it picks up several different tributaries and becomes the river that everyone is quite familiar with, near New York City. (soft, fun music) - Today, the Hudson is used primarily by rowers and fishermen. In the past, its precious water was the subject of disputes between Adirondack loggers, who used it to transport timber, and downstream cities and towns, who feared logging would threaten their water supply. - Come on, go ahead, calm and nice.

Working together, nice and easy. I have been involved with White Water for 29 years. Basically half my life has been spent in White Water. One of the things that makes the Adirondacks so unique is the light and the color of the light in the forest. The greens that appear at sunset, with the gold colors, I mean, they are just phenomenal things. And it's rewarding to be in the business that brings people to this area. (soft, relaxing music) I actually grew up on Long Island and came to the Adirondacks when I was very little. It was a place that my grandfather and father had built.

The river will curve to the right, it will be a rapid called Blue Ledge Rapid. We are definitely in a wild environment. (exciting rhythmic music) (people shouting) Good job. There are a lot of people who come to the Adirondacks and want to go boom, boom, boom, go fast, go fast, through everything. Well, come and just relax and enjoy it, get on the lake where there are no motorized boats, paddle around and you understand why people don't want it ruined and they want it protected. The land has a value. Alright, paddle forward. I think the most important use of this area is to allow people to experience it through recreation, which will allow it to sustain itself, but not become overcrowded or overused.

Even now, while we have other boats on the river and everything, it's quiet. You are listening to the birds, it is peaceful, you are relaxed. You just have to love it. You talk to a lot of young children and one of the most important things they will tell you is that they want the park to be there when they are older. (birds singing) - Beautiful morning. So I paint a lot here. (soft, relaxing music) What I'm doing is called plein air painting. It is a French term that means painting outdoors in a place. Capturing the moment is a big part of plein air painting.

It's a really quick type of painting and kind of intense because you have a very short period of time. Do you see where the sun is now? In four hours I would have a different picture. This is a color I don't usually put in my palette, but it's spring in the Adirondacks. The Adirondacks are usually pretty peaceful and quiet, but in the spring things come alive and it's bright green, you'll hear the birds. I want that painting to reflect that. Sometimes when it's really quiet, the reflection is so pretty. I'll get a basic composition on that.

Maybe I have to try to remember, because that could change. - Artists began arriving in the Adirondacks in the 1820s. There were artists leaving New York for sketching trips in the summer months, to leave the heat and dirt of the city and industrialization. But it really wasn't until Thomas Cole arrived in 1826, traveled up the Hudson a little further and ended up at Schroon Lake and saw these towering mountains in the distance, that artists really penetrated the Adirondacks. Artists have always commented on the clarity of the light found here. The colors are particularly notable, perhaps because it is not contaminated.

There's the Sanford Gifford painting where the sunset is literally orange, and people might think that's a very strange color for the sky, but one of the great joys of living here is seeing all those fuchsias and purples and oranges popping up all over the place. natural form. - The Adirondacks are a small isolated gem and almost as tight compared to other places. I started seeing a few different Adirondacks and realized that maybe it's not the great view we're all looking for. There are a million places I can paint here and I've been to a lot of them.

So it's accessible, beautiful. (loud splash) I missed it. (woman laughing) Maybe it's there, it's there. It's a beaver, I think. Is it a beaver or an otter? I see fins. You never know what will happen, see? (woman laughing) There is something that is very unnatural about everyone in cities, and there are things that get lost in this. More people need to find out. (calm, serene music) - The Adirondacks are a gateway to a kind of spiritual experience. You have to see it to experience it. It is through the eyes that one experiences the Adirondacks, and the painters probably get it before anyone else. - Winslow Homer first came to the Adirondacks in the 1870s.

He was very close to nature there, he was also very close to the Adirondackers who were his guides and friends, and he described them in what many consider his masterpieces of The water-color. Thomas Cole commented on the massive tree felling that was occurring. His paintings, along with those of many other artists, helped raise awareness that we would lose something of great value if the landscape were desecrated. Rockwell Kent spent more than 50 years in the Adirondacks. He painted in winter, summer, autumn, spring, morning, evening, always captivated by the changing light. Rockwell Kent lived here and this really sets him apart from other artists. - Living in the Adirondacks is a very hard life.

Economically it is difficult. We are without power for days, our phone goes out, our internet goes out, it's not an easy place to make a living. You will have to be creative to survive. I've done a lot of different jobs, but it's beautiful and we have this whole place to ourselves, so I think that's why a lot of people stay. In the same way that landscape painting brought the Adirondack wilderness to city people. 170 years later, here I am doing the same thing. We're bringing this to people to show them what's here and that they need to appreciate it and try to preserve it a little bit because it may not always be here. (deep rhythmic music) - Artists weren't the only townspeople to discover the Adirondack wilderness in the mid-19th century.

Others would soon lead the call to return to nature. -There was a famous clergyman, WHH Murray, who wrote a book in the mid-19th century, about how the Adirondacks were God's greatest place on earth, and you would come here and be rejuvenated. He sparked a career. These were the early days of huge cities that were so unpleasant and dirty that people were desperate to escape them. And they kept coming in great waves; at first they were called Murray's Fools. -He became known as Adirondack Murray. The unfortunate thing was that the summer after his book was published was one of those rainy, miserable summers.

The mosquitoes had multiplied by the thousands. And every drunk (mumbles) became a guide, then someone made the statement: If Murray led people to God like he led them to the Adirondacks, we're all in trouble. - But they certainly didn't come here for physical comfort. These were people who came up here, took cold showers in the morning, and marched up and down these mountains in woolen clothes and leather shoes. They didn't have high tech boots or Gortex etc. There were people who came here to have access to something bigger than themselves. It's really connected to the whole 19th century American dream about nature. - Some came to the Adirondacks for its natural beauty.

Others came, perhaps, to start over. Of all the greatest figures to have set their sights on these endless mountains, few are as great as Apollos A Smith, known to all as simply Paul. - Paul Smith began working on a boat on Lake Champlain, and saw the Adirondacks to the west from there, and began bringing other people to the Adirondacks. Then he eventually started running a small bed and breakfast business for hunters, etc. -He was more of an entrepreneur than a guide. But (mumbles) what attracts me is the role of showman, he was playing with the fantasy that the inhabitants of Down had about the Adirondack guide.

He also had a lot of charisma and a lot of energy, and was probably fluent, and was able to establish a base for a hunting and fishing camp, which grew into a hotel, which then became a city. (intriguing rhythmic music)-He was a great artist and used to tell people that all those mountains were just mounds before he moved here, and that the black flies didn't bother him because they like to eat the outsiders first. -Paul Smithbuilt a wilderness hotel in 1859 on Lower Saint Regis Lake. It was a hotel for hunters, but it was a place where those who came to visit could bring their wives and families.

Thus it also became this oasis in the desert of sophisticated urban pleasures. Paul Smith was the figurehead of the hotel. His wife, Lydia, was the brains behind it, she ran everything and made everything go well. (upbeat music) - As the hotel grew, it attracted a well-known clientele. President Calvin Coolidge established a summer white house here in 1926. Other notables included Teddy Roosevelt, Grover Cleveland, and PT Barnum. While the hotel business was booming, the Smith family empire was expanding. - They had their own stage line, they had their own railway. They did everything they could to bring people to the Adirondacks and they just kept expanding it, and expanding it, until they created the entire town of Paul Smith's with its own post office. - Paul Smith was one of the pioneers in presenting the Adirondacks as a destination that would be known around the world, but his time laid the seeds of the ambivalence that people here feel about being people who will take care of vacationers and tourists.

All set in its time, there was a kind of challenging relationship between the outsiders and the local people. - Paul Smith did very well in the Adirondack tourism sector. By the time of his death in 1912, he had amassed an enormous fortune and more than 30,000 acres of land. Through charm, cunning, and a notable distaste for book learning. - Paul Smith was a self-taught man, a man who really had no education. He had three children, and one of his children, Phelps, was well educated and the last remaining heir to the Paul Smith fortune. - Phelp Smith continued to operate the hotel until 1930, when it burned to the ground in a spectacular fire.

