Well me for one, I know they are here!
You all have to keep in mind that there is a lot more to NY State than just NYC. It's not all skyscrapers and subways we have millions of acres of forests in the state. In fact NY State is 62% forested and has a total of 18.6 million acres of wild forest land, which makes it the state with the most absolute acres of forest land in the entire northeast! Some other states in the northeast have a higher percentage of their total land mass covered in wild forest (Maine 90%, New Hampshire 84%, Vermont 78%) but NY has more millions of total acreage of forest land due to its large size.
NY is home to the largest state park in the contiguous US, the Adirondack Park, which is about 6,100,000 acres or roughly the size of the entire state of Vermont. There are many areas of this huge forest that see very little to almost no human foot traffic per year. Much of the land in this park is protected by a NY State law called the "Forever Wild" Act which basically says that no new construction may be done in the specified areas of the park protected by this law, except to make necessary repairs to an already existing structure but the repaired building's foundation must remain within its original "footprint" and cannot be extended into the surrounding land. Because of this law much of this huge forest will remain wild forestland forever, hence the “Forever Wild” name of the law. The Adirondack Park is the main research area of my association. Because of its vast size, abundant food & water sources, relatively low human presence per square mile and the long past history of encounters in this park, we feel this is a prime habitat for these creatures which in turn makes it a prime research location in our opinion.
We also have the Catskill Park which is much smaller at only 700,000 acres but is still a large forested area. There have been some reports from this region but no where near the same level of encounters that have been and continue to be reported in the Adirondack Park region.
Here are some links for you guys to websites with information on the Adirondack Park, NY State forests and a list of states with the most total acreage of wild forest.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adirondack_Park
http://www.dec.ny.gov/lands/41769.html
http://www.statemaster.com/graph/geo_lan_acr_tot_for_lan-geography-land-acreage-total-forest
I reckon some of ya'll could use you a lil' book learnin' when it comes to knowin' 'bout stuff a goin' on north of the Mason-Dixon line!!!   
Last edited on Mon Sep 15th, 2008 02:36 am by Long Island Yeti
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“if the skeptics are right and there is no such creature as Bigfoot, then it is a fact that thousands of Americans and Canadians are either prone to hallucinations, or compulsive liars, or unable to recognize bears, deer and vagrants” – Janet Bord
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