Davis, George D.

The Adirondack Park Agency was created July 1, 1971 by executive law article twenty-seven program bill #102. The purpose of the APA was to insure conservation, protection, preservation, development and use of the scenic, historic, ecological and natural resources of the Adirondack Park.

George Davis, a native of Oneida County, New York, and influential wilderness preservationist, began his career as a planner for the Adirondack Park Agency (APA) and became director of the New York State Temporary Study Commission on the Future of the Adirondacks (1968-1971). He was executive director of the Wilderness Society (1974-1975). In early 1980 he was executive director of the Adirondack Land Trust and program director of the Adirondack Council. He was executive director of the Commission on the Adirondacks in the 21st Century (1989-1990) and received the MacArthur Prize in 1989. He then founded Ecologically Sustainable Development (early 1990s-1997). George Davis moved to Oregon in 1997.