Phelps died seven years later. -He left in his will the requirement that this property be established as a college, Paul Smith's College of Arts and Sciences. - Paul Smith University was our first four-year institution in the park and it has been incredibly important. Any place needs a place to think about itself and the university has become that, in many ways, a wonderful asset. - Our student body has grown to approximately 900. We call ourselves the University of the Adirondacks and we mean it in every way. Here we employ more than 100 people. We all have a strong feeling about how the economic well-being of the people can be maintained, while preserving the park. -It may be the height of irony that a man credited with the saying, "There is no fool than an educated fool," lent his name and his funds to an institution of higher education in the middle of the Adirondack Park. (soft, serene music) - I spent my childhood in Pennsylvania, but I really grew up here in the Adirondacks Mountains.

My grandfather had a house and we came here every summer. The first few years were spent just going hiking every weekend, exploring, learning about the trails, learning about the regions. I feel more of a spirit of adventure here. There is so much nature, there are so many places that (mumbles) you can explore endlessly throughout the Adirondacks, once you get off the roads. You get to a point where it becomes part of you, you become part of it. (serene rhythmic music) I fell in love with the Adirondacks, with the wind blowing around me and rushing around me, it was a very inspiring moment.

That was my euphoria. I just wanted to find ways to recapture that feeling of this endless view that goes on. So I grabbed a camera and set out to photograph the Adirondacks and try to recapture in one image that emotional impact I was having while I was there in the mountains. I wanted to be able to communicate that to other people. Set for the lens, sets the degree of vision. This is a fairly high-tech panoramic camera. This camera will rotate and perform a full 360 degrees. I really like this view because there are few places where you can be so high above the water and just have this sense of beauty of the Adirondacks. (birds singing) That should be enough.

We are at the southern end of the Tongue Range overlooking Lake George. All the way along the lake, at the end, you can see the town of Lake George. We are right above what is called the Lake George Sounds and all of the Lake George Islands. I'm usually looking for a specific light, so knowing the weather, knowing if you're going to have this dramatic sunrise or sunset, I think that's much more about photography than its mechanics. - The Adirondacks are incredibly rich in still photographers, and there are many times when I am in the woods somewhere particularly beautiful and see an incredibly beautiful scene that I would like to remember for the rest of my life.

And my first thought is always where is Carl Heilman when you need him? (soft, serene music) - This is the view from where we were this morning. At the end of October, the place looks a lot more like this, pretty fall colors, over here. This is a 360 degree view from the summit of Algonquin. I manage to brace myself just as the tail of a full rainbow over the high peaks began to dissipate. Suddenly the fog began and began to roll over the top of the mountain. When you're standing on the edge, with the sun behind you and the fog or mist on the other side, it's like your shadow is...

It seems like it goes on forever in this fog. This is a beautiful, beautiful rainbow. Those are the spiritual times in the mountains. I guess I will always photograph for that spiritual moment. I like to start from the perspective that to really reach people, you have to reach their hearts. That if you can reach them in an emotional way, you'll help them say yes, this is something really special. (serene rhythmic music) - In the Adirondacks, we joke that there are two seasons, winter and the 4th of July. It's almost true. It's barely warm here, it's time to prepare for the cold.

Great blue herons raise fish and frogs and whatever else they can find in wet places, but we humans work like crazy to fatten our wallets. Between the end of June and Labor Day, those with us with tourism-related income have to make money while the sun shines, and even when it doesn't. One thing is certain here: the cold is never far away, and when it arrives, food and income will be harder to find. However, for a time, living is easy. Ruby-throated hummingbirds drink sweet drinks from flowers, chipmunks hide leftover nuts and berries to survive the winter, and green leaves work their magic, producing sugar from air and sunlight.

We all love this warm, bright and often rainy season, and we're sorry to see it end so soon. (soft, serene music) – Nestled in the middle of the central Adirondacks are stunning relics of a bygone era. The great camps of the Adirondacks, the summer retreats of the wealthiest Americans more than 100 years ago. - I try to put things back together, like what this place was, what was original. As I go along, taking the building apart and putting it back together, I definitely have an idea of ​​who the builders were and what they were doing 50, 80, 100 years ago. (soft, serene music) - The great fields were originally the summer homes of the American plutocracy.

Captains of industry, people who own railroads, who own factories, who own large industries. - Some of the (murmurs) we associate with the Gilded Age, even with names like Vanderbilt and Whitney and Rockefeller, bought major properties and established huge reserves for themselves. - The large Adirondack camps did not resemble the ornate mansions these fabulously wealthy families built in New York and Newport. But although rustic on the outside, these fantastic campsites offered every comfort imaginable. The fact that they were called fields did not diminish their size, grandeur or opulence. - Large camps were typically for a single family, built on the shore of a lake.

There were complexes of several buildings, in which each building served a function that would normally be served by a room in a typical house. So they expanded the living room into a recreation building and the dining room into a dining room. And they were made with rustic materials from the area, stone, logs, bark. But they not only used natural materials, but they did it in an artistic way. - The growth of large camps coincided with the expansion of the railroad into the Adirondacks, beginning in 1871. - Collis Park Durant built the first railroad from Saratoga Springs to North Creek.

That provided easy public access from major urban centers. William West Durant inherited his father's land empire in the central Adirondacks, a railroad and a stage line, and developed a type of architecture we call rustic. (simple rhythmic music) - Durant was very interested in the way the Japanese placed their dwellings in the landscape. They were incorporated into their natural surroundings and connected pavilion-style by covered walkways. He was also captivated by the look of the Swish chalet, these deeply overhanging eaves, the decorative fretwork and both the vertical and horizontal log construction. - Durant was a notable promoter of the region.

He believed the Adirondacks were the next big thing and began promoting them to wealthy clients. Sagamore was my grandfather's camp. He bought it from William West Durant in 1901. And it became the family refuge. - The era of the great Adirondack camp lasted from the 1880s to 1930. Sagamore, which today would cost more than four million dollars to build, was owned by the Vanderbilt family until 1954. - The first impression when visiting Sagamore is one of remoteness. You go down this long road and you can't see the camp at all; It was part of the excitement of coming to camp.

Then you would arrive at that perfect setting, with those beautiful chalet-style buildings located on that lake. You would smell the food coming out of the kitchen, it was always wonderful food. I remember seeing the main lodge in front of me and I remember seeing the deer going to get their daily lick of salt. Sagamore represented the lifestyle of the golden age. Dinner was served formally, one could dress in tuxedos, tuxedos and long dresses, long dresses for the ladies. I remember the parties at the bowling alley. There was some kind of sport that you can play after dinner.

I still remember that they paid me to place the pins. (loud noise) The balls have a gravity return system, which was my first experience with magic. - For the Vanderbilt family, this camp offered the opportunity to create a private resort. Here they were not chased by the paparazzi. This was a place where they could retreat and create a society separate from the public eye. - This lifestyle of baronial splendor depended entirely on armies of locally hired servants, who kept the firewood cut, who served these sumptuous meals, to maintain enormous wooden dwellings that were always deteriorating. (light, calm music) - Huge staff and maintenance costs forced even the wealthiest families to abandon their large camps.

Of the hundreds built, many still stand and have been carefully restored. Today Sagamore is a historical landmark. Its 27 buildings are open to the public for guided tours and even overnight stays. For Alfred Vanderbilt, memories of his magical childhood summers are kept alive in memories of his finest hour. -My grandmother had a friend named Ethel McCormick who had a Brownie camera and she loved taking pictures of people doing what they did in Sagamore. This scrapbook covers about 15 years of guests. People signed their names and then attached their photographs. Beautiful group photos of those who were there that weekend.

You've got Gary Cooper, some of the Hearsts are here. People brought kids, oh, that's Wendy, that's my half-sister Wendy. That's my dad. And here is Richard Rodgers, the great American composer. And three pentagrams of (mumbles) Oklahoma. That's Meno (mumbles), my father and my little sister. It was a magical place, a magical place to go. - Located 30 miles northeast of Sagamore, another great Adirondack campground is coming back to life. Great Camp Santanoni is now owned by the state of New York. Here a new generation is working on a huge restoration project. - We are just returning to work for the summer and are now at the stage where we will start putting up the windows again.

These windows have oak or chestnut frames, they are quite heavy. But the good thing about these is that they are very strong and have maintained their square shape quite well over the years. I guess it doesn't fit that well, which is to be expected, the building is deformed and reconstructed. The idea of ​​restoration is not to remove any of the original material, and we try to do that as much as possible. - This place was built in 1892, was designed by the Prying family and was built by Robert H Robertson. It was actually built in a year, which is pretty amazing because it's 16,000 square feet.

