Yesterday my family and I hiked up to the top of Big Deer Mountain in Vermont’s New Discovery State Park (which is in Groton State Forest), followed by swimming at Boulder Beach. I’d highly recommend the hike for kids; mostly flat and dry followed by a fun uphill rock climb.
State Parks are a fantastic resource. My Natural Resources Law course includes a lot of discussion about National Parks, and we have an annual field trip to Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historic Park in Woodstock, Vermont (the only national park devoted to America’s conservation history). But this year, I’m going to spend some time on the development of state parks, and how states have determined how to best protect these resources and for what purposes.
JASON J. CZARNEZKI 
July 28, 2010 at 11:11 AM
Adirondack Park in NY is one of the oldest and largest public nature parks in the country — though thanks to towns and other private property scattered throughout the park, it might operate maybe more like a National Forest “land of many uses” than a National Park.