A canoeist paddling toward the center of Middle Saranac Lake can still hear the dull, monotonous roar of car and truck traffic. Are there any places left in the Adirondacks that could still be considered remote, far removed from the sounds and sights of urbanized America? And if so, how many?
That is what a group of environmental protection organizations – the Adirondack Council, Adirondack Wild, Adirondack Wilderness Advocates and the Rewilding Institute – hope the Adirondack Park Agency and the Department of Environmental Conservation can determine.
Earlier this spring, the group formally asked the state agencies “to develop new policy and guidance to measure… remoteness in the Adirondack Park.”
“The rationale is simple,” said AWA Board Chair Pete Nelson. “If we can measure remoteness, we can better protect it.” Nelson added, “Lands that are remote from human disturbance
are in scarce supply, not only in the United States but even in the Adirondack Park.”
Or, as John Davis of the Rewilding Institute puts it, “the Adirondack Park is the wildest landscape in the east, and yet, it is not yet wild enough.”
Remoteness and the 1972 State Land Master Plan
The term “remoteness” can be found in the State Land Master Plan (SLMP) for the Adirondack Park, which was adopted by the New York State legislature in 1972. The geographers, ecologists and land use experts who crafted the plan ascribed “remoteness” to Forest Preserve lands which would become classified as “wilderness.”
They also used the word to convey aesthetic and spiritual values we associate with wilderness, such as the absence of a human presence and a lack of interference with the ongoing processes of nature.
As David Gibson, a founder of Adirondack Wild says, “Untrammeled Forest Preserve lands contribute to feelings of being unconfined, unlimited and free to explore on foot or ski
remote Adirondack country on its terms, contrasting with our otherwise mechanized and digital lives”
However, the SLMP offers no rigorous definition of “remoteness;” nor does it explicitly categorize the plan’s wilderness, primitive and canoe areas as “remote.” That is a defect which the organizations submitting the request to the APA and the DEC hope to remedy.
“To protect remoteness, we have to measure it and we have to understand its value,” said Jackie Bowen, the Director of Conservation for the Adirondack Council.
Ecological Importance
The Adirondack Council’s Jackie Bowen thinks criteria developed by the U.S. Forest Service to measure remoteness could, at the very least, inform efforts to measure and protect remoteness in the Adirondack Park.
Remoteness as defined by the federal government and some states, for example, is attributed to areas located more than three miles from any road or trail where motorized vehicles are permitted. Other criteria might include dark skies and quiet waters, which is to say, an absence of light pollution and the distant whine of motorboats and jet skis.
According to Bowen, remoteness is of value not only to human beings but to nature itself. “The science about the ecological and biological significance of remoteness is growing,” she said, noting that “Science has demonstrated that remoteness plays a key role in maintaining biodiversity and ecosystem resilience.”
Bowen added, “When roads and trails expand into previously undisturbed areas, the impacts ripple outward, altering wildlife behavior, increasing pressure from invasive species, which
are introduced via recreational activities, and weakening natural climate defenses.”
Among other things, protecting remote areas from any type of disturbance or intrusion – from snowmobiles to the ambient noise of distant traffic – eases the ability of wildlife to move freely across intact landscapes, a necessity for some species as they respond to climate change.
A Management Tool
According to Bowen, “Establishing consistent, science-based measures of remoteness will give managers the tools they need to evaluate those impacts on remoteness and make better long-term decisions on the Forest Preserve.”
For instance, a “science-based” method of determining remoteness might help the APA and the DEC assess the costs and benefits of rerouting or closing roads and trails or of permitting
new recreational activities, such as mountain biking.
“This could be an especially helpful guide when planning choices about where to route hiking, biking, skiing and snowmobiling trails,” said Adirondack Wild’s David Gibson. “By being measurable, this policy can strengthen the contrast value of more remote Forest Preserve lands with areas closer to roads.”
A Public Process
According to a press release from the group of organizations, the APA is being asked to formally consider adopting a “policy and guidance on measuring remoteness” through a public process, one that would include public hearings and a comment period, which would be completed in 2026.
“We will be arranging a meeting with the Adirondack Park Agency within the next two months to discuss this proposal in greater depth,” said Pete Nelson.
Read more about the Adirondack Park.
