A Conceptual Field Study of
Adirondack Wilderness
by Matt Burnett
THE ARBITRARY 46
The Arbitrary 46 is a multimedia study of the philosophical ideas surrounding the concept of wilderness. The project compiles years of field work and experiences in the Adirondack wilderness, comparing the goals and outcomes of wilderness pursuits as well as the history and ideas informing them. Generally defined as "A place beyond cultivation/human habitation," the managed wild lands of the Adirondack Park bespeak the inherent enigma of what we seek from wilderness as well as how we maintain and protect it. This project posits that the notion of wilderness as a geographical location, an unknown to be explored and charted, is an anachronistic though influential concept in the 21st century, one that continues to inform cultural and political notions of nature and wilderness. In this project, the idea of wilderness as the "perpetual geographic frontier," is approached through non-objective excursions that ask the question "what is wilderness?" rather than "where is wilderness?" Through interviews, examination of wilderness experiences, and multimedia documentation, the concept of wilderness is restablished as a psychological experience, one characterized by oneÕs expectations being superseded by natural occurrences. This can happen within individual experience or culturally. Embedded within the particular experiences documented by this project is evidence of how these concepts are manifested in our laws, behaviors, and sometimes paradoxical enterprises. The discourse surrounding tourism, trail maintenance, backwoods shelters, improving outdoor technology and communication, natural resource conservation, water rights, use restrictions/permits, human/wildlife relationships and natural disasters are some of the topics explored.
1. Duck Hole
The head of the Cold River is a poster child for the paradoxes arising between historical and contemporary pressures on NYS Wilderness. The man-made logging cache was made a permanent pond in the 1930s by the Civilian Conservation Corps. Changing interpretations of "wilderness" in the last few decades have resulted in the removal of a long-standing ranger station from this area and all the decision not to improve the ten lean-tos along the Cold River as they have been designated non-conforming structures." The fate of the dam itself, which is gradually disintegrating and threatening to drain Duck Hole, is uncertain. How much maintenance of Nature is "Natural?"
2. Shattuck's "Second" Clearing
This mile-diameter pocket of blow-down was discovered near Shattuck's Clearing in 2007. In one storm, the forest structure is radically altered. Current DEC practice provides for cutting downed trees out of marked trail only. Fifty years previously, timber crews were allowed into the Cold River region to clean up blow-down as a forest fire preventative. The conflicts existing between the awesome forces of nature, finite human resources and the changing goals and definitions of environmental conservation pose huge questions regarding the appropriate degree of forest management on Forever Wild Lands.
3. Portgage
The portage is an excellent illustration of the strange intersections between history, technology and outdoor recreation. With a variety of options for transportation and ease getting from one place to the next, the amount of people contriving to transport themselves and their belongings to remote locations suggests the importance of difficulty and inaccessibility in the experience of wilderness.
4. Approaching Mt. Emmons
Documentation of use patterns in the High Peaks Region show a disproportionate increase in traffic to "trailless" peaks like the Seward Range. This suggests the growing attraction of "Peak Bagging" and Object-based recreation patterns. On a group excursion to claim our "46 Winter High Peaks," spruce traps, limited daylight, exhaustion and losing the path conspired into our decision to turn back 1/4 mile from the top. But as this photo suggests, the wilderness experience is perhaps more embodied in the journey, rather than the arrival.
5. "Natural" Marker
I have noted great inconsistencies between the means and ends of marking and maintaining trails. The impact of herd paths and unofficial routes often creates more erosion, obstacles and confusion than marked trails, though marked trails can disappear in a remarkably short period of time. People generally favor cairns, which they perceive as natural, to flagging (which is often removed) or blazing (which is illegal).
6. Unoccupied
A remnant from the days of the ranger station at Shattuck's Clearing, this defunct outhouse shows the fate of all human structures. Human interventions are usually imagined in terms of structures or systems that require maintenance in order to endure. Imagined this way, human design is always a struggle against entropy. Does the distinction between growth and entropy depend on human teleology?
7. Couchsachraga Peak
An Iroquois word meaning "Dismal Wilderness," at 3,820 feet Couchsachraga Peak is the lowest of the "official" 46 Adirondack High Peaks, yet also the most difficult and remote. Yet hundreds of hikers each year climb over the Santinoni ridge to brave the muddy, blow-down choked herd path to this gloomy peak. Conversely, MacNoughton Peak, though higher at 4,000 feet, only receives a fraction of this traffic. Because of a surveying error and the persistence of 46er tradition, Couchie counts where MacNoughton doesn't, as documented by its greater trail erosion.
8. The Pesky Pine Martin
Amongst the more immediate impacts of human presence are the increasing gentrification of Adirondack wildlife. Camping in a remote lean-to in the Eastern High Peaks in January, our party is harangued by an overly friendly pine martin. Normally these lithe hunter-foragers are timid of human company, but heavy recreation traffic in the High Peaks Region has resulted in a need for particularized regulations, including a year round fire ban and the requirement of bear cannisters, which have proven to have less impact than bear bags.