“The lands of the state, now owned or hereafter acquired, constituting the forest preserve as now

fixed by law, shall be forever kept as wild forest lands. They shall not be leased, sold or exchanged, or

taken by any corporation, public or private, nor shall the timber thereon be sold, removed or destroyed….”

Art. VII, SEC. 7 N.Y. State Constitution (1935)

Philip Terrie – Forever Wild

As Frank Graham, Jr., has effectively shown, many people have fought a number of efforts to dilute the protections provided by Article VII, Section 7; as early as the 1930s, men like Paul Schaefer, John S. Apperson, and Robert Marshall were going to court, lobbying the legislature, arousing public opinion, and doing everything they could to keep dams, truck trails, and highways from compromising wilderness in the Forest Preserve. We know that, in fact, it was wilderness they wanted to save, that they were thus working from assumptions entirely different from those of the New York Board of Trade and Transportation and David McClure, who were originally responsible for the forever-wild provision.

In other words, beginning in the 1930s a wilderness lobby

existed whose chief mission was the defense of wilderness in the Adirondacks, and whose chief tool in that defense was the language of Article VII, Section7. The activities of this lobby have involved arguing before the legislature, convincing voters of the value of wilderness, and insuring that the protections of the forever-wild clause were written into subsequent constitutions. The important point is that a preservation lobby existed at all. Before the 1930s it did not – at least not in any appreciable degree. Yet the existence of the preservationist philosophy is now taken for granted, both in the Adirondacks and nationally. Its political skills have increased, its money-raising techniques have become more sophisticated (though preservationists seldom have more than a fraction of the financial resources available to developers and other anti-wilderness forces), and its ranks have grown. It has learned how to use the media and how to get out the vote. But its mission and rationale have remained essentially the same since the 1930s.Philip G. Terrie, Forever Wild: A Cultural History of the Wilderness in the Adirondacks, 1994

Removing Squatters… Apperson was responsible for saving the islands in Lake George for public use. The story is incredible and I cheerfully compliment William M. White of Van Curler Avenue, Schenectady, for bringing Apperson’s efforts to the attention of thousands who, while using the islands, never realize that once their access was in grave jeopardy because of greed and politics.

There [were] individuals who began occupying the state owned islands and building summer homes on them, despite the fact they possessed no valid deeds. On the contrary, their only right, if it can be called that, was based on “knowing the right politician.” The situation did not sit well with Apperson …[who] decided to do something about getting rid of what he considered squatters. (Barnett Fowler, Times Union, 1983)

(Cont.) Starting off with a sympathetic state official in 1917 he visited island after island, delivering proper legal papers, telling the squatters, some of whom lived in rather ornate summer homes, to get off the islands or he would return the following week with friends to “take their camp down.”…Campers who had taken over the public lands often tried to bully Apperson with the announcement they “were going to get him, “ and that “they knew a top state official,” but this was merely a blast of air as far as Apperson was concerned…

Upon his second visit, the Apperson war party used sledge hammers and other equipment on the island homes, a move which usually convinced occupants their presence on the islands as “owners” was not desired – nor healthy. On many visits Apperson furnished a barge to transport demolished buildings. In one instance, a family departed albeit willingly, floating not only furniture, but horse and calf! Barnett Fowler, Times Union, Nov. 29, 1983

…The Lake George Narrows island beauty was preserved by early environmental activist John Apperson, a General Electric Engineer, who secured legislation to evict squatters and wealthy down-state vacationers who were building cottages on many islands… Frank Leonbruno, The Chronicle, February 27, 1997

His life was one project after another and each, completed, served only as a springboard into the next: he thrived on controversy: he was a selfless loner who with only a few occasional associates, conducted a constant one man warfare against what he termed “encroachment” into the Adirondack wilderness preserve by “outside” interests. Barnett Fowler, Times Union, February 10, 1963

French Point, once owned by GE, is state land today because of him. Several miles of shoreline on the East side of Lake George, once part of a huge estate, is state owned today because of his repeated efforts to rouse the state to buy those miles. In this he was ably helped by the late Assembly Speaker Oswald D. Heck, whose love for Lake George was equally profound. Barnett Fowler, Times Union, February 10, 1963

Tongue Mountain, once privately owned, is state owned because of his efforts. At one time he had a small camp on the west side of the mountain which he dubbed “Woodchuck Temple.” It was his retreat. Barnett Fowler, Times Union, February 10, 1963

A man of positive opinions, Mr. Apperson never was quite satisfied with the man-made level of Lake George – a level created by the blasting away of a natural stone dam and the construction of another barrier at the lake’s outlet at Ticonderoga. He fought through courts to have the artificial dam removed and the natural stone dam reinstated. He never did win that fight but his persistence blew up the systolic of many of his opponents. Barnett Fowler, Times Union, February 10, 1963

He was an individualist. He formed and was president of the New York State Forest Preserve Association, which attacked every proposal which he thought might eliminate the “forever wild” atmosphere of the Adirondacks. He was the dean of the implacable conservationist, the man who wanted the woods as God made them. He drew about him a hard core of others with the same desires and throughout his career, he made his power good. Barnett Fowler, Times Union, February 10, 1963

Entries in the diary of Irving Langmuir… 1916 : Apperson came in evening. He wants to start agitation to get the Federal Government to make the Adirondacks a national park… 1923 : Mr. Coffin called me in to talk re: Lake George and Mr. Apperson. Mr. W. J. Knapp had previously seen Mr. Coffin and tried to get Mr. Coffin to stop Apperson. I spoke for some time and convinced Mr. Coffin that our course (Lake George & conservation) was a good thing. 1928 : (Langmuir in New York City to receive the Perkins Medal) Go to see Nathan Strauss and Raymond Ingersoll to seek their support for Apperson’s plan to get 300 acres of Knapp’s land for Lake George Park.

1941 : (Langmuir in Washington attending meetings of the American Association for the Advancement of Science – of which he was president that year – and the National Academy of Sciences) Appy calls in the evening re the purchase (by the state of NY) of Knapp’s land at Lake George. I spend the evening calling Hugh Bennett. I try to get Eleanor Roosevelt and VP Wallace but can’t. (Next day) Telephoning again re Knapp Bill. I find that Eleanor R. is on the Pacific Coast. C.R. Wilson calls me and tells me that he has had a long talk with Lehman. I suggest responsibilities of the GOVERNOR and public resentment at the lumbering of the land if it occurs on Black Mountain. 1944 : Meeting of the Executive Committee, Board of Directors of the Lake George Protective Association of which I am president. Now 100 members. We retain counsel to prevent legislation or to prepare injunction if bill passes to intervene on the side of the state in the suit against the Paper Co.

DOME ISLANDMEMORIAL SANCTUARY IN MEMORY OF JOHN S. APPERSONAND HIS ASSOCIATES HE GAVE THIS ISLAND TO THENATURE CONSERVANCY TO PRESERVEFOR THE VISUAL ENJOYMENT OF THE PUBLIC AND AS AN EXAMPLE OFUNINTERRUPTED NATURAL PROCESSES A.D. 1956