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LONG LAKE---The first campground in the Adirondacks as well as in New York State designed to accommodate people with disabilities was dedicated Monday in Long Lake.
The $2.6 million 300-acre John Dillon Park is part of nearly 16,000 acres of forest land in Hamilton County, donated by International Paper Company by a conservation easement. The park is named for the company's retired chairman.
The park is scheduled to open in the spring of 2006 and includes 200 acres adjacent to Grampus Lake with facilities specially designed for those with disabilities. The park features three-miles of wide, crushed stone trails, lean-tos modified for wheelchairs and lakeside docks accessible for fishing, canoes and kayaks.
It will be the first and only wilderness park in the state to comply fully with the guidelines of the Americans with Disabilities Act. The land outside the park will remain working forest land.
"The park will not only enhance the quality of life for all of us," he said. "It will offer thousands of people experiences that they would not be able to have normally", Dillon, a native of Schroon Lake and a Paul Smith's College graduate, told the audience at Monday's dedication ceremony that the resources of the Adirondacks should be accessible to everyone.
The park will be managed by Paul Smith's College of Saranac Lake through a $1.5 million endowment which establishes a hands-on park management program for students studying forestry and recreation.
Present Monday was Don White of Ballston Spa who spent his summers as a child on Upper Saranac Lake, but has been using a wheelchair since a car accident in 1992. He's the founder of Upstate Access Network, an Internet guide to recreation areas for people with disabilities. White also served on the committee of the state Department of Environmental Conservation that helped design the park.
Dillon Park helps fulfill his goal of bringing people to the Adirondacks. White says. "It's not only the sights and the smells and the sounds. It's a therapeutic experience to be able to have the independence to get off blacktop and concrete. I commend them highly for what they've done."
The park is meant to be a model of conservation. The facilities, which include an electric wheelchair recharging station, are powered by solar energy with a backup generator. 10-11-05
© 2005 North
Country Gazette
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