The MAB Program United States of America
Biosphere Reserve Information - General Description
Champlain-Adirondack
General Description
The Champlain-Adirondack
Biosphere Reserve straddles the border of north-central New York and
northwestern Vermont. Lake Champlain, the sixth largest lake in the United
States, and the Adirondack and Green Mountains are the central features of the
biosphere reserve. It includes extensive temperate coniferous and deciduous
forests as well as large numbers of lakes, bogs, and freshwater wetlands. The
primary goal of the Champlain-Adirondack Biosphere Reserve is to use education,
research, and demonstration projects to encourage social and economic vitality
and to preserve and improve the environmental health of the region.
The biosphere reserve and its outlying areas are inhabited by over 400,000
people (1994) and are within a day’s drive of 60 million people living in the
U.S. and Canada. Forestry and tourism are the economic base in the Adirondack
region on the New York side of Lake Champlain. The more diverse economy on the
Vermont side of the lake is based on forestry, farming, tourism, light
manufacturing, and production of specialty agricultural products.
Last updated: 09/08/2005