The chimneys are made of field stone andgranite that is on this site. And there are about 1,500 logs used throughout the main complex. - The Pryings were a prominent New York family of Dutch descent. Santanoni is, in my opinion, the most outstanding example of Adirondack camp architecture. (soft, serene music) I think the large fields represent the contradiction in the American character. On the one hand, we are fascinated with the wealth and lifestyles of the rich and famous. On the other hand we like to return to nature, to the basics of life. And I think that's why they're so fascinating to people. - I think the role of the rich in the creation of the park is very important.

If this had not been a place where millionaires went to play living on the frontier, interest in the Adirondacks certainly would not have been as great as it was. (light, easy music) – If you want to experience all the luxury and exclusivity of the golden age of great Adirondack camping and can foot the bill, you can book a stay at the former Rockefeller family retreat. They called it Camp Wonundra. Today, known simply as The Point, it offers sumptuous Adirondack-influenced cuisine. - I am the executive chef of The Point. My responsibilities are to take care of the food aspect of all the people who stay here.

The idea of ​​The Point is an experience where you visit a friend's house. - Hi Kevin! - Are there no children today? - Not today (mumbles) children. - Okay, what do you have for me? Much of the experience is based around dining, drinking and spending time on the lake. You can break it up like a summer camp for adults. How many pounds of peas did we eat today? - Chef McCarthy's menus are inspired by traditional Adirondack cuisine, using wild game and fresh fish. But he wanted something more. -When I took over, I knew thatI wanted to find someone who would grow something specifically for us.

And a waitress introduced me to Steve Tucker and said yeah, I know a guy who has a farm and maybe he could grow a couple things for you. Arugula, this is on the menu tonight. Ah, there are the red ones. How many of these did you plant this year? The same as last year, many? - A little more than last year, yes. - All carrots taste much better when they are small. We ended up meeting for lunch one day and I asked him, “What can you grow?” He said, "I'll put anything in the ground and try it if I can." So we pulled out a seed catalog, basically went through all the pages, and I made a wish.

List of all the things I wanted him to grow. He will grow them with kindness, not mass production, without pesticides. He said that he wanted me to try oriental vegetables and listed a few. greens and I said, "Sure, I'll try it." So I planted them and then looked in the seed catalog to compare the pictures with the plants that were growing and find out what was actually growing. Then I started with sweet striped beets and different colored carrots, anything that was different. We are now growing 72 different vegetables. Working with Kevin, he would call him and tell him what was available, because sometimes we have bad harvests. and some things don't come up. - Farming in the Adirondacks has never been easy.

The soil is rocky and the weather rarely cooperates. - You have a very narrow window to try to get everything to grow and harvest. And you have to be willing to try something different every day and hope it works. -There are many farms around the area, but a lot of the land wasn't as fertile as this one, which is why most of the other farms abandoned, because they simply didn't have the fertility to begin with. The farm began around 1885 to supply food to the Paul Smith Hotel, guides and clients. - And we've been farming here ever since.

Steve and I are the fifth generation to work on the farm. - Freshness is extremely important. I harvest it, rinse it three times, package it and it's refrigerated for less than half an hour. And then I go out and buy more vegetables. - Did you bring potatoes? - No. - I just used the latest thing you brought last week. - I'll bring them next week. - Great thank you very much. See you next week. - Alright. - It's nice to just shake hands with the guy who has respectfully dedicated his time to growing this product. He has worked hard to grow these beautiful things.

When you bring it through the door, it's like air passing through the kitchen. Because everyone else that works in this kitchen sees Steve and sees him bring this beautiful product, but what's there is that respect. We always give it recognition on the menu because we want people to say, "Well, what is Tuckers Arugula?" We want them to wonder what they are eating before they really understand it. This is an arugula salad from Tucker Farms, which he picked up this morning and just dropped off for us, with some heirloom tomatoes. (murmurs) on top, it's like a (murmurs) vegetable ravioli, we have zucchini, pumpkin and eggplant, a little of the leftover tomato pulp and a little buffalo mozzarella. -With the help of Tucker Farms, Chef McCarthy evokes the bygone luxury of the great Adirondack camps, as he takes Adirondack cuisine to the next level. - You know, we have leaks, we have cauliflower, we have radishes, we have peas, we have beans.

All these different things that come from the Adirondacks. And people tend to think that when they drive into the Adirondacks, they see trees and water and a lot of deer running around, they don't know how much else is out there, and that's one way we can paint a picture of what the Adirondacks have to offer, regarding the bounty of the land. - The first time I heard (mumbles) about the Adirondacks was probably at a lake called Cedar River Flow, just outside of Indian Lake. We went paddling on the lake and started hearing these otherworldly sounds in the water. (loud hooting) Those wailing and demonic laughter, just wondering what kind of disembodied spirit, or bird, or whatever, is out there making them. - In summer, the Adirondack forests and waters combine with wildlife.

More than almost any other animal, the common loon has become an icon of the Adirondack wilderness. - Common loons are a really strikingly beautiful bird, which I think is one of the reasons why people like them so much. Loons are affected by many different threats and most of them are related to humans. Adirondack Loon Conservation's Wildlife Conservation Program was initially started in 2001. Key aspects of the program are looking at the impacts of mercury pollution and acid rain on loons. - The greatest threat to the loon comes from coal-burning power plants in the Midwest and West, thousands of miles away, whose emissions contain high levels of mercury and sulfur and nitrogen that cause acid rain, transported to the ocean. this by the wind.

These pollutants threaten Adirondacks ecosystems. - The Adirondacks are one of the places where acid rain was first discovered. It reaches lakes in small quantities. As you move up the food chain, concentrations increase, so the concentration in a fish or loon could be 10 million times higher than the concentration in the water. Mercury is a neurotoxin, it changes behavior. - The behavioral effects that we see are that they do not defend their territories as well. If they are incubating eggs, they do not incubate them as well as a bird without high levels of mercury, or they do not care for the chicks.

Chicks don't necessarily have the energy to ride backwards when they are young. To capture loons for our mercury research, we have to go out at night because the birds can see us during the day. We are here tonight at Garnet Lake to capture some of the birds here and sample them for mercury levels, and we are also doing a loon study, looking at contaminants and any diseases these birds may be exposed to. . It seems there were two birds at some point up there. - Oh, was there? - Yes. (light whistle) We'll go out here (murmurs) with two chicks and take mercury samples for the lifespan of the bird.

And we will band the bird if everything is not ready. (loud whistles) The average time is usually about 45 seconds, but can stay under a minute or two. Loons are very cunning. (mumbles) They were certainly diving deep. - I have to communicate with him. - We are using loons as a sentinel for what mercury pollution is doing to freshwater lakes. (deep spooky music) - We are on our way in both adults and both chicks. - Okay, 10, four. - This is a good night. Having the whole family in 15, 20 minutes is fine. We will draw blood, take other samples, and measure your peak.

And look at it real quick. 08826. The blood sample shows us a short-term accumulation of mercury in the birds, what they have eaten in the last month. Men tend to be more stressed than women, and he definitely breathes harder than normal, but he... (mumbles) Yeah, they do, and they recover very quickly. - This is a federal wildlife game so it has a specific ID number for this bird, this bird is the only one that has a white on silver, green on white stripe. - The feather sample shows us the long-term accumulation of mercury, how much they have accumulated throughout their life.

We have been studying mercury levels in looms since 1998. What we have found so far is that almost 20% of the birds we have sampled have mercury levels high enough to affect their reproductive success. - Despite these findings, there is renewed hope for the loon. After a long lawsuit, 16 power plants have agreed to reduce pollution that threatens this beloved bird and its delicate habitat in the Adirondacks. - I think, much to everyone's relief, people have started to step up to monitor the loon population and understand what we need to do to keep them here. That's the loon. That's the loon, of all the sounds, just lying by the lake and listening to the loons laugh is the greatest privilege of all. (soft, serene music) - Fall everywhere marks the beginning and the end, but nowhere are the changing seasons more clearly defined and poignant than here in the Adirondacks.

Cool days arrive that expel heat and humidity. The frosts began before the end of August. They trigger the decline and fall of the great green empire of leaves that took all spring and summer to build. Meanwhile, the northern harrier or marsh hog silently heads south as color shimmers on the slopes and burns in the valleys. As a writer and nature guide, I shift my work primarily indoors in the fall. This year the change is especially bittersweet. The Waldig, the historic resort on Upper Saranac Lake is closing. I have led walks here for years and will miss the place and the people. (slow, deep music) Still, if there's one thing life in the northern woods teaches us, it's that nothing lasts, earth and growth form the other side of death and decay, and from each end stretches a multitude of new beginnings. (slow and calm music) - This is a beauty.

