New York State Dept. of State Adirondack Park Land Use Planning County Maps

Geographical by county.

Chapter 706 of the Laws of 1971 created the Adirondack Park Agency to ensure preservation of the Adirondack wilderness area that had been designated as the Adirondack Park in 1892. In consultation with local governments, the agency was charged to prepare and submit the plan to the legislature for approval and modification on or before January 1, 1973. The plan would apply to the entire area of the Adirondack Park, except for state owned land, and was to be submitted together with the recommendations of the agency for its implementation. The plan divides land into areas and estimates the intensity of land use (its type, character, and extent) and the development permissible within each area. The plan was approved on March 3, 1973; a certified copy was filed with the Secretary of State and facsimiles were filed with the clerk of each county and local government wholly or partially within the Adirondack Park.

The series consists of maps produced by the Adirondack Park Agency for the Adirondack Park Land Use and Development Plan of 1973. Maps are included for Clinton, Franklin, Fulton, Hamilton, Herkimer, Lewis, Oneida, St. Lawrence, Saratoga, Warren, and Washington counties. The maps consist of a printed base map of each county (sometimes done in sections) prepared by the Office of Planning Services, with an attached plastic film overlay in colors representing the various land use classifications. Base maps are dated from May 1967 to July 1968. They carry a title (county name/section), ruled scale (one inch to one mile, and some with an additional metric scale in kilometers), elevation (in feet), and degrees of latitude and longitude. Statements on each tell whether they are based on the New York Coordinate System and/or the Universal Transverse Mercator System.

The plastic film overlays are done in six colors representing the various land use areas, as follows: hamlet areas (in brown); moderate intensity use areas (red); low intensity use areas (orange); rural use areas (yellow); resource management areas (green); and industrial use areas (purple). Additionally, diagonal lines appear to represent wilderness areas, and horizontal lines represent "primitive areas." Dotted areas are also shown, but their significance is unknown. State borders are marked in blue. The map of Washington County is missing its overlay.

Maps range in size from 95 x 94 cm to 149 x 104 cm. Each map has a typed slip attached to it identifying it as a "certified copy of the official Adirondack Park Land Use and Development Plan Map." They are stamped as filed with the Department of State, Secretary of State, 1973, and also contain notices of amendment. A statement also appears that small islands less than 10 acres are not shown on the map (these are located in the green classification areas).

Information on the text portion of the plan, its character descriptions, definitions, purposes, guidelines for development, and classification of compatible land uses can be found in the agency's plan (August 1973), available at the New York State Library.

This series description was enhanced as a part of the New York State Archives Environmental History Virtual Research Collection Project, 2004. The National Endowment for the Humanities provided funding for this project.

Use under supervision or with assistance of archivist due to fragile condition of the plastic film overlays.

There are no restrictions regarding access to or use of this material.