Elias Springer: “Microfinance and its role in promoting small business development in the Adirondacks”

While quality of life continues to improve in urban America, there is growing concern that rural America is falling behind, and in harmony with this trend, the continued economic hardships associated with living in the Adirondacks highlight the increased need for tools to promote economic development within the region. While increased access to capital is widely accepted as a […]

Laura Johnston: “Watershed Management in the Adirondacks”

Is water a commercial good like running shoes or Coca-Cola? OR, is it a human right, like air? So asks water-activist Maude Barlow (2011) in the documentary, Water on the Table. This conceptual divide of water as a commodity vs. human right determines how we incentivize water conservation. Within the larger environmental discourse, environmental protections are often paired […]

Elias Springer: “Saving rural communities by saving their banks”

There is an ongoing debate in this country regarding the extent to which national level policy makers should consider the special circumstances and conditions of rural America while making important decisions about the country’s economic future. I would advance that in light of the many banking regulations established as a result of the bailouts paid […]

Elias Springer: “Bringing the Internet to the Adirondacks: Communities losing touch with their greatest asset”

Rural America has the benefit of being surrounded by nature, and as infrastructure continues to improve in these rural communities, and more and more households have access to cable and high-speed Internet, there remains a smoldering unease among some who believe this progression may damage residents’ quality of life. The Adirondacks should be front and […]

Samantha Muratori: “Tourism Threatening Adirondack Solitude”

Ralph Waldo Emerson once wrote, “To go into solitude, a man needs to retire as much from his chamber as from society.” In his epic work “Nature,” he describes solitude as a critical factor in the delicate relationship between man and the wilderness. He and Henry David Thoreau capitalized on this idea along with spiritual […]

Samantha Muratori: “Has Conservation of the Adirondacks Come to a Halt?”

For the better part of a decade, there has been a movement to re-invigorate and re-imagine Tupper Lake, NY. There is no denying that the Tupper Lake community needs economic revitalization, for without it the town will continue to experience economic decline. One major economic development project that could revitalize Tupper Lake’s economy is the […]

Laura Johnston: “Land Tenure and Conservation in Adirondack State Park”

The United States is a nexus of watersheds. Five levels of complicated, webbed outlines divide and subdivide land on nested scales, the smallest of which is the Hydrological Unit Code (HUC) – the watershed. From 50 states we arrive at 2,264 watersheds, which presents an incongruous approach to mapping from our dominant one. This presents a […]