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Cody DiNicola
Professor Kucij
ENGL 107-01
8 December 2016
Acid Deposition in The Adirondacks Revision

Upstate New York is home to one of the largest woodland areas on the eastern side of the

country. It encompasses close to six million acres of land all in New York State. Within it holds

more than 2,000 mountains, the highest of them being Mount Marcy which is approximately

5,344 feet tall, and over 2,300 ponds and lakes, some of them having an area of at least one full

square mile. This area is known as the Adirondacks. To many, it is seen as a beautiful

sightseeing resort that is home to over 50 different species of mammals, 220 birds, 30 reptiles,

and 66 fish ("Adirondack Fact"). But to others it is much more than that. It is their home. Sadly,

the Adirondacks have slowly been deteriorating for the past few decades. A build-up of acidic

deposition has been damaging the mountain range and all that it holds, not only having an impact

on the beauty of the scenery but also affecting its animal inhabitants. Organizations have been

created to help stop this process of destruction but little resistance has been developed in this

fight against our own pollution.

The largest contributor to acid deposition (also known as acid rain) comes from the large

amount of gaseous waste product that comes from coal burning power plants, factories and

vehicles. The chemicals released are sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxide and ammonia. Alone they are

simply a gaseous form of the chemicals but when entered into the atmosphere they mix with

moisture to create nitric and sulfuric acids. But how does the acid go from the sky to the ground?

The same way any moisture in the air does: as rain. Since it comes down as rain we call it "acid

rain" but it isn't just limited to rain. The acid may take the form of anything created by
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atmospheric moisture, such as snow, sleet, hail and even fog (Shea 14). But there is one tricky

factor that leads to the deposition mostly impacting The Adirondacks. As Shannon Brescher

Shea raises awareness in her article, she states that "wind patterns often blow many of these

pollutants far from their origins" (14). Which means that the majority of the pollution affecting

the Adirondacks, is not even being emitted in New York State. According to the New York State

Department of Environmental Conservation's website, a large amount of the pollution is

produced towards the mid-west of the country but the acids are "transported downwind before

they are deposited" and study of wind patterns show that the acids would cross right over upstate

New York when they would be deposited (see Fig. 1). Even though The Adirondack region is not

the only location on the wind path where acid is deposited but it is one of the most susceptible.

Fig. 1. This map of the United States shows that the most acidic pH level of deposition is directly

over The Adirondack Mountains (Citizendium).

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While many other areas have an abundance of calcium and limestone mixed with its soil, this

region's underlying bedrock lacks them (Shea 14). The limestone and calcium are much higher

on the pH scale, and therefore they neutralize the acid rain. Without this support, the soil in The

Adirondacks suffers from the unbuffered acid and the damage is far greater ("Effects of Acid

Rain on Soils"). Although other places around the world are hurt by acidic rain, The Adirondack

area has been suffering damage for almost 50 years and the effects are devastating (Civerolo and

Roy 17).

One danger of the heavy contamination of acid deposition in The Adirondacks is the

impact on fish. The Adirondack Mountains, being a very large woodland area, are home to many

different types or forest creatures. But acidic pollution is infecting the fish population which has

its own negative impact on the other animal inhabitants. Mercury and aluminum with high

toxicity rates are poisoning the many rivers, streams and ponds within The Adirondacks which,

of course, are homes to a large amount of fish. The infected waters are killing off many of the

fish and the fish that do survive are found to have high levels of mercury within them (Civerolo

and Roy 18). Now this new species of fish, which can survive the mercury, is populating

waterways. But according to The Adirondack Council's website, "mammals and birds that live on

those fish are showing signs of mercury contamination." These animals are starting to die off not

only because of their acidic surroundings but also because the fish that they consume are

poisoned. This is not only a hazard to the animals inhabiting the forest but to humans too.

Consumption of these infected fish species is particularly dangerous to women and children and

can have a sickening impact on them if not treated. As of 2008, 84 bodies of water in The

Adirondacks have fish consumption warning signs because of mercury infected fish inhabiting

them (Shea 14). Since the destruction of the fish population acts as a catalyst to the damage of
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other species, it increases the speed of the collapsing environment (Adirondack Council). As

other species decline, the animals that depend on them will also decline as The Adirondacks lose

more and more life. It seems that the acid poisoning of fish is only a minor effect but it turns out

to be a more catastrophic impact.

The vast amount of foliage and plants, which The Adirondacks are most noted for, are

also seriously threatened by the acid deposition. One of the most populous trees in the region is

the red spruce tree but sadly its numbers are dropping. Just as the acidity is damaging these trees

it is also happening to the other plants of this region. Without the buffer that limestone provides,

the soil of The Adirondacks is saturated with these acidic chemicals. Civerolo and Roy mention

in their article that the soils are "stripped of important nutrients" and are "less able to sustain

healthy plant life" (17). The acid destroys the nutrients that plants need to survive. Therefore the

plants will be starved and begin to wither until they die. The threat is even greater to the red

spruce because of its high altitude. Since the tree species mostly survives at higher altitudes it is

found closer to the peaks of the Adirondack Mountains. This would mean that the trees would be

level with the clouds. This would be fine if the clouds weren't saturated with chemicals. Within

the clouds, there is a concentrated amount of the acid that is more dangerous than its deposition.

