Save Whitney Park: Sign Your Name to a Petition to Governor Kathy Hochul!
For more than 50 years, the 36,000-acre Whitney Park has been the top land protection priority in New York State. The tract is now threatened with development into 10 lots, each 3,200 acres in size. Each lot will get its own private lake.
This land needs to be purchased by the State of New York and added to the public Forest Preserve. The Forest Preserve is the people’s land in New York, open and freely accessible to everybody. Whitney Park should be purchased by the state and added to the Forest Preserve.
We need your help to save Whitney Park and protect and uphold the values of the public Forest Preserve. Please sign onto the petition below.
The 6-million-acre Adirondack Park in northern New York is a land of mountains, deep forests, wild rivers, and beautiful lake and ponds. The Adirondack Park is a mixture of public and private lands. The 2.6-million-acre public Forest Preserve is the heart and soul of the Adirondacks. It’s what makes the Adirondacks a special and an altogether different place from any other part of the eastern U.S.
For years, the State of New York has purchased private lands from willing sellers within the Adirondack Park to add to the public Forest Preserve. Over the past 125 years, the “forever wild” Forest Preserve has grown and expanded through a multi-generational and bipartisan commitment to create a wild Adirondack Park as a place with abundant waters and woods that are accessible and available to everybody so that current and future generations are guaranteed the opportunity to experience wild nature. That is the dream of the Forest Preserve.
It’s critical for the future of the Adirondack Park that Whitney Park is protected and added to the public Forest Preserve. New York Governor Kathy Hochul needs to hear from people across New York and beyond that we must save Whitney Park by making it part of the Forest Preserve.
Please sign the petition and encourage your friends and family to sign on too. Thank you!
Sign the Petition to Governor Kathy Hochul to Purchase Whitney Park for the Public Forest Preserve

Salmon Lake stands in the foreground, part of the Whitney tract, with Rock Lake and Little Tupper Lake in the background, which are part of the public Forest Preserve in the William C. Whitney Wilderness area. The 36,000-acre Whitney tract could be a paddling paradise for canoes and kayaks. A canoe trail could be easily built from Little Tupper Lake to Salmon Lake.
Whitney Park Could be a Paddling Paradise
Whitney Park could be a paddling paradise for people in canoes and kayaks. Whitney Park has 22 lakes and ponds and over 100 miles of undeveloped shorelines. The property has been well-managed for more than 100 years. The property was part of a holding of more than 100,000 acres in the decades after the Civil War, but sold large tracts to a timber company and to the State of New York in the 20th century. There are two private inholdings totaling over 400 acres with shoreline frontage on Forked Lake and Plumley Pond at the south end of the property.
In the 19th century, the lakes and ponds of the Whitney tract were popular as important links in historic canoe routes that were open to the public for decades. Little Forked Lake, Salmon Lake, Moose Pond, Flat Fish Pond, Slim Pond, and Stony Pond, among others, were parts of popular canoe routes documented and written about by George Washington Sears under the pen name “Nessmuk”. If purchased for the public Forest Preserve, these canoe trails from Little Tupper Lake to Stony Pond and Slim Pond could once again be opened to the public. Additionally, the historic canoe route from Little Tupper Lake to Rock Lake to Little Salmon Lake to Salmon Lake could be recreated and opened to the public more than 100 years after it was closed off.
The Whitney lands are bordered by public Forest Preserve on its northern boundaries. The majority of Whitney lands border public Forest Preserve.
State Purchased 14,700 acres in 1997 from the Whitney Family and Created the William C. Whitney Wilderness Area
In 1997, Governor George Pataki purchased 14,700 acres from Mary Lou Whitney at the north end of the Whitney lands. This tract included Little Tupper Lake, Rock Lake, Hardigan Pond, Little Salmon Lake, Lilypad Pond, Doctors Pond, among others. Governor Pataki combined the Little Tupper Lake tract with the Lake Lila Primitive area to create the William C. Whitney Wilderness Area in honor of the Whitney family. For over 20 years, this Wilderness area has been exceedingly popular for paddling, hiking, camping and fishing. The area has scores of campsites that are widely used throughout the summer.

The William C. Whitney Wilderness Area was created in 1998. This Wilderness area includes Lake Lila and Little Tupper Lake and a half dozen ponds in between. This area is immensely popular for paddling, camping, hiking and fishing.
22 Lake and Ponds with 100 Miles of Undeveloped Shorelines
The Whitney lands are a sea of small mountains, ridges, and knobs interspersed with lakes, ponds, and wetlands, many of which are connected by large streams and channels. The water resources on the property are immense and include some of the grandest lakes and ponds in the Adirondacks. The pictures below show just a few of the stunning lakes and ponds on the property.

Forked Lake pictured on the right, stretches across the south end of the Whitney tract. There is a public campground on Forked Lake. Plumley Pond, part of the Whitney lands, is pictured on the left. Two private inholdings totaling over 400 acres exist on Forked Lake and Plumley Pond, outside of the Whitney lands.

Stony Pond is pictured on the lower left and Slim Pond is pictured above. Both ponds are entirely on the Whitney lands.

Moose Pond is a beautiful and undeveloped pond in the southeast corner of the Whitney tract. This pond is noted for its islands and complex wetland systems associated with the pond.

Pictured above is Little Forked Lake, which is connected to Forked Lake, pictured in the background, through a navigable channel. The Deerlands camp complex of two dozen buildings stands on the east side of Little Forked Lake.

Salmon Lake, pictured above, is in many ways the crown jewel of the Whitney lands. This lake stands at the north end of the tract and borders the William C. Whitney Wilderness lands, which are part of the public Forest Preserve.