October 30, 2021
2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.
This event is free and open to the public.
Refreshments will be served.
Adirondack Mini-term Students
Group Projects
This year’s Adirondack Mini-term included nine students, and eight faculty/staff. Students learned about the geology of the region from Holli Frey (Geology), who also grew up in the northern ADKs; history from Andy Morris (History), who teaches a full course at Union on the environmental history of the Adirondacks; and rural sociology from Dave Cotter (Sociology), who arranged meetings with a variety of local government officials and NGOs. They also learned observational drawing from Lorraine Cox (Visual Arts) who guided students through a variety of approaches to seeing and recording observations visually and Adirondack architecture from Jen Grayburn (Schaffer Library). She arranged tours of Saranac Lake and Great Camp Sagamore and was a resource for students employing digital scholarship methods.
The students themselves formed three teams of three, with each team focusing on a different Adirondack issue. They’ll be at the Kelly Adirondack Center Open House to discuss the projects their work inspired.
Adirondack Trail Overuse: As more and more hikers flock to the Adirondack Park to recreate, the trails face an ever increasing threat. Trail overuse erodes and damages trails and can have a negative effect on surrounding habitats and the beauty of the park. This project takes a deeper look into the effects of trail overuse and the possible solutions that have been suggested to alleviate the problem.
Jeremy Gilpin, Nate Rodiger, and Sydney Walters
Public Attitudes toward the APA: The Adirondack Park features some of the most unique and comprehensive land-use regulation and management policies in the entire United States. The continued enforcement and development of these rules is the responsibility of the Adirondack Park Agency, which has had a contentious history in the park since its creation in 1971. This project seeks to better understand the history of the APA and the Forever Wild clause that dictates much of its work, as well as public opinions of its stringency over the park in the past and how those opinions and the APA’s work itself may have changed in the decades since.
Jacob Abbott, Bethany Costello, Ross O’Connor
Housing Crisis in the Adirondacks: As is the case with many rural areas across the United States, the Adirondacks has been facing a housing crisis due to the small housing stock available in the region. This problem has been exacerbated by the prevalence of second homes and the introduction of the AirBnb industry, both of which reduce the housing stock and also hike up prices of homes on the market. With this in mind, we’ve interviewed various stakeholders, including tourists, town officials, and residents to better understand the issue as it relates to the Adirondacks.
Sebastian Czechowski, Alyssa Harrynanan, and Andrew Nordell