A version of this article first appeared on the Lake George Mirror, America’s oldest resort paper, covering Lake George and its surrounding environs. You can subscribe to the Mirror HERE.
Illustration: A 1972 Lake George Mirror file photo shows DEC Commissioner Henry Diamond directing attention to an area classified as “Wilderness,” four miles from Lake Placid, on the State Land Master Plan map. The plan was adopted by the state legislature earlier that year.
Years ago, I ran into an Italian couple and their little girl outside the Stillwater Hotel in the western Adirondacks. They had driven from a friend’s wedding in Syracuse, and were searching for a remote area to visit before they went to Niagara Falls. I asked, “How did you end up here?” They said, “We looked at a map and this area had hardly any roads. No matter where you hike in the Alps, you come to a road”. The next day I took them in my boat and we hiked up a trail to a rock face that offered a breath-taking view that little Gaia called “Never-Never Land” in Italian.
Looking for a remote area of the Adirondacks? Do like the Italian couple I met and head to Stillwater Reservoir on the Beaver River. (Not Stillwater on the Hudson River). Yes, there are unpaved roads from either direction, no matter which route is taken. Upon arrival: toilets, lots of free parking and over forty free primitive campsites, gasoline, canoe and boat rentals, a fine restaurant and rooms to rent. Hikers can reach the Oswegatchie River from the north shore of the reservoir up the old Red Horse Trail. A one mile hike up to Stillwater Mountain Fire Tower can be accessed from the Big Moose Rd, about a mile from Stillwater. On a clear day, hikers can see Whiteface Mountain 66 miles to the northeast from the tower.
On summer weekends, the Norridgewock tour boat to Beaver River leaves the Stillwater boat launch. Being in a remote region of the Adirondacks, there is no public road leading to Beaver River. The only way to get to Beaver River is by boat from Stillwater. In 1892 a railroad was constructed through Beaver River. The only way to get to Stillwater then was by RR and then boat down to Stillwater. Today Beaver River has a hundred seasonal homes, each with their own electric generators. The Norridgewock provides lodging and dining. Today’s Adirondack Railroad operates tourist-only summer weekends from Utica through Beaver River to Tupper Lake.
Some people are drawn to remote areas, even when they have to do things differently.
Jim, my friend, you could have published this as a standalone article, and of course, I know all the spots you are talking aboiut. Interesting story about the Italian couple- where is the location you hiked with them to?
I do encourage DEC and the APA to standardize “remoteness” as a high value for the Adirondacks because every time I arrive at my log cabin in Big Moose, NY, I am awed by the lack of any souind save that of the owl, the loon, and maybe the wind. Then of course we do have motor boats and neighbors, so human sounds do enter our space, but that silence is profound, and in some measure inspiring and healing. BUT all I have to do is hike over the mountain to Oswego Pond, or any other satellite pond aournd Twitchell Lake, and th sounds of chainsaws, autos, motorboats fade to zero, and all I hear are thoss of nature, that that of the hermit thrush! Unless of course the US Air Force is practicing high-altitude maneuvers, and a jet breaks the sound barrier. Which leads to a story about remoteness and airborne noise when I took my oldest son on a three day hike over the mountain to Beaver River, and back along the RR tracks to Wood’s Lake Station, now owned by a hunting club which cuts the front lawn. For three days, my son Peter and I were awed by “remoteness” and the sounds of nature, that’s all! But as we sat for lunch on that lawn, two National Guard jets, known as the Wart Hog, flew over, and the pilots saw us and said, “Let’s give these people an air show!” How do I know they said that? Because for 10 to 15 minutes that is exactly what they did! Circling, diving right at us, almost a half dozen times, to the point where Peter was getting nervous! Then ended the show with a low fly-by, and wave to us, as if to say, “Hope you enjoyed the show!” We did, but then were glad to slide right back into remoteness, silence, and enjoyment of nature. Remoteness as a value is very similar to the Dark Sky index, which is measured, and which the Adirondacks continue to claim a number on the scale allowing us to actually see the Milky Way on a clear night. Tupper Lake has become a Dark Sky township, taking action on lights and other measures to gain that certification. Let’s do the same for remoteness. I actually have a good segment on our Twitchell Lake website on the Dark Sky movement and its importance. Check it out! Log on and put “Dark Sky in the search box.