This large official map depicts the categories of land use established by the Governor-appointed zoning agency, the Adirondack Park Agency (APA), for all private and State-owned land within the of the “Adirondack Park.” The six million acres of land within the Blue Line forming the boundaries of the so-called “Park” are approximately one-half privately owned and one-half State-owned.
Over 87 percent of the private land is classified either as “Resource Management” (shown as dark green on the map, and zoned 42 acres per house) or “Rural Use” (shown as yellow on the map, and zoned 8.2 acres per house). The APA wrongly considers these two categories of land to constitute “Back Country” and, where projects have to come before it for approval, makes a practice of not permitting even the allotment of development that the extremely strict zoning would indicate. The remaining 13 percent of land is classified for a number of categories of less restrictive land use-“Hamlet,” “Moderate Intensity,” “Low Intensity,” and “Industrial.”
The map also shows the various classifications of State-owned land. Most of the State-owned land is classified “Wilderness” (shown as blue-green, with almost no provisions for human activity, e.g., no motorized vehicles are allowed on trails), “primitive” (shown as blue, and somewhat less restrictive of recreational use), and “Wild Forest” (shown as light green, again slightly less restrictive of recreational use).
Because this small depiction of the 34 in. x 44 in map is difficult to read, the reader is advised to contact the Adirondack Park Agency to receive a full-size map, which is available free. Be aware that the full-size map itself is colored so that it is confusing to the public. The “Resource Management” (private) land is colored dark green, which naturally is confused with the blue-green, blue, and light green coloration of the bulk of the State-owned land. This color choice gives the false impression that very little of the acreage within the Blue Line is privately owned, whereas, on the contrary, fully half the land, or three million acres, is private property.
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