Adirondack Old Growth Forests - A National Treasure

Hundreds of thousands of acres of old growth forest are found in the Adirondack Mountain region of New York State; by far the largest reserve of old growth in the Eastern United States. Explore the Adirondack old growth in this, the first of a series of videos on this topic.
Sources:
Minnesota Lost 40 - www.dnr.state.mn.us/snas/deta...
Adirondack Old Growth: The Great Forest of the Adirondacks, Barbara McMartin
Eastern Old-Growth Forests: Prospects For Rediscovery And Recovery, Mary Byrd Davis

[@WhiteManXRP]

Logging must stop, the old growth forests are the most enchanted, amazing, special areas on earth.. please preserve all old growth areas. incredible

[@seankingwell3692]

Logging can't just stop unless you want to die. But there is no reason to be logging the big old trees. That is not the best practice. The biggest oldest ones are massive reseeders, Mother trees, so they should never be cut down. Selective cutting is how people live with nature.

[@dmitrysteblyuk5591]

>Logging can't just stop unless you want to die @@seankingwell3692 logging the last remnants of old growth isn't necessary for survival. There's plenty of forest plantations to log. Second growth can be cut selectively and sustainably. But why are logging companies and some foresters so obsessed with logging (often clearcutting) some meager few percents of the last primeval forests that's left is beyond my understanding. It's just either pure greed or negligence or simple human stubbornness at this point.

[@boydpoindexter7741]

Good idea, use saran wrap for toilet paper

[@WALTERZOLNA]

I can't thank you enough and let you know how much I appreciate your channel and how grateful I am that l stumbled upon it. This topic and others you discuss have fascinated me since childhood. Here in Pennsylvania I have been to many of our old growth sites that usually fall in the range of 50 to 200 acre parcels or so. We do have some notable exceptions such as Ricketts Glen, Cook Forest, Tionesta, and others, but sadly so many sites have been utterly decimated by the hemlock woolly adelgid, it's completely heartbreaking. Thank you for producing the type of content that you do, it's awesome.👍👍

[@hikelonglake]

I'd love to visit Cook Forest while it is still healthy (hopefully the hemlocks there are hanging on). The woolly adeglid is threatening the Adirondacks as well, there may be some protection from our cold temps. But that's changing as well, it should be -20f for a couple of night later this week, no way to know if that's enough or not.

[@michaeljones7372]

That last two minutes was absolutely beautiful, thank you so much for that. I appreciate it. That brought so many good feelings of peace and love back to front, I miss being out in nature

[@Iamyolomonkey-ed2gh]

Old growth forests are amazing. There’s just something so magical about them

[@peterjb49]

Wow! Thank You for your videos and channel! I consider the Adirondacks to be the most special natural place I have ever known! I have traveled to many beautiful lands in Arizona and Washington State but my heart is inside the "blue line!" As a young man I hiked as much as I could in the high peaks region and other areas beyond Cranberry lake. I managed to hike about 30 of the high peaks. I was about 5 hours away near Binghamton and had a young family at the time. I remmeber getting home from work on Friday and dashing up there to hike. I would sleep in my car and have breakfast and go on adventures. I also did photography of my hikes and have many pretty nice photos all in the film days of course. I guess at 74 it would be difficult to hike mountains like haystack, etc. Thanks very much!

[@antonleimbach648]

I used to live in Lake Placid in the 1980’s and will never forget how beautiful the forests were when hiking the trails.

[@jimbattista1120]

Then come back an get reacquainted with it. Lake Placid/Upper Jay is my favorite area in NY. Its a 60 minute drive north for me. I love it there.

[@ThankyouJesus81]

More beautiful than the smoky mountains? Looking to buy a few acres in either place in build a cabin went to the smoky mountains, a bunch of times, but never the Adirondacks.

[@alexhidel3732]

Ampersand mountain old growth forest is awesome. It starts just 50 yards into the trail. I found some huge trees in that area. The trail is excellent.

[@hikelonglake]

I've heard that there are impressive old growth stands near the Ampersand trail. I'm planning get over there soon.

[@colemantrebor1610]

@@hikelonglakeI did a survey over there with my high school ap environmental science class.

[@dmozonnersepicoutdooradven3524]

Great video. Camped out at the base of Marcy in JAN 1986. Rock on.

