A couple who lived for 30 years near Schroon Lake, NY, have left a generous bequest to the environmental group Protect the Adirondacks! to further their lifetime wish for preservation of wild places in the Adirondacks. Bob and Marie Snyder were deeply appreciative of the natural world in all its beauty and infinite variety. They lived very lightly on the earth, using no electricity or fossil fuels for daily life in their forest home.

After leaving a home on an Adirondack lake because of ever-increasing development as well as noise and other disturbances from recreational vehicles, the Snyders built a very efficient log home from the trees and rocks on their new land with nothing but hand tools. Using pick, shovel, and wheelbarrow, they built a pond for wildlife, and a garden with greenhouse that could be tempered by an underground wood stove. As they were vegetarians, they were able to grow most of their food, using only organic methods.

They loved the peace and quiet of living a half mile by trail from their bicycles and seldom-used car. However, when in 1990 the Residents’ Committee to Protect the Adirondacks (RCPA) held a series of open meetings to present the group’s reasons for supporting the recommendations of a citizen’s task force about the future of the Adirondacks, Bob and Marie participated in the often tense discussions. Throughout the next two decades they supported RCPA and its merged form with the Association for the Protection of the Adirondacks– Protect the Adirondacks– in their work to keep development in the Park as low impact as possible, and the “forever wild” forest preserve as wild as possible.

PROTECT is grateful for the bequest made possible because the Snyders enjoyed their natural surroundings so much that they had no need to spend money on anything but the barest necessities. They wanted the resulting life savings to be used to help keep their beloved Adirondacks as wild and unspoiled as possible and trusted Protect the Adirondacks to do this after they were gone.