And this whole structure down here, this used to be a cut stump right here, came down and around, and this took root in it. This would be a great candidate for a table base. It has one, two, four legs, and probably... This would easily work for a roughly 30 inch round table. (soft and serene music) Story of my life, sawdust. So there are stumps like we were seeing in the forest there, that have had a chance to dry out, which sometimes takes two to three years. - Adirondack artisans are known worldwide for their rustic designs. The term rustic refers to both a style of architecture, as seen in the large Adirondack campgrounds, and a style of furniture that uses materials found in nature. - I work with materials that I understand and use, meaning I work with materials that I have in my own general area.

What I do requires a very solid understanding of what the wood does, how it is going to react. Everyone has a different idea of ​​what rustic is supposed to be; many of us do it now, compared to 20 or 30 years ago. There is a level of quality up here that is not always seen. I think that's why they call it rustic Adirondack. - What sets rustic Adirondack apart is ingenuity, creativity and diversity, seemingly only found here. The pieces are often more unique, handmade, and use more parts of the tree than anywhere else in the world. Rustic Adirondack furniture has been primarily made by keepers or guides.

Adirondacks are classically multitasking. They practiced numerous hobbies and furniture making was undoubtedly one of them. - Almost every caretaker, every guide, would agree to build something over the course of the winter, and it could be very complicated, or it could be a few small items, maybe a chair or two. This stump will end up under the table thatI'm building. Many times you will get a piece and it will make you think about what it should be. I already applied the birch bark to this table. You can see the thickness of the crust. I have some great material here to work with and I already have some pre-cut pieces. (serene rhythmic music) I won't say it was easy to get started.

I took the first set of six chairs I made and burned them. There was hell to pay in my house that day. But I had spent a lot of time building the first ones and they weren't quite right. And I knew that if I exposed them, they would come back to haunt me. So I put them in the backyard bonfire and burned them. My next chairs were much better, much better. This one will have all the yellow birch pieces on top, and the difference will be in the way they are arranged, as to the direction they run. - This table, once finished, will be sent to the Adirondack Museum.

Located in the small hamlet of Blue Mountain Lake, it has the largest collection of Adirondack materials in the world. - This is a museum that started with nine buildings, now it has 22 buildings. But the themes of life, work and play in the Adirondack region remain the organizing principles. The collection of historical photographs has more than 70,000 images. Seneca Ray Stoddard is a very important Adirondack photographer. We have a very broad representation of his work. He has a whole set of works that are true works of art. We have the second largest collection of wooden boats used for pleasure boats in the country.

And we're sending out an exhibit called Adirondack Rustic Natures Art, 1876 to 1950. The furniture ranges from very rough cabinetry to extraordinarily finely finished. (soft, serene music) - The most well-known furniture in the Adirondacks may not be rustic. Perhaps it is the Adirondack chair, one of the most recognized symbols of leisure in the United States. (soft, upbeat music) - The Adirondack Chair is a bit of a misnomer. It was originally developed not as the slatted chair, which most people associate with it, but as a simple plank chair that was developed by a person in Westport, New York. He needed something on his lawn with wide arms and a backrest at the perfect angle so he could lounge and look out over Lake Champlain. - Over time it became known as the Adirondack chair, the famous chair we have today that is made with slats, over time it became very popular.

You will find them on most Adirondack docks and on many Adirondack porches. - The Adirondack chair is made of wood. It was easy to mass produce. Rustic Adirondack furniture is unique, each piece is a one-of-a-kind piece. In 1987, the Museum presented the first Adirondack Rustic Furniture Fair. The Adirondack Fair brings together as many as 40 to 50 different rustic artisans to the museum grounds. There is enormous variety and vision in the different approaches to the craft. Congratulations on winning best in show. - Thank you very much, it was a surprise for me. - One of the most interesting things about your work is the transition to using old lilac wood. - Mother Nature makes incredible building materials.

Really, they are like sculptures standing in the forest. (lots of people talking) - The Museum asked us at the beginning of the year if we would be interested in doing a commemorative piece for this year. It is the 50th year of the museum, it is the 20th year of the Rustic Fair. - This is adorable. - This is the first time you see it all finished. - Well, tell me about this... It seems like some kind of new reason to me. A kind of star pattern. - Yes, it has a very pleasant fluidity. The star petal, the flower petal also look at it. - Flower petal, you have really introduced a new design element. -When I stop to think about what I do, it's humbling to know that I make furniture that is so involved in an individual's everyday life, that's pretty special.

Without a doubt, it is a legacy to leave behind. (soft, serene music) - With a border of over 400 miles, there are many different ways to enter and explore the Adirondack Park. It is so large and diverse that each town and region has a different personality. The town of Old Forge is often the first stop in the Adirondacks for visitors coming from the west. - The old forge is an entrance door. It's a place where people come in, stay a while, find food, find attractions, find lots of events. It is a place that specializes in intercepting people for a few days, who are heading somewhere else.

It is also home to the Old Forge Hardware Store. - Moses Cohen was the typical traveling salesman who came to the Adirondacks. You know, people who, in those remote communities, have somewhere to shop. So these peddlers would come with their (murmurs), and they would go from town to town and then sell products. And Moses Cohen started that way. He came through the Adirondacks and eventually did very well and built a business in Old Forge. (fun country music) - My grandfather came to Old Forge in the late 1890s and realized there was a small town here and it was probably enough to support a hardware store.

Commercial supply, building materials for many campgrounds throughout the region, including some of the large campgrounds around Raquette Lake. - The Old Forge Hardware Store is a vestige of this different era in the park. When you walk in, you have the feeling that you are in a place that tries to satisfy all the needs you can imagine and those you never imagined having. - We do all kinds of book signings for local writers during the summer and fall. We are the 800 pound gorilla in the front corner. It is a small community, only 900 people. I don't think it's much different from any very small town. (simple, upbeat music) When my sister and I were little, we weren't supposed to stay and I didn't.

Only when I retired did I start spending more and more time here. And probably about 10 years ago, my sister and I decided we were going to take it over. There aren't too many multi-generational family businesses left. - Old Forge seems to have found a future for himself. The good thing is that it also feels like a real place. You drive down the main street and you see tourist shops and that kind of thing, but you also see the Old Forge hardware store and you see the school right there on the main street. It's one of my favorite places in the park.

This park is so big and there are very few things that tie it all together, and one of those things is the 90 miles. Start at Old Forge. Unlike almost anything else, it gives the park a family feel. - The 90 miler is a big event throughout the Adirondacks. It starts after Labor Day, it tends to be a cool day and there is usually fog on the pond. - It's also harder than hell. It is a brutal journey to cover that distance in three days. - We are here training for the 90 miles, a big three-day race, the first weekend in September.

It's officially called the Adirondack Canoe Classic and is a three-day, approximately 90-mile race that traces an ancient covenant used in the Adirondacks. It's the way people used to get around before we had the few roads we have in the Adirondacks. 250 boats in the regatta, and everyone from elite athletes to people just jumping on the boat for the regatta. Some people train a lot and it shows, and then others it shows, and that shows too. (woman laughing) - Our team is pretty similar to the team we had last year, except it's Maria's first race. And she has been trained, she has been rowing with her mother for a long time, doing some shorter races.

She will be one of the youngest paddlers in the race. - It is more of an event than a race, because they are not just elite paddlers. Your age doesn't matter, your gender doesn't matter. It's a party, it really is. Two three four. It is exhausting. (people talking enthusiastically) - Welcome to the 25th Annual Adirondack Canoe Classic. And welcome to 90 miles. - We are excited and a little nervous. The water is low in some places, so there will be some places where we will have to pull and lift the boat a little more. I think we are prepared individually and we have been together enough as a team.

We will have a lot of fun. - Team Four, women of values, Number One in my Heart. (people applauding) Grace, Amelia, Betsy and Celia, are you ready to start? (people cheering) Team Four Stock, on your mark, get ready, go! - The team (mumbles), Betsy McGinnigan will be our goal person. Amelia MacDonald is our second seat. And then I'll be in the third seat. (fast, exciting music) – Part of the 90-mile trail follows historic routes used by early guides and settlers of the Adirondacks. The first day of the race covers 34 miles across 13 lakes and a river. And it includes various transports or portages. (exciting and fun music) - There are a variety of different boats.

