More than 90% of Warren County lies within the Adirondack Park’s “Blue Line.” The Park itself covers roughly 6 million acres, an area larger than several U.S. states.
It is a region intentionally shaped around protecting open space and limiting development intensity. That means smaller communities, greater distances and fewer opportunities for economies of scale.
Yet many of the measures we use for economic development, education, healthcare, housing and essential services are based largely on scale.
The standard shouldn’t necessarily be different. But the realities of achieving it are.
This isn’t just an economic development conversation. The Adirondack Council’s latest State of the Park report identifies housing, water and wastewater infrastructure, working forests and farms, and other investments that support strong Adirondack communities as important to the Park’s future.
In the Adirondacks, 25 year-round jobs can make a significant difference to a community. A relatively small housing project can meaningfully expand the local workforce. Broadband may have to travel miles to reach a handful of businesses and homes. Maintaining access to education, healthcare or childcare can be essential to keeping a community economically viable.
We see it here in Warren County. Municipal sewer in North Creek can unlock housing and private investment around Gore Mountain. Strengthening a legacy employer like Finch Paper supports not only local jobs, but a forest economy extending across the Adirondacks and North Country.
These may not always be metropolitan-scale numbers. But they can be transformational at Adirondack scale.
At EDC Warren County, we believe impact should be understood in the context of the community and geography being served.
Different geography. Different scale. Same expectations for opportunity and quality of life. A different understanding of what it takes to achieve them.
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