Introduction

The Adirondack Forest Preserve is the largest publicly protected wilderness in the Eastern United States, with a state constitutional provision guaranteeing that it be forever kept as wild forest lands.

What Does Wilderness Mean Today?

But just what does wilderness mean today? How has our understanding of that concept shifted, from the colonial implications of the term as first applied to the Adirondacks to a more inclusive usage, still contested, today?

About the Book

Part memoir, part New York history, and part meditation, Wild Forest Lands explores the rhetorical and spiritual meaning of the Adirondack wilderness. Terrie revisits the literature and history of the region, reckoning with how his views on the places he has defended have evolved over time.

Themes and Reflection

Rich with detail, Wild Forest Lands grapples with the enduring power of the Adirondacks and what it truly means to preserve something that is, by nature, wild.