Many of the boats are made of Kevlar or carbon fiber, so they are lighter. They can be 18 feet long and weigh 40 pounds. But some of the boats, like the one (mumbles), have a maximum weight of 150 pounds. (soft, upbeat music) (people applauding) - There's a lot going on in the '90s, so you have to be prepared for that. Some people are faster in carries than in water. Some people are faster in the water than they are in carrying. (simple, fun music) - The longest shuttle is just over a mile. Some of the carries are really flat.

I mean, literally, that's where the wheels really come in handy because the guys can actually turn on the road. - With more than 3,000 lakes and 30,000 miles of rivers and streams in the Adirondacks, its waterways have always been both a lifeline and a powerful draw for people. - Lakes have always been the center of the economic engine of the Adirondacks. People want to go to the mountains. People want to go back to the forest, but what they really want to do is go for the water. (people cheering loudly) - Nine, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14. - 10 more miles, we're doing it, we're doing it very well.

There is a lot of community involved. Every place you get out of the water to load up, there's a group of people with water and Snickers bars and all sorts of things to help out. - (mumbles) this one is pretty full. - Wait wait wait! - There are 250 boats and 250 floors in the regatta. We have the Wounded Warriors, three gentlemen who lost an eye or a limb, fighting for our country in Iraq. The captain of the ship is a guy named Chuck Lida. He just returned from Iraq. - Seven, eight, nine, 10. ♪ Back in the chair. (people clapping) (people clapping) - That really feels good. (people laughing) - We had a great day, we had very good carries.

We ran them, the wind was blowing at our backs in many of them. (people applauding) - The second day of the 90 mile covers 33 miles, from Long Lake, almost to the town of Tupper Lake. Of all the boats in the race, there is one that is unique to the Adirondacks and deeply intertwined with its history. The Adirondack Guide Boat. - There are actually a lot of people who still compete with Adirondack Guide Boats, but I'm sure they are pretty high competitors with the other boats, it is a very fast and efficient boat. The Adirondack guides who take people hunting and fishing, and the sports, as they were called, that he was going to take, were not going to take the boat or the equipment, so he wanted something he could carry on his own. back.

He could carry a cargo basket at the same time. They needed a boat that would be easily handled by one person. The sport could also use a steering paddle associated with the boat and steer, but probably most of the time they didn't. The steering lever was probably mostly stowed away. The Adirondack guide boat takes about 500 hours to build. This boat will weigh about 50 pounds, and that was their goal, something between 50 and 70 pounds. They are still being built in a traditional way. They are built on a rigid frame, rather than steam-bent ribs. The ribs of these boats come out of the knee of a red spruce.

The knee is where the stump becomes the root. They obtain naturally curved veins. It allows you to have really light decking on rigid frames. (light scraping) Fortunately, the art of guide boat building is not being lost. Many people really want to build and stick with the traditional boat because it is a very nice boat. Many of these ships are over 100 years old. I have friends who still row boats that are over 120 years old. It is unknown how long they will last. - In this year's 90 miles, 16 guide boats compete. By the end of the second day, Celia and Grace's team had spent a total of almost 12 hours paddling.

And they are in sixth place in their class. - 13, 14. Hut, one, two, three, four. - On the third and final day, the hot Indian summer has turned cold and humid, but the enthusiasm of the paddlers has not diminished. (soft, exciting music) Today's 22-mile route will take you through Upper, Middle and Lower Saranac Lakes, ending in the town of Saranac Lake. (fun and exciting music) - Good morning! - Happy towing! - This event is another boost to the local economy. Hit Old Forge, hit Long Lake, hit Tupper Lake, hit Saranac Lake. And as we move up the chain ofLagos, is really having a significant economic impact on the entire region. (light, fun music) The idea of ​​a paddle tennis sporting event passing through the Adirondacks is an easy one for people to accept.

They recognize the value of having all these people in the communities and then moving forward. (fun and exciting music) - After three days, 89 miles of paddling, and eight portages, the first wave of boats finally reaches the finish line. (light, calm music) - Reaching the finish line are the Wounded Warriors, (mumbles) Sigwell and (mumbles). (people applauding) This is the second (mumbles) the Wounded Warrior ship has sailed, great job guys. The second place is (mumbles). (people applauding) Number one in my heart, Betsy, Amelia, Celia and Grace, good job, ladies. Good finish. (people applauding) - Yeah. That felt good, kind of glad it's over.

We are very happy. Amelia did great, she never stopped paddling. She was just a soldier. -If you want to see bad hands, go see some of the sailors. Her hands are just open flesh, raw flesh, it's amazing. - The number one boat finished in seventh place in its class and the team will return next year for another race. The 90 miles are more than just a run through the Adirondacks' most beautiful waterways. It's a chance to discover what it takes to be an Adirondacker. What it takes to live in this unique landscape. - One thing that I have come to appreciate a lot about the people here is that they are very independent and that they are people who do things for themselves. - The Adirondacks environment makes all Adirondackers tough.

I learned it when I got here from an Adirondacker native neighbor, who simply told me, "Embrace it, because it's not going away." - You have to pretend that there are no bugs, that 20 below zero is just another winter day. (man laughing) (soft, serene music) - It's not easy, a lot of people have to keep their spirits up when there is 18 inches of snow on April 20th. - It is very difficult for anyone to make a living from just one thing. - It is both self-sufficiency and dependence on the community. These are powerful, traditional American values. This is one of the last places where those two values ​​meet in such careful balance. (soft, serene music) - Fall in the Adirondacks is a wonderful time to explore, there are over 1,500 miles of hiking trails.

They vary in difficulty, from pleasant walks to challenging climbs to high peaks, where a healthy dose of self-sufficiency will come in handy. - For me, the Adirondacks are the most rugged terrain. You reach the tops of the Adirondacks mountains and can look out over a sea of ​​wilderness. (exciting and inspiring music) - Well, one thing I can definitely recommend is the Avalanche Pass site. You start from here, along the Blue Trail, towards Mount Marcy, which starts from the end of the parking lot. - I grew up hiking in Alaska, and that's a different scale. The beautiful thing about the Adirondacks is that they are incredibly wild and incredibly remote.

But it's also on a scale that's beyond the back door. - I have climbed most of the high peaks several times, and one of the most satisfying aspects is that you can't do the same climb twice, it's always different. - I've been walking everywhere. To me, the Adirondacks are the prettiest because they go up the fall line and are very, very steep. - The trails are long and you can get lost emotionally, you can find some remote areas here and just go for miles and just not see people. It revitalizes me. - What is the date? - 22. - Oh, we're ready to go. - We see here at the Adirondack Mountain Club, more than 60,000 people a year who come to hike the high peaks.

We were founded in 1922 by a group of true businessmen, but also conservationists dedicated to the protection and responsible recreational use of the New York State Forest Reserve. We want to be a place where people can connect with other hikers. We host guided hikes daily and evening campfire programs. Our goal is to help people understand the beauty, culture and natural history of the park itself. - There is something about the scale of the mountains and the spectacular presence of the sky. It is inviting you to think about and experience your own fragile mortality somewhat differently than you would otherwise. - Some people who come hiking are experienced hikers, but for many it is their first time in nature.

Much of the Stripe Maple, Sugar Maple, as we go a little higher, will eventually become almost all White Birch. - I truly believe that many of our young people do not get the quality of life that can be obtained from being outdoors. My mottos are don't leave any children inside. - This group is part of the New York State Department's Environmental Conservation Program, which introduces urban youth to the natural world. - But the trees grow very close together. Look, that's weird for me. - How curious, you can usually find them. And in fact, as we go up, we'll see Black Sprouts, as opposed to Red Sprouts, which is what we saw further down. - Some of the children had never camped before because they were afraid of the dark, that is, they can stand the police gunshots and motors, but they can't stand the silence.

And when you get them outdoors, they give themselves permission to be teenagers again. - That big peak over there is Algonquin. Here on the left, that round dome in the distance, this one, that's Marcy, that's the tallest one. This is 4,090, so Marcy is 5,300. - Okay, I can take care of that. - I think you probably could. - I have it. - I think you understood. - One of America's great hiking traditions and unique to the Adirondacks is the concept of climbing its 46 high peaks. Most of these peaks are located in the heart of the Adirondacks, west of the village of Keene Valley. - 46 of the park's highest peaks are over 4,000 feet.

