SARANAC LAKE - Clarence Petty, an Adirondack legend and tireless conservationist who grew up in the woods between Tupper Lake and Saranac Lake, died Monday evening at age 104.
Petty died in the family home he built in Canton after about a month of declining health, his son, Ed Petty told the Associated Press. He lived in Saranac Village at Will Rogers, a senior citizens' residence in Saranac Lake, during the last years of his life.
Petty spent the first three years of his life in a small cabin on Upper Saranac Lake built by his father; they were squatters on state land. They moved in 1908 to a place near Bartlett's Carry, then in 1911 to a house on First Pond in Coreys. There was no electricity; meat and butter were kept cool in an ice house in the summer. His mother ran the post office; his father was a hunting and fishing guide, an occupation his two eldest sons shared.
"I was born in the woods," Petty told the Enterprise in a 2008 interview. "I liked the woods to start with. It's stayed with me. I haven't lost that feeling."
Petty graduated from Saranac Lake High School in 1925 and went on to receive a forestry degree from what is now Syracuse University's School of Environmental Science and Forestry. He worked for years as a state forest ranger, becoming the first aerial firefighter in the Adirondacks. Petty did seminal surveys leading to the protection of large wilderness areas in the Adirondack Forest Preserve, as well as its wild and scenic rivers. He was still writing to elected officials, in support of wilderness protection, as a centenarian.
"We've pushed the plants and animals off the face of the Earth," Petty told The Associated Press in a 2007 interview. "It's awful what we've done to the natural environment."
Phil Brown, of Saranac Lake, editor of the Adirondack Explorer news magazine, interviewed Petty regularly over the the last 10 years for a write-in column called "Questions for Clarence."
"He always had great stories," Brown said. "He had memories reaching back to the start of the last century. He loved talking about wildlife and nature. He also had a great sense of humor that he never lost."
Among the stories, Brown recalled Petty telling him about his visits with Adirondack hermit Noah John Rondeau and his family's travels from Coreys to Saranac Lake via guideboat and snowshoes.
Brown said Petty's biggest contributions to the Adirondacks included his study of the rivers in the Park and a survey of wild lands that laid the groundwork for the state land classification system.
"They decided which lands would be wilderness based on Clarence's work," Brown said.
After serving as a Navy pilot in World War II, Petty taught flying in Canton until he was 94. Just over a week before he died, he talked with many of his former students at a memorial service at the Malone airport for Dan Wills and Ron Rouselle, who were killed on Nov. 15 when their plane crashed into Santanoni Peak in the town of Newcomb.
No funeral is planned for Petty, but there will be a memorial service at some point. Petty's body was donated to the teaching program at Upstate Medical University in Syracuse.
Petty is survived by his sons Ed and Richard. A third son, Donald, died in 2001, and Petty's wife of 56 years, Ferne Hastings, died in 1994.
