This past Monday, Americans marked the unofficial start of summer by observing Memorial Day. For many, Memorial Day weekend is the first opportunity of the season to break out the outdoor gear – the sleeping bags, tents, fishing poles, and bathing suits that were relegated to the back of the closet last fall – and head outside to once again enjoy the outdoors. I have always looked forward to that first canoe paddle or venture into the woods to jump-start a season of taking advantage of everything Mother Nature has to offer.

New York State is home to dozens of state parks that offer camping, hiking, boating, swimming, fishing, and countless other outdoor activities. One does not have to go far from home to partake in one of the many state-run parks available for our use. In fact, this state has a rich history of protecting and preserving the natural world around us, including the creation of the Adirondack Park in 1892. The largest state park in the country, the Adirondack Park is larger than Yellowstone, Glacier, and Grand Canyon national parks combined.

My mom grew up in a small village in the Adirondack Mountains, so my family has been going there for as long as I can remember. I am lucky to call the Adirondacks my second home. I grew up taking long walks in the woods, afternoon paddles in the canoe, and endless summer days at the public beach on the lake. Those childhood memories have given me a tremendous appreciation for the mountains and lakes of the Adirondacks.

A couple of years ago on a drive up to the mountains for some time with my family, my boyfriend and I noticed a sign we hadn’t seen before for a new park. And this was no ordinary state park sign – it included the universal symbol for wheelchair accessibility. Curiosity got the best of us and we drove in to find the John Dillon Park, a fully-accessible campground. It was equipped with lean-tos (covered wooden platforms for camping in the woods), picnic tables, outhouses, trails in the woods and a dock on the lake, all of which would allow full-access to the Adirondack wilderness for people with disabilities. It was an impressive sight, something I had never seen in my many ventures to various outdoor sites in the Adirondacks and statewide.

Upon our visit, we learned that John Dillon Park is not a state-established or state-run park. It was established by International Paper, a company that has contracts with the Adirondack Park Agency allowing them to harvest wood for making paper, in exchange for massive reforestation projects. John Dillon is a former chairman and CEO of International Paper and the park was named after him in honor of his years of service and leadership. The Park is operated and maintained by Paul Smith’s College, a small private college deep in the heart of the Adirondack Park. The students and staff who you meet in the Park could be mistaken for state park rangers, as their “uniforms” are very similar to those of the state Department of Environmental Conservation employees who usually steward the outdoors.

This short visit to John Dillon Park got me thinking. Why are the state parks I’ve visited before not like this one? Doesn’t the ADA guarantee access to any and all public property, and wouldn’t this include outdoor settings? Many locations have accessible restrooms and designated parking, but what good are they if there is no access to the campsites and beaches themselves?

Ted Galusha, co-founder of Adirondackers for Access, asked the same questions. Ted has multiple sclerosis and was ticketed for driving his ATV into a protected recreation area near his home in the southeastern Adirondacks. Another ticket was issued when he used his SUV to move a boulder away from a campsite so another camper with disabilities could drive his van in. In 1998, he sued New York State, and in 2001, won a settlement agreement for 185 accessibility projects statewide, including the opening of approximately 100 miles of back roads to motorized vehicles.

While the state reported in 2006 that over one hundred projects had been completed, like building access ramps at public beaches, fixing roads into the woods, and upgrading boat launches, several projects remain delayed, and all-terrain vehicles are essentially banned altogether. The privately-operated John Dillon Park is still one of the only places in the state that is entirely accessible for use by people with disabilities.
Some state park lands will never be accessible by virtue of their make-up. It is a shame, however, that it took a lawsuit to get the state to comply with what the Federal government requires for the myriad other sites that, with a little effort, could give all New Yorkers access to summer.