And if you have climbed them all, then you will become a 46er. - The best aspect of 46 is that it gives you a starting point. I started hiking on Cascade Mountain, when I was probably 12, and I went up there and thought this is the most beautiful place on earth, and all I want to do is hike mountains like this. And that was really what started me on the path to becoming a 46er. - It has definitely become a tradition. Today, probably close to 6,000 people have done so. Bob Marshall was the first 46er. He found all the peaks that were above 4000 feet and planned them all in 1924.-Of the 46 that people still climb religiously, Bob Marshall climbed 12 of them once in one day. -Not only did he inspire thousands of hikers who continue to scale the high peaks today, but he also inspired hikers all over the country, in fact, all over the world, as well as conservationists. - It was on one of these Adirondack mountain peaks that he came up with the idea of ​​what became the Wilderness Society in the 1930s, and which the Wilderness Society, in the 1960s, had managed to convince the United States Congress United to pass the Wildlife Law, a law that speaks of the need for places free of man.

And now there are millions of acres in that wild system. - We are 3/10 of a mile into a 292-foot climb to the summit. There really is a spiritual quality to being above the tree line. Here in the Adirondacks, especially, because you see so much wilderness. (people talking) - From right here, from the top, you can see most of the peaks and it's a beautiful view, beautiful view, I couldn't ask for a better day to do this. When you grow up in the city and all you see are buildings, every step you take here, a different tree, a different species, just a couple of hours from the city, and some people wouldn't even wonder what else is out there. - When you come to the Adirondacks, you can go down one mountain and hike another mountain.

I feel like if you can't do at least one hike in your life, you're missing out on a lot of things. - It's about the experience, doing something new, doing something that maybe you don't do every day. You look up and your stress disappears. - These children will be the next generation of administrators in this area. There is a respect for the land that I hope people who come here feel. People who hike Mount Marcy, Algonquin, Van Hoevenberg or after Rocky Falls are here to enjoy nature. But they are also here to connect with themselves and seek solace in this place. (serene and peaceful music) The Adirondacks are a place of incredible beauty and mystery, it is a place full of stories of people, places, adventures, lakes, mountain tops and views that are unparalleled anywhere else. - Even if you can't climb a high peak or paddle in the wilderness, you can still enjoy many of the Adirondacks' natural wonders at an extraordinary museum on Tupper Lake. (soft, exciting music) - This exhibit is about the frogs of the Adirondacks.

There are some pretty frogs in the area. You can see all the (murmurs), river otters and all the eagles. There are very special plants and animals that grow and live there. (mumbles) Adirondacks Natural History Museum, Wilderness Center. We are in the middle of the Adirondacks. (children laughing) It's kind of the center of the universe. Did you like the combination of live, interactive and multimedia animals? This isn't really a zoo, it's not really an aquarium, it's not really a nature center, we're kind of a mix of everything. It is definitely a new type of museum. (soft, peaceful music) The mission is to inspire broad public understanding of the natural systems that shape and sustain life in the Adirondacks.

The museum is truly a celebration of the beauty of this enormous area. We have three biologists who take care of all the animals in the museum. - So you can just enjoy it? - Yes Yes. We have some rehabilitation birds that we take out for animal encounters. Then you can (mumbles). I thank Tupper Lake for that project because it's in the heart of the Adirondacks, it's kind of a crossroads of people coming from all directions. And honestly, I knew Tupper was struggling a little bit with what to do financially, so it seemed perfect from a lot of points of view and there was a lot of interest in the community.

Yes, it's great that we have this natural history museum here where we can celebrate the beauty and specialness of the Adirondacks, and see it as a hope for discussions about the future of the park. (soft, calm music) - My family and I live along the Saranac River in the northern Adirondacks. The leaf colors here fade early. (intriguing rhythmic music) Yet all winter long, pines, firs, firs, and white cedars keep the forests cheerful. Ice flows screech noisily downstream and some of them stick to the banks. One day they recede like a traffic jam and soon the last bit of water disappears. (serene and inspiring music) Along the river in winter, birch, beech and maple trees paint the hills gray and brown.

Trees also supply the firewood that heats our house. While we stay warm, we watch and look for wildlife. One memorable day, a bobcat, common here but rarely seen, appeared out of the snow and approached to take a look at us. (soft, inspirational music) On clear days, my eyes are drawn to the top of Moose Mountain. In winter, the casual visitor views green and gray forests, white lakes and rivers, snow-covered beaver lodges, and houses trailing wood smoke. (soft, serene music) (exciting, fun music) - Celebrating heritage is a small town tradition. Many cities across the U.S. celebrate their Fourth of July celebrations, but the largest town in the Adirondacks does things differently.

It's only fitting that Saranac Lake celebrates its festivities in the bracing air of deep winter. (loud noise) (people applauding) - New three-point shot. - Because it was its frigid climate that put this place on the map. It all started with a man who came here looking for a lovely place to die. -In the early 1870s, Dr. Edward Livingston Trudeau, a young doctor from New York City, was diagnosed with tuberculosis and he came to the Adirondacks because it was a place he loved when he went hunting. At that time, a tuberculosis diagnosis was a death sentence and he definitely thought he was going to die. (serene piano music) When Trudeau arrived at Saranac Lake, there were no amenities of any kind.

It was a mud hole, it was a place for guides and loggers to spend the winter. They had to carry him up the hotel stairs and they didn't expect him to be better here. It just happened that the weather was good for him and he got better. And every time he tried to return to New York City, he got worse. And so he ended up living and working here. He began to think that he needed to cater to people who were not rich enough to come as if they were on vacation, so he built a sanatorium building by building.

The reason people came to Saranac Lake for tuberculosis was because Dr. Trudeau was here. They kept trying to quantify how good the weather was and could never pin it down. At that time the air in the city was terriblypolluted, leaving the city and entering the forest was good for your health. It had particularly good effects on tuberculosis patients. Trudeau and the sanatorium created this town, it would never have been the way it is if it had not been for that institution and the people it attracted. - I arrived in January, January 11, 1949. I came alone from New York City, and I only remember that I got off the train, everything was beautiful. - I had also come from the city where I got sick and thought I was going to die.

But once I got here, I knew it would get better. - The Sanatorium had maybe 200 at a time, but of course there was a huge impact on the community. That's what created the whole cottage industry of cures. -There were numerous cabins where a family had just opened a couple of rooms to a patient. They put me to bed and I stayed in bed for a few years. It was a very slow process. That was part of the way we recovered. - Then it was thought that the extreme climate was good for curing tuberculosis, the fresh air and the beautiful views.

Lilo believes in that, I don't. I think I recovered thanks to the rest. - Patients slept outdoors even in sub-zero temperatures. They used stone pigs, which were ceramic bags with hot water for their feet. If you walked the streets, you could see the second floor sleeping porches everywhere, and they were all for patients. - There were many close friendships, and even many romantic adventures, I was about to say. (man laughing) (mumbles) - Mel arrived in 1950 and we met shortly after. She had been a tuberculosis patient, but now she was a nurse. -Even in our first conversation, she mentioned that she had an accordion and that interested me. -And every time he got there, he had a new piece of music for me.

And then his aunt sent him a ukulele and we started playing together. And we've been playing together ever since. (fun, upbeat music) - After World War II, streptomycin was developed for tuberculosis, which shut down the entire industry this community had developed around, and it was no longer profitable for them to keep the sanatorium open . - This town was devastated by the cure. It is an irony that this great relief around the world has been horrible for this small town. - In 1954, the Trudeau Sanatorium closed its doors forever, leaving many townspeople out of work. It took years for the local economy to recover, but today, Saranac Lake is thriving and many of the traditions started in the Trudeau era still endure. - Well, here in 1897 the Winter Carnival began.

For the patients it was very important from a psychological point of view. (exciting rock music) Dr. Trudeau had cast a spell of optimism here. People felt that, when he arrived, he was going to improve, that was probably his greatest contribution, was his optimism. It was really a very positive place, a real place where you can still have a small town life. Walk downtown from home. And then you see people face to face, rather than through a windshield, and I think that makes a big difference. (serene rhythmic music) - The Adirondacks are a kind of winter playground for all athletes.