[@thesearcher118]

We camped out in the Ranger cabin on top of Mount Pillsbury in OCT 1986. I grew up in the Mohawk Valley. I spent my youth in those mountains. I can dig it.

[@joaoklein1002]

Thank you for this video and the info.

[@motorboater5686]

Great video! I love these Mountains

[@jeffreyhawthornegoines8727]

This is one of the most beautiful videos that I have ever seen

[@hikelonglake]

Glad you liked it, thanks for the feedback.

[@coondogsoutdooradventures2484]

Those giant Yellow Birch are amazing. It took me a while to ID them. The bark at the bottom being so different, and the leaves up above the canopy hard to see.

[@hikelonglake]

Yeah, I'm always on the lookout for the big/old trees. Most are pretty easy to ID but I've been fooled many times. Yellow Birch is probably the species most resistant to wind damage so there are lots of big ones in places where the 1950 storm took down other species.

[@coondogsoutdooradventures2484]

That Chaga was massive!

[@hikelonglake]

Put that one in for my brother, he is always on the look out for it.

[@scottprather5645]

Lived in the Adirondacks for 3 years beautiful and unique place. I'm living in San Diego now so different

[@RelaxingNatureSoundsMusic]

Wonderful 💖 Thank you my dear friend,, Have a nice day 💖 BIG LIKE 👍 👍 ...

[@namastenation4890]

Beautiful. There's a place called Sly pond on little moose mountain in moose river planes wilderness area. It's very secluded and you can't even find trip reports online. Most people turn back. But anyways I specifically remember massive burch tree's. The one in between me and my buddy's hammocks had to be at least four feet thick . Like a giant rhino horn coming out of the ground

[@hikelonglake]

That is a great and remote area and Sly Pond has been on my radar for a while. Maybe this year...

[@deadpinecollective]

Awesome video

[@hikelonglake]

Thanks!

[@naturecalls80]

I love forest..feel relax❤

[@hikelonglake]

I meant to add this when I posted the video but missed it. Sources for some of the information I cite. Minnesota Lost 40 - www.dnr.state.mn.us/snas/detail.html?id=sna01063 Adirondack Old Growth: The Great Forest of the Adirondacks, Barbara McMartin Eastern Old-Growth Forests: Prospects For Rediscovery And Recovery, Mary Byrd Davis

[@SungLuyen]

Wow

[@Tomangel61]

I've hiked about half of the high peaks, some of them numerous times. I haven't been up there in 20 years, I look forward to getting up there soon. It is truly God's country and heart breakingly beautiful. Thanks for the vid! I didn't know this and I'm 62. Safe travels from Hastings in Oswego county.

[@hikelonglake]

Thanks for sharing, glad you enjoyed it.

[@ronward3949]

Just Preserve Old Growyh, of course, it is amazing, cathedral-like, full of diversity, structurally important, ecologically gainful, and amazing places to be!

[@aaabeverages7152]

Best video ny old growth stands

[@jonyusaitis]

Boy this video is beautiful and informative!! What kind of camera are you using ?? I love it !

[@hikelonglake]

Thanks, Panasonic Lumix G9. I'm a big fan of Micro43 cameras because of size and weight advantages over full frame cameras.

[@mikekennedy2965]

are there any old growth patches in or near the St Regis canoe area? I'm planning a canoe trip there and would love to see some.

[@paulatighe7073]

nothing like the adirondacks

[@mich8261]

Beautiful photos throughout your video. Are they yours of the Adirondacks or stock?

[@hikelonglake]

They are all mine. Thanks

[@BradyMcLean]

can we see a video of the underwater landscapes of the adirondack lakes, ponds, and rivers.

[@hikelonglake]

I don't currently have the gear for it, but in the future, maybe...

[@laurenalacroix5114]

viewer in michigan!

[@mevlidasofic9131]

❤

[@raymondblanchard2425]

As I live here people destroyed everything that I held dear here. Cried when they cut the oaks behind my house. I was about thirteen

[@jhubert22]

Ecosystems benefit as well as local economies when logging is done properly. Old growth forests are beautiful - but lack in diversity of species that exists in them.

