Paul Schaefer circa 1989. Schaefer is the subject of a new book, “A Force for Nature: Paul Schaefer’s Adirondack Coalitions,” by David Gibson, detailing his lifelong devotion to preservation, including how he helped prevent the damming of dozens of Adirondack rivers. (Arnold LeFevre/Times Union Archive)

David Gibson didn’t know much about Paul Schaefer when he started working for the Association for the Preservation of the Adirondacks in 1987. But that would change over the next decade, as he led the organization as executive director and worked closely with Schaefer, who by then had been the group’s vice president for about 40 years.

In his new book, “A Force for Nature: Paul Schaefer’s Adirondack Coalitions,” Gibson, the current managing partner of Adirondack Wild: Friends of the Forest Preserve, details Schaefer’s lifelong devotion to preservation, including how he helped prevent the damming of dozens of Adirondack rivers.

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Schaefer, who passed away in 1996 at the age of 88, is known locally for the many homes he built — often with slate roofs and wooden lintels over the doors — and for the historic homes he preserved. He was........

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