Anything from ski jumping to snowboarding to skiing. It provides me with the best place to train in the country. I love skeleton, the best sport I have ever tried. When you're young, what do you do in winter when it snows? You try to find the biggest hill, you jump on your sled and you want to go straight as fast as you can, and it's kind of a big kid's sled. (exciting and fun music) Living and training in Lake Placid has been amazing for me. There is a lot of Olympic legacy here, with the 1932 and 1980 games. Just living in Lake Placid is inspiring.

You have many great athletes. It's good to have role models, it's good to have people who have been there and done that. Just by being able to walk down the street, you have the 1980 hockey rink where the miracle occurred. And it's just a reminder every day of how special the place is. There's definitely a sense of history here, it's everywhere. - In the early years of the 20th century, the small Adirondack town of Lake Placid was anything but an Olympic venue. It was a summer resort with a year-round population of less than 1,500. And it housed the exclusive and restricted Lake Placid Club. - The Lake Placid Club was formed by Melvil Dewey, the founder of the Dewey Decimal Library system. -Mr.

Dewey really was (he murmurs) because he saw the weather, the snow, the cold and what can be done in the Adirondacks to sustain a city and really make it one with the environment? -He decided to have his wealthy clientele come to Lake Placid and enjoy the winter activities. The first winter, 40 brave souls came to Lake Placid, sure they were going to freeze to death, and ended up really enjoying it. - Melvil Dewey basically founded Lake Placid as a winter sports venue. -In the late 1920s, Godfrey Dewey, who had taken over management of the Lake Placid Club from his father, Melvil, led a bid to host the Winter Olympics.

In 1932, the Adirondacks became the site of the first Winter Olympic Games held on American soil. - We had the inauguration ceremonies in '32, they were inaugurated by the Governor of New York FDR, Franklin Delano Roosevelt. There were 17 nations, 500 athletes. We had speed skating there, we had hockey games. - There were many locals who competed in the 1932 Olympics. (murmurs) and Jack Shea who gave the (murmurs), they have (murmurs) and prepared the open ceremonies. He went on to win two gold medals. The Stevens brothers, Hubert and Curtis Stevens, won gold in the two-man bobsled. They were about 1/3 of a second behind the last set.

Normally in sledding that's insurmountable, that kind of advantage. Well, those two gentlemen lit a blowtorch, warmed up the runners, and won the gold. That type of activity was not illegal in 1932. The 1932 Winter Olympics cemented Lake Placid's reputation as a world-class sports facility. - We kept it for many years as a driving force for Lake Placid, as a winter sports destination, until 1980 came along. In 1980 I was working at WNBZ radio. From the opening ceremonies to the closing ceremonies, we had a broadcast location at the media center, which was Lake Placid High School. The children were sent on vacation for five weeks while the high school was converted into a media center.

As the games developed, the hockey team began to become a story. - The 1980 Olympic hockey team was made up of a group of university students. The Soviets (murmurs) were the strongest team in the world. -And the night of February 22, 1980 arrived, we took our usual place in the press box. A few minutes after 5:00 the puck was dropped. - The capacity in the stadium in 1980 was 8,500. By most accounts, there were 12,000 people in the building on the day of that game. And you would ask yourself how is it possible that so many people entered the building without tickets or seats?

The guards at the gate that day were all from Lake Placid. They were not speculators, they were patriots. They bowed and said, "United States, come in. "United States, come in. "Soviet Union, we are exhausted." - Now the United States, a remote possibility, Snider. (murmurs) right side of the net for Michigan. Go to the area (mumbles). Score! (people applaud loudly) (murmurs) America wins, four, three! - And now we are in those last minutes, and again, we think that this is the Soviet Union, the best hockey team in the world. They could change this in the blink of an eye.

We hope this game holds up. - 25 seconds left. Now it is (mumbles). He introduces it, on Greg's right side. (mumbles) Johnson, behind the net! - The arena was so loud that you could scream at the top of your lungs and not hear the sound of your own voice. (people cheering) (loud hum) - It's over, America (murmurs). I can't believe it, this is a miracle. I can not believe it. - This was just a celebration scene like we have never seen since. - It was a miracle on the ice. And from now on and forever, Lake Placid will be the place where miracles happen. (soft, intriguing music) The lasting effects of the 1980 Olympics in Lake Placid are still evident today.

All of our facilities are state-of-the-art and since 1980, Lake Placid has hosted between three and five Olympic Sports World Cup competitions each year. (soft, serene music) Athletes from all over the country come here to train. - The Olympic legacy has been a great influence for me. - Sure to start three for Samantha. -Growing up in the Adirondacks, I have been given opportunities that have shaped my life. I wouldn't be an Olympic athlete, I wouldn't be currently involved in bobsledding and I wouldn't have the same goals. (soft, slow music) - Lake Placid has placed one of its community's residences on every Winter Olympic team since 1924, and has more people on Olympic teams than any other city on the face of the earth. - In 1932, Lake Placid was established as a winter sports venue.

In 1980, Lake Placid was reestablished as a winter sports venue. (light bark) Being located within the Adirondack Park, six million acres in size, means you'll see an area that balances the environment with economic concerns. And that's one of the biggest attractions of Lake Placid. (slow, calm music) (loud scraping) - Wood! (exciting rhythmic music) - Hay Day in the logging camps here in the Adirondacks was from the late 19th to early 20th centuries. - We were a growing nation, the Adirondacks built our nation because they got so much timber around the Adirondacks that you can't even imagine the millions and millions of logs they took out.

They were cut into wood to build our cities and towns. The biggest season (rumbles) in the Adirondacks ended up being that of the logging companies. (relaxing rhythmic music) They would return to where the logs were and build a camp. They would move in with two or 300 loggers, leave their families at home and move there. - They get up at 4:00 in the morning, they have breakfast. Go to work at 8:00, have a second breakfast. Then they would leave at lunch time, return to the forest and leave around 4:00 for dinner. - They didn't talk during mealtime because they wanted to leave.

No woodcutter was allowed in the kitchen, they usually brought cooks to the kitchen. And if a woodcutter crossed that threshold in the kitchen, they would throw a tub of hot water on him so that he would never come back. - Logging was normally done in winter, and that was important mainly for transportation, because they used what was called log hauls or river hauls, from where they hauled all the sawn wood to the river, and many times the river would freeze over. in winter and they could extend the beams right next to the river. - And of course, when spring arrived, the river drivers were in charge of taking them to some place where there was a mill.

It was very dangerous work taking them down the river. Sometimes the logs would get stuck and they would just run over the logs with the slats on and make the logs move. And once you moved those logs, of course, the whole mass of logs disappeared, and every year someone died on those river roads. - In the late 19th century, New York state officials began to worry about the impact of logging on the Adirondacks. Wildfires were becoming widespread and runoff from logged areas was affecting water supplies for cities in the state's south. - Much of the water on which the state depended, largely for transportation, originates in the Adirondacks, the Hudson River and the Erie Canal. - And these guys got a little scared.

What if we manage to absorb the Hudson by deforesting the Adirondacks? How are we going to get water to the Erie Canal? - At the same time as concerns about logging were growing, the Adirondacks were attracting people to their scenic wonders and abundant fishing and game. - These two forces together began to merge in the 1870s and 1880s, at a time when the lumber industry was taking off. Slowly the question arises: should New York State care about the future of the Adirondacks? He begins to acquire increasing authority. It's a New York Times editorial suggesting that the Adirondacks be reserved as Central Park for the world.

In 1885, the New York Legislature established the State Forest Reserve, and it was land that was thought to be absolutely vital to protecting water flowing into the Erie Canal and Hudson River. - And that was part of what led to the protection of the Adirondacks, to really make it the first well-protected ecosystem on Earth, and to do it 75 years before anyone was talking about ecosystems. - In 1892, the state established the Adirondack Park. It was a contiguous land mass in the Adirondacks surrounded by a blue line, and the park boundary has since been known as the Blue Line.

And it is very important to remember that the park includes a forest reserve, which is state land, and private land. In 1894, the state adopted a new constitution, which applied a special provision to the forest reserve, which is state land. - Article 14 of the Constitutionof New York State declares that all state lands are forever wild. An important poetic and also legal expression. You can't cut a piece of wood on this state land, there is no place in the world that is as protected as that. - No other place that I know of allows the public to have homes and commercial pleasures, right next to a wilderness area.