[@Grand_History]

The good news is, as much as humans have harmed ecosystems in America in the last couple hundred years, generally they are bouncing back across the country. Animals like bears, bison, prairie chick, California condors, beavers, wolves are all seeing their ranges slowly but surely increase closer and closer to their older ranges. Thats not to say the beauty of the american wilderness will ever return to what it once was, but we`re seeing a lot of good things happen as of late. One species I`d especially like to see rebound is the Hellbender salamanders in southern Indiana

[@hikelonglake]

Absolutely, in many ways the forests are recovering and in the Adirondacks they recover fast. But even so, we've caused many changes that can't be undone, and we don't know what the side effects might be. Our grandchildren and their grandchildren will find out.

[@eileenmack271]

Old growth forests hold more carbon than younger trees. They are keeping us alive.

[@peterjohnson617]

When I find a place that I really like and I go back to it year after year for vacation I think it wise to keep it to myself & not spread it all over the internet.

[@blakespower]

thank New Yorkers for saving this land from development , the eastern states have so few natural public areas, they are tiny compared to western states

[@blakespower]

old growth doesnt mean a thing, since many forests have forest fires even before humans. so trees like a Tuliptree would fast go extinct if there was never any forest fires, since they are fast growing trees that need full to medium sunshine and they live about 250 years

[@hikelonglake]

I agree that there is no single definition of "old growth", you have to define what you mean. My definition is just large forest stands that have not been logged. Sometimes those stands contain the big old trees that we tend to think of as old growth, but sometimes they don't.

[@curbstomp3126]

Old growth to me is acerage that has never been logged

[@dustyroads834]

I agree. So according the this narrator there are no old growth forests anywhere.

[@hikelonglake]

There are areas in the Adirondacks, and elsewhere, that have never been logged. But there are no areas where other changes caused by humans have occurred. In the Adirondacks the destruction of once common tree species such as the American Beech by introduced bugs is probably the most visible change.

[@user-mb9zx9lg7p]

I fast forwarded through the climate change part

[@jonathanwyatt5344]

Because you know everything there is to know about climate change or you refuse to learn about things that disagree with your political stance?

[@scallopohare9431]

So tired of the bad murkin narrative.

[@adkbuck5322]

I don't understand the desire for old growth...it serves little use to the animals nor the forest....it seems it's a people thing being selfish to preserve something of little use to its surroundings and local ecosystem. If you want to see thriving ecosystem and local environment considering all things including plant life and animal life, look at private owned and managed land in the adks, full of growth, plant life, and a thriving wildlife within.

[@hikelonglake]

I think it's about the diversity of species, old growth provides a home for animals and plants that evolved to fill specific niches. Managed forests generally have fewer species and they tend to favor generalist species. The problem with the loss of old growth forests is that it takes hundreds of years, if not thousands for the specialized species to return. Meaning that if we don't leave old growth our our grandchildren and great-grand children will never know what that is. Personally, I think that old growth forests are far more interesting and attractive places to be.

[@kevinjboles]

Are you fucking serious! Wow. I'm not even going to waist my time to explain.

[@dungeonmaster6292]

You must be a logger butthurt that the old growth forests are being protected

[@MrJohMak]

Well, it's literally the opposite. Old growth stands are great for the forest and the world, older trees are shown to sequester more carbon than younger trees. The wildlife diversity is increased tenfold. Certain species can only survive in old growth forest. Now I understand that deer and other certain game wildlife tend to prefer younger forest which is, im guessing, why you prefer them as well which would be selfish on your behalf.

[@blueridgepics]

Old growth forests support a wide diversity of animals, species and ages of trees, in addition to enhance conditions that create rain, prevent soil erosion and even climate warming. A little research goes a long way to understanding...

[@ghrohrs2020]

If I had my way, as a vigilante, I would exterminate future development in the Adirondacks, exterminate logging, commercial expansion and water pollution. It would all end immediately.

[@ADKflyguy]

You do realize that the Adirondack’s are designated forever wild, meaning many of those things you listed already are prohibited. The logging that exists is on private land holdings. None of the state’s land is logged. As a vigilante you ought to put your energy into other parts of the country not a place that already has great legislation protecting it for all.

[@Adksnate]

I hope you also Realize people actually live here and call it home. Where do you hail from @ghrohrs?