New York State is the only state, and the only government, which has a forest preservation mandate in its State Constitution. New York’s three-million-acre publicly owned Forest Preserve in sixteen Adirondack and Catskill counties is protected by an ironclad, far-reaching covenant between a government and its people. We have an enduring wilderness for people and wild nature, a haven for the ultima
te expression of our human partnership with nature. And that has been the case since 1894 when a constitutional convention in Albany and the voters approved the following article, two sentences and 54 words long, known today as—
“Forever Wild” —Article XIV—
“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.”
Adirondack Wild: Friends of the Forest Preserve considers this late 19th century covenant a living and breathing document. We are determined to not only safeguard its integrity but to extend its principles and its implicit land ethic in the 21st century. The framers of Article XIV lived at a time of intense industrialization. The cutting and removal of trees on higher elevations with thin soils resulted in erosion, flooding, loss of soil moisture, and forest fires. Many European nations, as well as New England states, had already experienced severe loss of natural resources from exploiting their forests. New York’s lawmakers were concerned with conserving watersheds, and assuring that rivers and streams which came from these mountains would continue to flow year-round to supply New York’s canals, the highways of their day. Others knew that a constitutionally protected forest would serve as a refuge for wildlife and for the spirit of people seeking peace, respite, and recreation. Citizens were resolved that New York’s “Forever Wild” clause would stand as a bulwark against unrestrained commercialism.
