NEW YORK MUST SEIZE WHITNEY PARK TO ADD TO THE STATE FOREST PRESERVE
LIKE GOV. MARIO CUOMO DID, GOV. KATHY HOCHUL SHOULD USE EMINENT DOMAIN TO PROTECT A 36,600-ACRE TRACT OF PRISTINE PRIVATE WILDERNESS IN THE HEART OF ADIRONDACK PARK
Two of the 46 peaks about 4,000 feet in upstate New York’s Adirondack mountains: Donaldson and Emmons. Pictured from Long Lake, the town John Hendrickson left the proceeds of the sale of his nearby estate, Whitney Park, to. Photo credit: JB Nicholas.
MALONE, NEW YORK OPINION
Nov. 15, 2025
The $125 million sale of a private, 36,000-acre tract of pristine wilderness in upstate New York's Adirondack mountains to a billionaire Texas developer has collapsed, the Adirondack Explorer reports.
It's excellent news, since the proposed deal only leased 32,000 of those acres to New York for weak environmental protection with a temporary public access easement. Gov. Kathy Hochul must now take bold action and seize the land for addition to the Empire State's constitutionally-protected Forest Preserve—just like Gov. Mario Cuomo did in 1986 to grow Minnewaska State Park.
After unleashing a firestorm on her Progressive flank for "pausing" a big part of New York's 2019 Climate Law last week, Gov. Hochul can quiet that growing furor and ensure she's remembered for protecting New York's environment—not destroying it.
Seizing Whitney Park is also just about legally-required by another part of the 2019 Climate Law: the part requiring the State protect 30% of its remaining open space by 2030. The Free Lance previously reported the 30-by-30 Plan is doomed to fail unless Gov. Hochul takes dramatic action. This is her chance.
In one fell swoop, Gov. Hochul could protect 36,000 acres—and take a big bite out of the about 3.2 million acres of total land New York has to protect by 2030 to meet the law's requirements.
New York usually buys land from willing sellers to add to the Forest Preserve. It has been doing this since 1885 and has come nowhere near acquiring all the land in the Adirondack and Catskill Parks the state legislature has targeted for acquisition since 1892 and 1904, respectively.
But in Whitney Park's case, the land's last owner placed a provision in his will that blocks the state from buying the land. The owner, John Hendrickson, blamed the state for destroying a robust Brook Trout fishery in a lake located in a tract of land he previously sold to the state.
One man should not be allowed to stop the Empire State from protecting the Adirondacks as it has always planned to protect it—guaranteeing future New Yorkers the largest possible natural refuge from over-population, electronic surveillance and the catastrophic climate horrors scientists predict are sure to come.
Gov. Cuomo famously seized a Catskill resort in the Shawangunk mountains outside New Paltz to create one of the crown jewels of New York's state park system: Minnewaska State Park. (Technically it should have been added to the Forest Preserve, but since it was so close to New York City it was added to the state park system so that people would have more access to it.)
If you've never heard of New York's Forest Preserve, you might be amazed to learn its proof that sometimes Government does things right.
The Forest Preserve is a Victorian Age miracle. It also owned by the public: every single acre of forest preserve land is deeded to the People of the State of New York and it has been so since the very beginning, way back in 1885.
That's when New Yorkers were horrified by clear-cut logging that decimated millions of acres of the state's once-pristine interior wilderness and by forest fires that incinerated the scraps loggers left behind. The destruction unleashed drought, which destroyed farmers' crops, and left many in fear of not just their livelihoods but their lives.
Common New Yorkers joined forces with rich ones and convinced the legislature to pass laws creating the preserve: from the vast wastelands loggers left behind that fell into tax debt. The idea was to protect what remained and allow the destroyed parts to grow back.
But after creating the preserve, corrupt politicians in Albany failed to protect it. They subsequently passed other laws allowing logging on the preserve.
That led to a popular revolt. In 1894, the People demanded a special provision be added to the State Constitution specifically protecting the Forest Preserve—legally blocking Albany lawmakers from allowing logging or development of the preserve.
What is today Article XIV, Section 1 of New York’s Constitution is commonly called the "Forever Wild Clause." The Forever Wild Clause commands: "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."
Today the Forever Wild Clause protects a total of 2.6 million acres of wilderness in the Adirondacks, and 286,000 acres in the Catskills. It includes all of New York's highest mountains: 46 peaks above 4000 feet in the Adirondacks and 35 peaks above 3,500 feet in the Catskills.
In the fight to combat global warming, the Forest Preserve is a potent weapon: it's a titanic heat and water collector. In the Catskills, it nourishes and protects the reservoirs that provide nearly 90% percent of New York City’s drinking water
To grow the Forest Preserve the legislature drew blue lines around the wildest parts of New York in the Adirondacks and Catskills to create what it called "parks." The parks were unique in that most of the land inside of them remained private. But, since the land was within the area circled by the "Blue Line," they were marked for future acquisition by the state.
That means people who have owned land behind the Blue Line, in the Adirondack and Catskill parks, have long-known that their land could be taken by the State for addition to the Forest Preserve with eminent domain. And they’veknown it since since those parks were created—in 1892 and 1904, respectively.
While the State has mostly added to the Forest Preseve only with willing sellers and payments periodically funded by the state legislature and environmental bond acts approved by the People in popular referendums, it can legally invoke eminent domain at any time—like Gov. Cuomo did to protect Minnewaska. Eminent domain is an ancient legal power Governments have more-or-less always held. The taking of private land for “public use” is also explicitly authorized by the Constutution—so long as “just compensation” is paid.
William Collins Whitney was a Gilded Age robber barron. He purchased the land that is now Whitney Park in 1897, according to the state Department of Environmental Conservation, or DEC. That means that, when he bought the land, it was already marked for acquisition by the Adirondack Blue Line in 1892. He knew that and bought it anyway.
Early on, New York made the decision to not use eminent domain to grow the Forest Preserve. But because the state legislature has been slow to buy all the land in the Adirondack and Catskill parks for addition to the preserve, 140 years later those parks remain incomplete—and now all the development pressure of a shrinking world is bearing down on them.
The last Whitney connected to Whitney Park died in 2019. Her widow, John Hendrickson, himself died in 2024. His will directed the land be sold and the money given to the nearby-town of Long Lake. But Hendrickson's will prohibited his estate from selling the land to the state.
His reason: he was pissed at the DEC because a previous tract of land the Whitneys sold to the state in 1997 included a lake with a wild, rare and treasured heritage strain of brook trout that was subsequently decimated when the DEC allowed road access to it and someone dumped a bucketful of invasive smallmouth bass into the lake.
Hendrickson didn't want the same thing to happen in the remaining lakes of Whitney Park once he was gone—and neither do we. If the state gets the land, the DEC should designate all of it wilderness and re-wild existing roads.
One man's anger—however righteous—at the DEC cannot be allowed to keep 36,000 acres of wilderness from permanent legal protection under the Forever Wild Clause of New York's Constitution. Not when 6,000 acres of forests, fields and other green space vanish under the bulldozer's blade every single day.
The state Forest Preserve is a unique American treasure. 14 generations of New Yorkers have fought to defend and expand it for themselves and future generations. New York voters always overhwelming vote to protect and expand it. It's time for Gov. Hochul to contribute that glorious history.
Send tips or corrections to jasonbnicholas@gmail.com or, if you prefer, thefreelancenews@proton.me