The human component.

Lots of activity at the Schroon Lake Beach all summer long.

Parades in Schroon Lake always draw a crowd.

The Schroon Lake Watershed Management Plan is a consensus building effort aimed at all residents and users of the Schroon Lake Watershed. While 60% of the Watershed is Forest Preserve and will never be developed, the area around Schroon Lake is primarily residential in nature. Thus the human component is of primary importance and the Plan provides a blueprint for the optimal use and enjoyment of Schroon Lake as a natural, recreational and economic resource.

For years the emphasis within the Adirondack Park has been on how to preserve the natural resource of the park. In recognition of the need to preserve these natural resources the Adirondack Park Agency (APA) Act was passed in 1971. The APA provides regulatory guidelines for development within the Adirondack Park and in theory “recognizes the complementary needs of all the people of the state for the preservation of the park’s resources and open space character and of the park’s permanent, seasonal and transient populations for growth and service areas, employment, and a strong economic base”.

For years many local officials within the Adirondacks have been apprehensive about a possible crisis concerning the overall condition of many Adirondack communities. In 2009 The Adirondack Park Regional Assessment Project (APRAP) report was released providing the first comprehensive baseline data for understanding socio-economic trends and projecting future outcomes for the Adirondack Park. The data clearly demonstrates that the Blue Line is not just a geographic boundary, but defines a region with unique socio-economic characterstics.

The results of the APRAP illustrate the challenges facing most Adirondack communities with respect to community life, demographics, employment, emergence services, schools and infrastructure. These trends include but are not limited to: lack of jobs (particularly in the private sector), shortage of affordable housing, shrinking school enrollments, an aging population, reduced and deteriorating economic infrastructures and diminished community services. Many of these trends might be ongoing in other regions of the United States, however in the Adirondack Park the “unique experience” of man and wilderness living side by side may be in jeopardy in which the protected wilderness will survive, but the viabiliy and sustainability of these communities within this magnificent 6 million acre park might not.

It is imperative that Schroon Lake protections keep in balance the human role in the substance of the area’s environment. One of the outcomes of the Schroon Lake Management Plan is that we are striving and will continue to strive for an equilibrium. This equilibrium can be deined as symbiotic relationship in which a healthy watershed equals a successful community and a healthy community equals a successful watershed.