The increased thickness of the acid increases the process of destruction and harms and kills the

red spruce at a much faster rate (Civerolo and Roy 17).

Another effect of acid deposition is not a direct effect of its damage but a reaction

because of it. Acid deposition hurts the economy. First of all, The Adirondacks suffer greatly

from its loss of fish and so do the fishermen. Some fishermen rely on their catches to help feed

their family or bring in extra income but they have started to find this difficult with the lack of

consumable fish. Acid rain also does its fair share of destruction on crops too. As the acid
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damages and kills many crops it makes it a hard task to have an extremely successful farm in the

midst of an acid deposition hotspot ("Effects of Acid Rain on the Economy"). And a third

economical impact is the money spent on building and automobile repairs. Acid rain does not

only impact plants and animals, its harsh chemicals can also damage buildings by deteriorating

the paint and even some of the materials used to build them ("Impacts of Acid Rain on

Buildings"). These issues all hurt the economy and people find it easier to avoid these problems

by moving out of the affected areas, like The Adirondacks, therefore losing its population.

New York first acted not long after acid deposition had become a prominent issue. The

state started a "cap and trade" policy among its industries. This new movement gave power

plants and factories within New York state allowances on how much gaseous pollution they may

emit. The allowances could be bought and sold between businesses but no new allowances

would be created meaning that the limit to the amount of pollution would not be raised

(Melewski 176). This was an obvious move in the right direction but it was hardly effective. The

air pollution that originates in the West would not be limited and would continue to deposit over

The Adirondacks. It took a few years for this to become a Federal issue until 1990 when George

H.W. Bush endorsed the Clean Air Act. This act applied New York's "cap and trade" policy to

the rest of the country (Melewski 174). After 10 years of the act being in order it was noticed that

there was still a heavy threat. It was because many New York factories were selling their

allowances upwind, giving the Midwestern factories a higher pollution limit that would still harm

The Adirondacks. This was met by a law that would penalize any factory by charging it the same

price that they had sold the allowance (Melewski 199). In 2002, President Bush had pursued the

"Clear Skies Initiative" which planned to reduce the acidic pollution by 70% each year

(Melewski 202). New York also created agencies with the main purpose of recording the
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amounts of pollution and their contamination in certain locations. This was known as the

National Acid Precipitation Assessment Program (Melewski 175).

As of the past few years, acid pollution in The Adirondacks is 80% lower than its

production rate in 1990. Many waterways and plants have recovered from the acid's damage but

sadly there is still destruction being done. Even with the low production of acid gas The

Adirondacks are still suffering. Lakes still contained mercury infected fish and other animals

have yet to retain a larger population. As there still seems to be a large threat of acid deposition,

research agencies should begin to look into other pollutants. Maybe the pollution from

automobiles and other vehicles are contributing to a heavier portion. Or maybe pollution from

other countries is making its way to The Adirondacks (Shea 19). A solution to that would be to

impose a worldwide allowance system on power plants. It would be difficult to have every

country agree on the same terms but it would be for the greater good of the planet. Or at least

have a few countries agree to it like China and Russia. Another solution to save The Adirondacks

would be to layer the soil with limestone in areas of declining foliage. The limestone would help

to neutralize the acid absorbed by the soil and begin to flourish the environment again. Maybe

some day we will discover a way to end all acidic pollution but until then we will have to search

for the answers to protect The Adirondacks.

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Work Cited

"Acid Rain." Adirondack Council, www.adirondackcouncil.org/page/acid-rain-86.html.

Acid Rain. Citizendium, en.citizendium.org/wiki/Acid_rain.

Adirondack Fact Sheet. Welcome to Adirondack-History.com from the Forager Press, LLC,

adirondack-history.com/adkfacts.htm.

Civerolo, Kevin L. and Karen M. Roy. "On The Road To Recovery." New York State

Conservationist, vol. 67, no. 5, 2013, 17-19, Academic Search Complete.

Effects of Acid Rain on Soils. Air Pollution, www.air-quality.org.uk/16.php.

"Effects of Acid Rain on the Economy." A Database of Articles,

adatabaseofarticles.blogspot.com.

Impacts of Acid Rain on Buildings. Air Pollution, www.air-quality.org.uk/16.php.

Melewski, Bernard C. "Acid Rain and The Adirondacks: A Legislative History." Albany Law

Review, vol. 66, no. 1, 2002, 175-207, Academic Search Complete.

Sources and Environmental Impacts of Acid Rain and Acid Deposition - NYS Dept. of

Environmental Conservation. Department of Environmental Conservation,

www.dec.ny.gov/chemical/283.html.

Shea, Shannon Brescher. "Acid Rain, Rain Go Away: Some Adirondack Lakes Are Showing

Promising Signs Of Recovery." New York State Conservationist, vol. 62, no. 5, 2008, 12-

17, Academic Search Complete.