"The lands of the state, now owned or hereafter acquired, constituting the forest preserve as now fixed by law, shall be forever kept as wild forest lands. They shall not be leased, sold or exchanged, or be taken by any corporation, public or private, nor shall the timber thereon be sold, removed or destroyed."
The lands of the Adirondack Park are the great outdoors of New York State and the Northeastern United States. It was created in 1886 by the state legislature as a preserve to keep the land from being further despoiled by the over aggressive timber and ore extraction methods of those days.
The Adirondack Park constitutes one-fifth of the entire land mass of New York State and is the single largest state controlled preserve in the continental US, encompassing some Six Million acres. Seventy-six percent or 4.2 million of those acres are classified as "Wild, Forested, Conservation Lands and Public Parks" and like all lands, public or private, are under the auspices of the Adirondack Park Agency.
The mountains themselves are considered one of the oldest mountain ranges in the world and consist of a metaphoric dome over a core of igneous rock. The Adirondacks also boast 47 mountain peaks over 4,000 feel above sea level with Mount Marcy topping out at 5,344 feet, the highest mountain in NY State.