This is a big difference and is the magnet that attracts people here. - The 2.8 million acres of state forest preserve within the Adirondack Park can never be logged. But there is still a logging industry on private lands. Although it is less than a quarter of the size it was 100 years ago. - I am a third generation logger. My grandfather was in the logging industry until his death, he died in a logging accident. My father worked in the forest all his life. I have been involved in the forestry industry for over 30 years. When my grandfather was involved, it was a very laborious task.

Today much fewer people are needed to achieve the same production. In our 19-person operation, they would probably be pushing 50 people to do the same amount of volumes per year. Most of the logging we do today is selective harvesting. There is a ranger involved in our harvest and they mark the trees. We just take the trees that they think are the ones that should go. And most of our harvest is removing low-quality, undervalued wood from the forest, promoting new growth. We're under a lot of pressure to do a good job in the woods, as far as running, mud and water quality, we were really looking at that.

We are probably making the best harvest ever. Both loggers and environmentalists want open spaces. We don't want development everywhere, we don't want houses on all our roads. - There have been some very interesting alliances between environmental organizations that want to protect open spaces in the Adirondacks and the logging industry. Logging is now considered a really good use for properties that might otherwise go to second home developments. There is a real effort on the part of the environmental community to keep logging jobs available, to maintain logging as a continuing use of this resource. - Some old adversaries are finding common ground today.

However, tensions remain between maintaining a viable local economy while preserving nature. Historically, this has been one of the most persistent challenges in the Adirondacks, one that only grew as more people discovered the region in the late 19th century. The new tourists were a boom for the Adirondack economy. Many locals found work as hunting and fishing guides, and many more were hired by the tourist hotels that began to emerge. But in the early 20th century, the presence of very wealthy people in the Adirondacks, who were building large camps, would change centuries-old patterns of land use. - They were partly inspired by the notion of the great baronial manors of England, where the aristocracy hunted and fished on their exclusively controlled lands.

The large camp became the first place they posted. These were often lands where local people had hunted, fished and gathered firewood for generations, and suddenly you would see privately hired guards telling them they couldn't go in there. And that created a lot of bad feelings between the wealthy outsiders who seemed to determine the future of the Adirondacks and the less wealthy, often poor, people who lived here year-round. The history of the Adirondacks is two centuries of disputes over what the place means and what we will do with it. It's been a story of contested terrain about what land is for, how we define it, how we can make money from it, how we can protect it, and all of these different visions of what the Adirondacks mean have led to a series of very contentious battles in the last two centuries. (soft, slow music) - With the rise of mass automobile travel in the mid-20th century, the Adirondack Mountains became even more accessible.

And new battle lines were drawn. - In the 1950s, there is growing interest in the Adirondacks. It's a place where people want to have vacation homes. Conservationists in the environmental community are beginning to worry that second homes will eat up the remaining private lands in the Adirondacks. - Suddenly there was talk of huge resort construction complexes. People became very concerned, they realized that three million hectares that are in public hands were well protected. But the other three million acres in private hands were not well protected. - In 1971, the New York State Legislature passed a bill establishing the Adirondack Park Agency.

Today, the APA has broad powers over the use of public and private lands, and how they will be developed and protected. - This was very controversial because until that time, private lands in the Adirondacks had virtually no control over them. - It was a pretty powerful law and kept alive this idea of ​​the Adirondacks as a place for both people and nature. - The local people did not want any type of regulation, it was like poking a hornet's nest with a stick. But I think ideas are changing. I have noticed that many local people have changed their minds a bit.

They see the need for a parks agency, that you can't keep building and building. - North Country public radio reporter. My job is to give as many people as possible the opportunity to talk about the issues here. - I am worried that people will have to sell their houses and leave because they can no longer afford to be here. - And I love living here, I really do, but I would really like to have a little more business. - One of the many issues that has always divided Adirondacks is land use and economic development. One of the largest proposed development projects is the Adirondack Club and Resort, which Brian Mann has been reporting on since 2004.

Located on 6,300 acres near Tupper Lake, its original plan called for townhomes, an inn and 24 mini-large campgrounds. Built in a rustic style. hostel style. Mann met with the project's developer, Michael Foxman, at the Big Tupper ski resort. It would be reopened and expanded as part of development that would provide an economic boost to the city. - You talk about this being a great resort opportunity, one of the great ones left in the East. Looking here, what do you see here? - Our vision is to have the great historic Adirondack campground behind you, up the hill. You will have townhouses and some single-family homes.

But ski areas alone would never stand on their own. We would never be able to get approval from its residents if we didn't reopen the ski area, which is right above town. - One of the things that illustrates our position is this debate that the environmental community has raised, that you are going to fragment the interior of the country. - This is not a rural area, a virgin area. We're developing something like 7% of about 5,800 acres, which is the best they could have hoped for. If you want to make this a pristine environment without people, then condemn everything, expel all the people and it will be a pristine environment. (lots of people talking) - This is Tupper Lake High School, and tonight we're really going to get into the review of this project, and this is a hearing that the Adirondack Park Agency is holding to gather opinions and perspectives from the people who live here. - This is the completion of the application phase and we are now in the information gathering phase.

So you are part of this. - I think this is a good project for Tupper Lake. We live in a public and private park with six million acres, this project will actually develop less than 1000 of those acres. It seems like a pretty good balance to me. - I attended the information section this afternoon and at times I thought I was in a Harry Potter movie because there were a lot of fantasies on the screen. (people groan) We think there are many... There is also a significant... Come on, come on, bring it, bring it. We do not agree that all appropriate questions have been answered. - This community is a liability to the county and state because we do not have a viable economy.

And we need a project of this magnitude to secure our future. - Personally, what worries me most is the fragmentation of the interior of the country (murmurs). The Club and Resort proposal threatens to undermine more than a century of park protection by generations of New Yorkers. In conclusion, I... - What is your reaction to that? I mean, obviously there's a kind of... Eight months ago, everything was moving very quickly and the debate got heated. You saw the people in that room. I think any objective observer would have to say that this project is deeply problematic. The project is really lost in the labyrinth, the regulatory process, the hearing process.

And finally, with the national downturn in the housing market, all of those things make your financial outlook seem more uncertain. Environmentalists have clearly won a couple of important rounds in this fight, and Michael Foxman is on the ropes. His hope for a quick and clean approval of this project has been dashed. And the danger of this situation is that once again the people of Tupper Lake will find themselves a little poorer and will find it a little harder to get a job, feed their families, and stay within the blue line. As environmentalists win fights like this, they raise another question: The vision, the idealism of the Adirondack Park was not to create a wilderness area.

The idea was that we would create a new model for humans and wild spaces to coexist, where settlements like Tupper Lake would find a way to thrive, where they wouldn't be punished for being in the middle of a park, but would actually benefit. So we have this tension, this constant battle between a view of this as a place where people make a living, and people who see this more as a spiritual landscape and as a capsule of an older America, a time in which that America was savage. and unexplored. (soft, serene music) - More than a century ago, the Adirondack Park was established to create a protected wilderness area.

Today, it is one of the best protected wild places on the planet. Over the decades, the park has also devised new models for regulating development on private lands that make up half of its area. But for all its progress, the Adirondack Park and its residence must find a way to survive in a world facing overwhelming challenges. - I think the future of the Adirondacks is a real combination of things I'm positive about and things I'm not so positive about. I think the land use protections that New York State has achieved are amazing, wonderful. I think the threats to the Adirondacks are largely a function of the external pressures we have to face. - The age-old question of how to balance environmental sensitivity with economic prosperity will be addressed in this area. - I don't think there is any issue more important than these communities.

I don't think acid rain is up there, I don't think loons are up there. The Adirondack vision is that these communities will survive, that is an open question. It's very likely that if you went back and made this documentary in 50 years, many of these small communities wouldn't be here. I remain optimistic, but I think it will take big adjustments and big changes in people's priorities. The Adirondacks are the loon, the hemlock, the tall granite, and the beautiful misty mornings on the lakes, but they are also the school bus driver, the lumberjack, and all the human activities that make this place very real, and the fact that that they are not.

There is much in conflict, but more than most places in true harmony. It makes it a very optimistic place for me. Here we have come closer to a functional balance between the natural world and the human world than anywhere else on Earth. (triumphant and exciting music) (exciting rhythmic music) (soft inspirational music) - This program was funded in part by the Kevin T family and Betty Ann Keane, the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation. The Adirondack Council (fun rhythmic music) and I love New York have provided additional support. These supporters also provided funding and contributions to their PBS stations from viewers like you.

Thank you. (inspirational music)