What follows is a guest essay by one of the founders of Lean2Rescue, Paul Delucia. Lean2Rescue volunteers have recently completed rehabilitations of lean-tos in DEC Region 6, and are now beginning to work on those in Region 5. The Almanack asked Delucia to tell our readers how he got involved in rehabbing lean-tos in the Adirondacks.

As the original organizer of Lean2Rescue, I have been asked many times how our group, which has renovated nearly 40 lean-tos across the Adirondacks, developed such a cooperative relationship with the DEC. Simply put, it boils down to a sincere trust in both directions. In the beginning, we needed to earn the trust of the DEC; to show that we would carry through on our (rather aggressive) commitments while respecting the rules that govern the park. Of equal importance was my instinctive trust of the DEC which is based on the privilege of knowing Ranger Douglas King. » Continue Reading.