Forever "Wild": A History of How Wilderness Has Been Constructed in the Adirondacks

Historian J. Hunsicker grew up in the foothills of the Adirondacks, enamored by the endless wilderness—the trees, the mountains, the creatures—that resided in her backyard. But the six million protected acres of “forever wild” parkland that make up the Adirondacks are not as untrammeled as many perceive, after over a century of mass human intervention and development. Hunsicker embarked to investigate the history of constitutional Adirondack wilderness, to unpack contradictions in the way people have thought about the parkland versus acted towards it. 'Forever “Wild”' analyzes attempts at selective species extinction ranging from before the formal foundation of the Adirondack Park until the late 20th century, and the repercussions such actions have had on not only the land itself but how humans by and large think of it. The Adirondacks are not as “wild” as many have thought, and if the popular mentality towards the parklands does not shift soon the landscape may not be “wild” for very much longer. 'Forever “Wild”' taps into the largely forgotten stories of two species that have been targeted as threats to the human idea of wilderness in the Park: the Adirondack wolf, a predator deemed so vile it was hunted to extinction by the time the blue line border of the Park was formally drawn; and the black fly, a biting insect that we waged chemical warfare against because it was a nuisance that disrupted the idyllic nature of the land. The protected wilderness of the Adirondacks that Hunsicker uncovers is one which did not welcome or include these two animals, in spite of their status as native members of the ecosystem. Our conception of Adirondack wilderness comes undone, and in its place Hunsicker introduces the reality of the codependency the flora and fauna have with the Park’s human inhabitants; that the human inhabitants need to do better to do right by the land if they want to sustain an economy rooted in nature-tourism, for if the ecosystem perishes then so too will the industry built around it. Hunsicker’s portrayal of wilderness is a departure from the romantic leanings of the past, favoring a combined analysis of wilderness law, history, and written ecology to reach a point of understanding of how the land that is largely considered “forever wild” may really be anything but.'Forever “Wild”' is a recipient of the Wilson Coates Senior Honors Essay Award in History.