To sharpen his eye for the land's wild treasures, Paul Schneider traveled with naturalists, foresters, trappers, anglers, and climbers. His vivid stories are about human and natural history, with especial attention given to the Adirondacks' forested slopes, high peaks, and thirty thousand miles of rivers and lakes. At the book's center is the heartening saga of replenishment. Since the "forever wild" amendment to the New York Constitution was enacted in 1894, a park of public and private holdings - larger than either Massachusetts or New Jersey - was created to protect what remained of a land decimated by loggers. Within a hundred years almost every species of wildlife has returned to inhabit millions of acres of replenished forests and freshwaters. And as we turn into the twenty-first century, we come to realize why many Americans will be traveling east, not west, to experience nature in the wild. (cover)