The Adirondack Park was created in 1892 by the state of New York. Containing six-million acres, the Park is the largest park in the contiguous United States. It covers one-fifth of New York State, is equal in size to neighboring Vermont, and is nearly three times the size of Yellowstone National Park.

The Adirondack Park is best known for its expansive pristine forests, lakes, rivers, and outdoor recreation opportunities. Unlike a national park, the Adirondack Park has no entrance and no entry fee, as it not only contains public land, but private lands as well where people live year-round.

The Adirondack Park is unique in that it's a mix of private and state-owned land. This strategic model has allowed New York State to protect our beautiful forests while residents live and work in the Park and visitors enjoy exploring the Park’s lands and waters and experiencing its rural communities.

More than half of the Adirondack Park is private land, devoted principally to the 105 towns and villages, farms, working forests, businesses, and communities. The Park is also home for 130,000 permanent and 200,000 seasonal residents and hosts 12.4 million visitors yearly.

The remaining 45 percent of the Park is publicly-owned Forest Preserve, protected as “Forever Wild” by the NYS Constitution since 1894. These lands are one of only two constitutionally protected landscapes in the world.

One-million acres of these public lands are protected as Wilderness, where non-mechanized recreation may be enjoyed. The majority of the public land (more than 1.3 million acres) is Wild Forest, where motorized uses are permitted on designated waters, roads and trails.