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Paul Schaefer

The Sagacious Whitetail

November 26, 2022 by David Gibson 1 Comment

Paul Schaefer in Siamese Ponds Wilderness, c. 1968I think of Adirondack conservationist and forever wild advocate Paul Schaefer (1908-1996) during whitetail deer hunting season, actually in any season, but particularly in deer season at his Adirondack cabin. From 1921 on, over a century now, Paul Schaefer and his family, friends and hunting club comrades in the Cataract Club ventured into the wilderness from cabins in the Adirondack mountains. [Read more…] about The Sagacious Whitetail

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, Arts, History, Nature, Recreation Tagged With: Adirondacks, Bakers Mills, hunting, Johnsburg, nature, Paul Schaefer, Poetry, Siamese Ponds Wilderness, Warren County, whitetail deer

Schenectady and the Adirondacks: A Legacy of Conservation

July 29, 2022 by Guest Contributor 1 Comment

Upper Falls at the Plotter Kill Reserve courtesy Michael DianaSchenectady has a long history of its residents being active in conservation and outdoor recreation – in Schenectady County and in the wilderness of the North Country, alike.

Schenectadians’ interest in protecting and exploring wilderness has its roots in the mid 1800s with industrialization and westward expansion. The wilderness was at risk of disappearing, and influential nature lovers used their writings to convince Americans that preserving land and wildlife was vital. Many Americans, including people in Schenectady, could easily see the case for this. [Read more…] about Schenectady and the Adirondacks: A Legacy of Conservation

Filed Under: History, Adirondacks & NNY, Capital-Saratoga, Nature, Recreation Tagged With: 46ers, Adirondack Mountain Club, Adirondacks, Boquet River, camping, Environmental History, Forest Preserve, General Electric, High Peaks, hiking, John Apperson, Kelly Adirondack Center, Lake George, Niskayuna, Paul Schaefer, Schenectady, Schenectady County, Schenectady County Historical Society, Union College, wilderness

The Adirondack Raised Relief Map: Some History

March 21, 2022 by David Gibson 4 Comments

Paul Schaefer, back to camera, hosts an Adirondack discussion with, left to right, Joe Martens, Governor Mario Cuomo’s environmental secretary, standing in background with film camera Carl Schaefer, Paul’s brother, seated Dave Gibson with the Association for the Protection of the Adirondacks, Dan Luciano, deputy environmental secretary for the governor, and on the stool Tom Cobb, Trustee and later President of the Board of the Association for the Protection of the Adirondacks. Photo by Ken Rimany.The Association for the Protection of the Adirondacks had hired me the previous winter. It was now the spring of 1987. Windows and doors were again opening to the hope and then the reality of spring’s warmth. The director of the Schenectady Museum William (Bill) Verner had given me, practically rent free, a desk and telephone from which to begin work as the Association’s first Executive Director in over 60 years.

It helped that Bill was a member of my board of trustees, and that his knowledge and love for the Adirondacks and Adirondack history from a home base in Long Lake was long and deep. [Read more…] about The Adirondack Raised Relief Map: Some History

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, History, Nature Tagged With: Adirondack Park, Adirondack Research Library, Adirondacks, Association for the Protection of the Adirondacks, Geography, Maps, Mount Marcy, Paul Schaefer, Schenectady Museum, Union College

The Volunteers Behind the Adirondack Research Library

February 22, 2022 by David Gibson Leave a Comment

Interior of the Adirondack Research Library in the Kelly Adirondack Center of Union College Photo by David GibsonMany organizations introduce their work with the words “were it not for the volunteers, we could not…” That can be justifiably said of the Adirondack Research Library (ARL), formerly part of the Association for the Protection of the Adirondacks (AfPA). [Read more…] about The Volunteers Behind the Adirondack Research Library

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, Capital-Saratoga, History, Nature Tagged With: Adirondack Research Library, Adirondacks, Archives, Kelly Adirondack Center, Libraries, Niskayuna, Paul Schaefer, Schenectady, Schenectady County, Union College

Ed Zahniser On Wilderness & New York State

January 9, 2022 by Edward Zahniser 4 Comments

Catskill Creek by Thomas ColeNew York State’s Forest Preserve lands of the Adirondacks and Catskills are living fossils of the broad 19th-century movement to protect wild forests of the federal public lands in the West as forest reserves and not as national forest sources of fiber, forage, and minerals.

