Verplanck Colvin (January 4, 1847 – May 28, 1920) was a lawyer, author, illustrator and topographical engineer whose understanding and appreciation for the environment of the Adirondack Mountains led to the creation of New York's Forest Preserve and the Adirondack Park. Biography Colvin was born on January 4, 1847, in Albany, New York to Andrew James Colvin, a wealthy lawyer, and his second wife, Margaret Crane Alling; his first name was his grandmother's maiden name. He was tutored for several years before entering The Albany Academy; then, during the Civil War the family moved to Nassau; there he attended Nassau Academy, where he excelled in the sciences, and graduated in 1864. Although he preferred attending West Point Military Academy, he joined his father's law office in Albany and was later admitted to the bar. Working in real estate law gave him his first experience in surveying. In 1865, when he was 18, Alfred Billings Street gave Colvin a copy of his 1860 book, Woods and Waters, about his adventures in the Adirondack Mountains. The next three years, Colvin spent his summers exploring the Adirondack wilderness. By 1869, he had formed the idea of doing a geological survey of the Adirondack region. To gain experience, he recruited friend Mills Blake for a trip to nearby Helderberg Mountain. Colvin later wrote an illustrated report of the trip that was published in Harpers New Monthly Magazine, a national publication. During the summer of 1869 Colvin climbed Mount Marcy, and in 1870 he made the first recorded ascent of Seward Mountain. During the ascent of Seward, he saw the extensive damage being done by lumbermen in the Adirondacks. His report of the climb was read at the Albany Institute, where it garnered the attention of state officials, and was printed in the annual report of the New York State Museum of Natural History. In it, he tied clear-cutting of Adirondack forests to reduced water flow in the state's canals and rivers, an idea that had first appeared in George Perkins Marsh's Man and Nature, published in 1864. In 1872 Colvin applied to New York for a stipend to cover the costs of a survey; he was subsequently named to the newly created post of Superintendent of the Adirondack Survey and given a $1000 budget by the state legislature to institute a survey of the Adirondacks. He was an able administrator and managed crews of