March, 31 2012

LAKE PLACID, ADIRONDACKS USA - A proposal to install floodlights throughout New York's Adirondacks aims to extend the Park's open hours, and improve visibility at night.

The concept is the brainchild of entrepreneur and electrician Jack Smith of Brooklyn, who originally came up with the idea in 1994. Smith's proposal specifies the addition of one million lumens per square mile, and utilizes existing infrastructure in the park, such as poles, transformers, cables and slow-moving wildlife.

[img:flood.jpg]Smith recalls a weekend when his family was camping in the Adirondacks, while he stayed home to work. "I wanted to contact them, so I called the visitor information center in Lake Placid and asked them if they could please find my family, and ask them to call me at home," said Smith. "This was before fancy cell phones and all that, you see," he added.

"I was flabbergasted when they said that it was getting dark, and that the park was too big for them see all of the campers," Smith continued. "So, I asked them just to turn on the park lights. Well, they just laughed and said that there were no park-wide lights to turn on."

Smith decided that he wouldn't rest until he got those lights installed. "I could tell from the tourism people's reaction that this was a problem they'd like to see fixed," he said.

Lynn Wiley, spokesperson for the Lake Placid CVB, confirmed that they do receive phone calls such as the one Smith made to them in 1994. "Yes, our staff does receive inquiries about when the park gates open, what time the trails close and, of course, we do occasionally get requests to turn the park lights on," she said.

Created in 1892 as one of the first Forever Wild Forest Preserves in the nation, the Adirondack Park is a unique wilderness area. The park contains 2,000 miles of backcountry trails, over 2,800 lakes and ponds, and 30,000 miles of rivers and streams. At 6 million acres, (or 6 million American football fields), it is the largest publicly protected area in the contiguous United States.

Joan Robin, a resident of the Town of Wilmington, home of Whiteface Mountain, said that she thought the floodlights would be a great addition. "If you've ever been to the Adirondacks, you know that when you look up at night, all you can see is the moon and constellations, she said. "If you look on one of those light pollution maps, there's a huge black hole in the top of New York State that represents the Adirondacks. We don't even have many TRAFFIC lights here."

Not everyone is in favor of the lights. A group of residents has threatened to form a coalition called Park in the Dark, which would support their opposition to the proposal's resulting light pollution. Some of the group's potential members concede, however, that the lights would make it easier to find friends who are camping in the wilderness.

"We do hope that Mr. Smith's plan considers the environmental philosophy that has protected our park since 1892," added Wiley. "He should certainly implement regenerative technology, and use CFL or LED light bulbs."

Smith's proposal is set to be added to the agenda for consideration for addition to a list of proposals that could be approved for review by officials as early as 2015.*

For more illumination regarding the region's many attributes, contact the Regional Office of Sustainable Tourism at 518.523.2445 or visit

lakeplacid.com.

### 

BELOW: Light pollution overlay map showing dark hole over the Adirondacks.

[img:adkslite.jpg]

 

 

*The preceding story is fabricated in celebration of April Fools day, popular for the commission of good-humoured practical jokes of varying sophistication.

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