Apperson Loop Project: Where did the name come from?

 

The property upon which the house is being built has a dirt road which forms a loop. While half of the loop is now paved and serves as the driveway to the site, the remaining dirt portion will remain as a hiking/biking trail.  OK. So now you know where the "Loop" comes from. But who is "Apperson"?

John S. Apperson was a scientist and conservationist who was responsible for the preservation of some of our most favorite parts of Lake George and the surrounding wilderness. He was quoted as saying "Lake George is my wife and its islands are my children." Here are references to some of his accomplishments.

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1930s – well-known scient6ist John S. Apperson, or Appie became well-known for his conservationist struggles.  He opposed the Hewitt Reforestation Amendment to the State Constitution which would have opened the area to logging.  Apperson and Louis Marshall opposed the amendment until the Adirondack Park boundaries were extended by more than 1,500,000 acres by bringing in land around Lake George, Lake Champlain, Sacandaga Reservoir and the mountains north of Lake Placid and Saranac Lake.  Apperson also fought against the "Closed-Cabin" Amendment that would have allowed the State to clear Forest Preserve land in order to build buildings, such as ski lodges. Appie and the Association for Preservation of the Adirondacks enlisted the support of sportsmen's groups and conservation organizations to fight the Closed-Cabin Amendment.

1945 – John Apperson and Paul Schaefer fought passionately against the plan to put up a large reservoir at Higley Mountain, as well as construct other dams. In summary Apperson helped save the High Peaks from being lumbered, fought erosion of the islands in Lake George, assisted in state acquisition of the Lake George Narrows and founding of the Adirondack Mountain Club.

1946 – Apperson and Schaefer organized the Adirondack Moose River Committee to fight the dams. John Apperson also played an important leadership role in the conservation of Lake George Islands as part of the NYS Forest Preserve.

source: http://www.nynjctbotany.org/lgtofc/georgehist.html

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Another very controversial amendment was proposed in 1930: the "Closed-Cabin" Amendment. This proposal would allow the State to clear Forest Preserve land in order to build various buildings, mostly to be used for recreation: ski lodges, warming huts, anything that was deemed appropriate. It was during the fight of the Closed-Cabin Amendment that John S. Apperson, or Appie for short, became well-known in the fight for preservation of the Adirondacks. Appie and the Association for Preservation of the Adirondacks sent out hundreds of pamphlets, talked to the press, and enlisted the support of sportsmen's groups and other conservation-minded organizations to fight the Closed-Cabin Amendment. When it came time for the state's populous to vote on the measure in 1932, the proposal was defeated by a 2 to 1 margin.

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Apperson and Schaefer first went to the Conservation Department; they were told they were too late. So in 1946, they organized the Adirondack Moose River Committee to fight the dams. They printed fliers, distributed movies of the Moose River Plains and other areas that were to be flooded, and basically did everything they could to make the public aware of what was about to take place in the Forest Preserve. Eventually, as awareness and opposition amongst sportsmen's groups and the general public grew, the state began to think twice about the project. An advisor to Governor Thomas Dewey made a study criticizing the proposed dam. Dewey took the advice and packed the board of the Black River Regulating District with opposers to the dam, who voted the project down. A short time later, it was found out that Governor Dewey had struck a deal with the District: in exchange for nixing the Higley project, Dewey agreed to support the reservoir at Panther, which in comparison was a much larger project. Also, one of the leaders of the opposition, Ed Richard, agreed not to fight Panther if Higley was killed. Eventually, however, after much convincing, Richard did return to the side of the preservationists.
 

source: http://adirondack-park.net/history/political/threats.html

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