Recommendations

Further investigation into rural counties in different regions of the U.S. that are defying predominant national trends of economic stagnation and population loss is merited. These areas may have strategies that are useful for Adirondack communities.

Further investigation should also look at regions across the U.S. that have similar characteristics as Adirondack communities in the percent of public lands, percent of forest cover, extensive lakes and rivers, are rated for high natural resource and scenic amenity values, tourism dependent, are largely non-agricultural rural areas, among other characteristics. Such comparisons could shed additional light on the long-term trends of Adirondack communities and help to find models for rural community viability and development.

The creation of some kind of forum that identifies employment and careers that are available in the Adirondacks merits investigation. This would allow those who grew up in the Adirondacks and want to stay here and those from outside the area who want to move here to acquire the necessary skills or training to find career-track employment in the Adirondacks. The Adirondack Park currently recruits a small number of career age people after age 35, similar to trends in other rural areas. How to increase the number of career age people moving to the Adirondacks should be investigated.

The high self-employment rate, which is growing in the Adirondacks, merits further investigation. While self-employment rates have historically been higher in rural areas than in metropolitan areas, many rural areas are seeing major losses in self-employed people. Efforts should be made to organize support services and incentives for Adirondack residents who wish to be self-employed and for recruitment of self-employed people to move to the Adirondacks.

The Adirondack Park recruits retirees at a higher level than do other rural areas. Throughout the Adirondacks, over 1,000 retirees, often in couples, move to various communities each decade. These people bring financial resources and frequently are eager to be involved in a variety of community organizations and non-profits, often providing critical leadership. These people often are active for 20 to 30 years in their new communities. Identifying the needs of this population and how to attract more people to retire in the Adirondacks merits further investigation. The attractiveness of an area for retirement often consists of the availability of social amenities, such as restaurants and cafes, accessibility to a wide variety of outdoor recreational opportunities, and health care.

The Adirondack Park has a small population where the decisions of 1,000 people or less in a given decade, 100 people per year, to move to the Adirondacks, can determine whether Adirondack communities gain or lose population. An incentives package for population recruitment merits investigation.

Vermont has started a variety of programs designed to recruit remote workers to move to the state and encourage young people to makes their lives there. These types of incentive programs merit investigation for the Adirondacks.

Successful rural community development strategies have been implemented around a “shrink smart” concept where a community planning and strategy program works to build more vital and vibrant communities even as the population declines. This effort has been most visibly pioneered in Iowa.

The Adirondack Park, like all other rural areas, experiences its biggest population loss when college-age young people leave. Today, most colleges and universities are in metropolitan areas in the U.S. and many small rural areas are closing. One way to stem this tide is to develop programs to expand enrollments at Paul Smith’s College and North Country Community College to attract students from the Adirondacks and beyond.

Investments in community development require funding. State and federal funding wax and wane with economic and political cycles. Adirondack communities would benefit from some form of dedicated revenue to support community and economic development from sources, such as a bed tax for motels and hotels as well as timeshares and Airbnb rentals, or a surcharge on the real estate transfer tax, among other possibilities. A sustainable, dedicated funding source for Adirondack community development should be investigated.

Not all Adirondack communities are experiencing the same trends. Some are seeing economic and population growth and some are experiencing decline. This report did not undertake individual community assessments, but this is an area in inquiry that merits investigation.

The strength of rural communities in the Adirondacks is inextricably tied to the protected landscape that surrounds them. The stewardship of the Forest Preserve and conservation easements should be expanded. Protection efforts should be sustained to protect the open space landscape and waters across the Adirondacks. ❑