Tupper Lake stands at a crossroads. We have lakes and mountains, the Adirondack Rail Trail, the promise of Big Tupper and the OWD lands, The Wild Center, a growing Sky Center and Observatory, new train excursions and a downtown that is coming back to life. At the same time, we face a shrinking population, aging infrastructure and a tax base that struggles to keep up with the cost of services. This decade will go a long way toward deciding which story becomes true: renewal or slow erosion.

This community also sits inside a park that was built on a simple idea: public and private land, and the people who live between them, can succeed together. Over the last 50 years, that balance has shifted hard against communities, even as the landscape has become more secure. We have about the same buildings and streets we had in the 1970s, but far fewer people living in them, and that hollowing out makes it harder to support schools, services and basic infrastructure. A park like this only truly works when the communities inside it are strong enough to make a living here and to care for the land. Our job is not to admire that problem; our job is to organize around a solution that fits this reality, and to approach New York state and Franklin County with a clear plan that shows how we will use the tools we have and where their support can help create the means we still lack.

In that spirit, Tupper Lake is choosing a clear path, an all-of-community effort to get organized and pull together. The town and village are lining up, acting in ways that speed things up and make it easier for partners to work with us. For the first time in many years, the town and the village are formally joining forces to steward our future as one community.

We are seeking to create an all-of-community working group, co-chaired by principals from the town and the village. The job is not to write another report. The job is to pull together key players and move a short list of priorities from plans on paper to visible progress. The group will meet every quarter to agree on what needs to happen next, clear roadblocks, and make sure town and village decisions and resources pull in the same direction.

We are not starting from scratch. Over the last several years, Tupper Lake has developed a strategic plan for the recreation economy and related work that lays out a clear vision: use and improve our recreation assets, strengthen housing and infrastructure, and build a year-round service economy that lets families stay and thrive here.

The first visible act under this new approach will focus on a place many people know well: the old train station and its surroundings in the Junction. Last year, more than 180,000 people used the Adirondack Rail Trail, and Tupper Lake was not yet fully open on that line. In 2026, trail managers expect well over 250,000 users, and the Adirondack Railroad will begin daily excursion service into Tupper Lake starting Memorial Day. Our goal is simple: bring as many of those visitors into town as we can and make sure their first look at Tupper Lake matches the quality of the place we are.

To do that, a small team, working under the new all-of-community group, has been asked to get the Junction station and trailhead ready for this summer. By Memorial Day, we want that area to work as a first-phase version of the Tupper Lake Junction Trailhead and Visitor Center described in our planning: clean and welcoming, clearly signed, with basic information and services that help rail and trail visitors find their way to Main Street, our waterfront, The Wild Center, an expanding Tupper Arts and other local businesses. This is not a grand opening. It is a practical first step in using the recreation assets we already have instead of waiting for a perfect future build-out.

This kind of action is exactly what Tupper Lake’s own planning has called for. It also fits what our county and state partners say they look for in communities they can work with: local leaders on the same page, a short list of priorities, and a habit of following through. By lining up town and village leadership and putting early effort into the Junction station and trailhead, Tupper Lake is sending a clear message that we intend to be that kind of partner.

In the months ahead, the co-chairs and our working group will sit down with county and state partners to see where our locally organized work fits their tools and priorities. We are not asking anyone to “save” Tupper Lake. We are doing our part — organizing ourselves, using the assets we already have, and being careful about where we put our time and money — and inviting Franklin County and New York state to tell us where that kind of effort can be most useful.

Tupper Lake has been through hard times before, and this town knows how to pull together when it counts. The creation of this all-of-community working group, and the choice to focus its first concrete action on the Junction station and trailhead, are signs that Tupper Lake is ready to step up again — this time with a clearer plan and a broader team. In the coming weeks, residents will hear more about how to join this work, whether as participants in quarterly sessions, as business or institutional partners, or as volunteers who want to help make sure visitors and neighbors alike experience the best of Tupper Lake.

The message is simple: we are done waiting for someone else to decide our future. We are doing our part, together, and we intend to keep climbing.

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Rickey Dattola is the town supervisor and Mary Fontana is the mayor of Tupper Lake.