The Private Land Plan: Contexts and Challenges

Beginning in the late nineteenth century and running up to the present, New York State has consistently demonstrated its interest in maintaining the forested character of the Adirondacks, irrespective of whether the land is owned by the state or by private individuals, clubs, or corporations. In the 1960s, this concern for protecting the natural character of the Adirondacks merged with the nation-wide drive to effect regional planning, a response to rapid, mostly uncontrolled loss of open space to sprawling post World War II suburbs. This movement became known as the Quiet Revolution, following a report drafted for the Council on Environmental Quality in 1911 by Fred Bosselman and David Callies. This essay concludes by asking whether the Quiet Revolution, expressed in the Adirondacks in the Private Land Use and Development Plan, has accomplished its purpose