Paddlers at Paddle for Wilderness protest for the protection of the 36,000-acre Whitney Park and celebrate the Adirondack wildlands canoeing legacy of Peter and Ann Hornbeck.

Several dozen paddlers from Protect the Adirondacks and Sierra Club Atlantic Chapter attended a water-based protest earlier in September. The Paddle for Wilderness at Forked Lake in the central Adirondacks, on waters bordering Whitney Park, was a floating protest calling for the protection of the 36,000-acre Whitney Park that is up for sale and threatened with development. This tract has been at the top of the State’s land protection list for 50 years. Whitney Park includes 22 lakes and ponds, and over 100 miles of undeveloped shorelines. The tract has important natural habitat and is the missing link for re-establishing historic canoe routes that traversed the property.

Paddlers review maps prior to taking to the water

Peter and Ann Hornbeck’s Paddling and Adirondack Forest Preserve Legacy

The Paddle for Wilderness also brought together paddlers to honor the wildlands canoeing and kayaking legacy of Peter Hornbeck (1943-2020) and Ann Hornbeck (1948-2025), the founders of Hornbeck Boats, the popular lightweight canoes and kayaks, used all around the Adirondacks and beyond. Peter Hornbeck (1943-2020) and Ann Hornbeck (1948-2025) founded Hornbeck Boats in 1973.

Lorraine Duvall speaking about Peter Hornbeck at the Paddle for Wilderness. Photo credit to Mary Jean Bland.

Pete was the master boatbuilder of lightweight canoes and kayaks with a distinctive red stripe below the gunwales, famous throughout the Adirondacks and beyond, and was also a Founding Board member of Protect the Adirondacks in 2009 and served on the Board of the Residents’ Committee to Protect the Adirondacks (RCPA) before that from 1993 to 2009, serving eight years as the Chair.

Pete Hornbeck with reporters at the 1998 Canoe-In for Wilderness on Little Tupper Lake.

Pete was an unwavering advocate for the public Forest Preserve, especially on the need for more Wilderness lands in the Adirondack Park. He was a strong supporter of state land purchases to expand the public Forest Preserve. But the thing that he most cherished was Wilderness. He loved the wild, motorless waters of the Adirondacks. He took a lead role when the RCPA organized the Canoe-In for Wilderness at Little Tupper Lake in 1998.

Pete and Ann founded Hornbeck Boats in 1973 and built lightweight canoes in the spirit of famed 19th century Adirondack boatbuilder John Henry Rushton of Canton, who had made the Sairy Gamp, among many other boats, which was used by George Washington Sears to paddle far and wide across the Adirondacks, trips memorialized in a series of popular articles written under the pen name Nessmuk. “Hornbecks” became known far and wide, growing in popularity because they were extremely lightweight, incredibly durable, easy to turn on twisting Adirondack rivers, great for fishing, and easy to portage or haul over a beaver dam. Hornbecks were made first with Kevlar and then with carbon fiber, which created a 10-foot boat at 12 pounds in weight, ideal for pond-hopping in the Adirondacks.

Ann at the Canoe for Wilderness at Little Tupper Lake in 1998.

Ann Hornbeck taught social studies at Minerva Central School for three decades, retiring in 2002. She did the books for Hornbeck Boats and kept the business afloat in its early years and helped it to expand in later years. She was a quilter with a wide circle of friends, who enjoyed her daughter, grandsons, and walking through her 150-acre forest that surrounded her home in Olmstedville.

Today, Hornbeck Boats is run by Pete’s daughter, Leigh, and son-in-law, Josh Trombley, and focuses on different lines of solo and tandem canoes, the newest being the New Tricks series, and kayaks. In 2025, Hornbeck Boats branched out and opened a store in Minneapolis, Minnesota. At the Paddler for Wilderness, Leigh Hornbeck spoke about her parents’ legacy of advocating for wilderness and quiet waters to paddle.

Lorraine Duvall and Leigh Hornbeck with a photo by Peter Hornbeck.

Whitney Park Needs to be Added to the Forest Preserve

Whitney Park is currently owned by a Trust set up by the Estate of John Hendrickson. Mr. Hendrickson, the husband of Mary Lou Whitney, died unexpectedly in 2024. Although Mr. Hendrickson had expressed concern about potential State management of the lands, we believe that the late owner’s concerns can be satisfactorily addressed through careful stewardship of the lands by DEC pursuant to the forever wild protections set forth in the Constitution. “John Hendrickson and the entire Whitney family were good stewards of the Whitney lands. The Trustee for Mr. Hendrickson’s estate stated earlier in 2025 that he would be open to talk to the State of New York to find out if the State can pay the asking price for the property. We urge Governor Hochul and her administration to pursue purchasing Whitney Park to add it to the Forest Preserve,” said Claudia Braymer, Executive Director, Protect the Adirondacks.

Paddlers on Forked Lake at the Paddle for Wilderness

The Trust is currently negotiating to sell these lands to a resort developer from Texas, Todd Industries. Todd Industries Chairman Shawn Todd has also had discussions with State officials about protecting more than 32,000 acres of Whitney Park. If the State steps in as a purchaser of Whitney Park, that 32,000 acres of land could be added to the State-owned Forest Preserve.

The protection of Whitney Park’s natural resources and the opportunities for public recreation it affords are critical for the future of the Adirondack Park. In the late 1990s, then Governor George Pataki purchased 15,000 acres around Little Tupper Lake from Mary Lou Whitney. Adding Whitney Park to the Forest Preserve offers a once-in-a-generation opportunity to expand the existing William C. Whitney Wilderness Area and would be a lasting legacy of Governor Hochul’s administration.

The stakes are high. As goes Whitney Park, so goes the Adirondack Park.

Protect the Adirondacks is urging Governor Kathy Hochul and the Department of Environmental Conservation Commissioner Amanda Lefton to negotiate purchase of Whitney Park for the Forest Preserve. It’s vital to the future of the Adirondack Park that Whitney Park is protected in perpetuity.

Click here to send Governor Hochul a message to protect Whitney Park.

Forked Lake

The Paddle for Wilderness was held on beautiful Forked Lake. The south shore is mostly public Forest Preserve lands. The north shore of Forked Lake borders lands at the southern boundary of the 36,000-acre Whitney Park that is up for sale and threatened with development. The future of Whitney Park will shape the future of Forked Lake, which is now one of the Park’s great flatwater camping locations, with a state campground at its east end, and primitive campsites at its west end.

Paddlers on Forked Lake for the Paddle for Wilderness