New York State’s Forest Preserve lands therefore are living proof that the wilderness preservation movement is not an upstart 20th-century offshoot of the mainstream American conservation movement. [Read more…] about Ed Zahniser On Wilderness & New York State

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, History, Hudson Valley - Catskills Tagged With: Adirondacks, Article 14, Catskills, Forest Preserve, High Peaks, Howard Zahniser, https://www.newyorkalmanack.com/tags/high-peaks/, John Apperson, nature, Paul Schaefer, Robert Marshall, Theodore Roosevelt, TR, Verplanck Colvin, wilderness

Adirondack Mountains National Park? In 1967 There Was A Plan

November 18, 2021 by David Gibson Leave a Comment

NYS Ranger Bill Petty, left, guides Laurance Rockefeller, center, and Gov. Nelson Rockefeller on horseback in the High Peaks in 1965 (courtesy Rockefeller Archives)On a fall Saturday afternoon in the early 1990s some friends and I met up with wilderness coalition leader Paul Schaefer (1908-1996) at his cabin in Bakers Mills, northern Warren County, NY. Deciding to spend the night, we drove Paul into nearby North Creek for something to eat.

We tried the area’s hotel. One of the hotel staff took a look at Paul’s red plaid hunting jacket and asked him if could change into something more formal. At that, we turned heel and, walking across the street, entered Smith’s Restaurant.

Paul was immediately comfortable, having eaten here many times. Someone greeted him, a fellow deer hunter who remembered him. We took a booth and Paul ordered a steak. [Read more…] about Adirondack Mountains National Park? In 1967 There Was A Plan

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, History Tagged With: Adirondack Park, Adirondacks, Environmental History, Hudson River, nature, Nelson Rockefeller, North Creek, Paul Schaefer, State Parks, Warren County, wilderness

Plans To Dam The Upper Hudson Would Have Been Catastrophic

June 21, 2021 by Mike Prescott Leave a Comment

Gooley-Kettle19-511x800On almost every stream, pond or lake in the Adirondacks there is still evidence of lumberman’s dams and lumbering operations.  In the mid-to-late 1960s however, there was a controversial plan to dam the Upper Hudson River in order to supply water and hydro-electric power to the parched, urban, metropolitan area of New York City.

In the early 1960s there had been a severe drought along the entire northeastern seaboard. One of New York City’s answers to the drought problem was to tap the Upper Hudson to supply its seemingly unquenchable need for water. [Read more…] about Plans To Dam The Upper Hudson Would Have Been Catastrophic

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, History, Nature Tagged With: Adirondack Dams, Cedar River, conservation, Essex Chain of Lakes, Finch Pruyn Lands, Goodnow River, Hudson River, Indian Lake, Indian River, Nelson Rockefeller, Newcomb, Paul Schaefer, Political History, Protect the Adirondacks

The First Adirondack Conservation Easement

March 9, 2021 by David Gibson Leave a Comment

Elk Lake by Ken Rimany DEC and APA websites reveal that 777,206 acres of private land in the Adirondack Park are protected in some fashion by a state-owned conservation easement.

During the Adirondack Park Centennial year of 1992 there were 93,000 acres of private lands under state-owned easement in the Park. [Read more…] about The First Adirondack Conservation Easement

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, Capital-Saratoga, History, Hudson Valley - Catskills, Nature Tagged With: Adirondack Park, conservation, Conservation Department, Easements, Elk Lake, Environmental History, Forever Wild, Mario Cuomo, Paul Schaefer, Political History, wilderness

Adirondack Advocate Paul Schaefer’s Influence On The Northway

January 4, 2021 by David Gibson 1 Comment

Northway I-87As the decade of the 1990s began, noted Adirondack conservationist and wilderness coalition leader Paul Schaefer’s eyesight was failing. He had macular degeneration. We had noticed that this skilled carpenter, home and cabin builder and historic restorationist was no longer hitting the nail squarely on its head. We worried about him continuing to drive. [Read more…] about Adirondack Advocate Paul Schaefer’s Influence On The Northway

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, Capital-Saratoga, History, Nature, Recreation Tagged With: Adirondack Park, Association for the Protection of the Adirondacks, development, Forest Preserve, I-87, Paul Schaefer, Pharaoh Lake Wilderness, Schroon River, Transportation History, wilderness

Al Smith, John Apperson, FDR & The Fight That Expanded NYS Forests

November 5, 2020 by David Gibson 1 Comment

Paul Schaefer with John AppersonA young wildlands advocate Paul Schaefer was enamored of activist John Apperson from the day he first met him.

It was about 1931. Apperson was an General Electric engineer fighting to protect Lake George and other wild places. As Schaefer said, it was the pure sense of joy that Apperson exuded about conservation in the Adirondacks which galvanized young people looking for a cause.

These were very important years for the Adirondacks, as for the nation. The 1932 national election loomed, as the Great Depression sucked hope and savings from so many. One can imagine the anxiety that gripped the country and the opportunity for hucksters, demagogues, as well as statesmen. [Read more…] about Al Smith, John Apperson, FDR & The Fight That Expanded NYS Forests

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, Capital-Saratoga, History, Hudson Valley - Catskills, Mohawk Valley, Nature, New Exhibits, Recreation, Western NY Tagged With: 1932 Election, Al Smith, Environmental History, Forest Preserve, Franklin D. Roosevelt, John Apperson, Lake George, Logging, Paul Schaefer, Political History

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