September 12, 2026
The Wild Center Unveils Patrick Sapling, New York State’s First Permanent Thomas Dambo Troll
New site-specific sculpture by internationally acclaimed recycle artist now open in the Adirondacks
Tupper Lake, N.Y. – After a summer that brought tens of thousands of visitors to The Wild Center from across the country to meet the giant trolls of TROLLS: Save the Humans, a brand-new, site-specific troll is making The Wild Center its forever home—the first permanent Thomas Dambo sculpture in New York State.
Created by internationally acclaimed Danish recycle artist Thomas Dambo, Patrick Sapling is a permanent addition to The Wild Center’s 115-acre campus and the Adirondack landscape. The sculpture depicts a troll kneeling among Adirondack boulders, eyes closed, lifting a living sugar maple tree toward the sun—a gesture of offering, planting, and hope.
Built by Dambo and his team with the help of community volunteers, Patrick Sapling was created primarily from reclaimed and recycled materials, including salvaged lumber, sawmill offcuts, locally sourced branches, and donated hardwood, thanks to Haselton Lumber, Jefford's Steel, Kentile Excavating, Martin's Lumber, Votra’s Sawmill, North Country School, and Specialty Wood Products.
“Millions of people around the world plan trips around finding these trolls. Now, when they look at the map of New York, it will point them to the Adirondacks. We could not be prouder that New York’s first permanent Dambo troll will live here—in a place that has been protecting wild forests for more than a century,” said Nick Gunn, Director of Marketing and Visitor Experience at The Wild Center.
The Story Behind the Name
Patrick Sapling is named in tribute to Patrick Dougherty, the American sculptor who has spent more than three decades creating monumental works from living tree saplings. Last fall, Dambo met Dougherty in North Carolina the day before visiting The Wild Center, home to one of Dougherty’s only remaining permanent installations, Hopscotch. The encounter inspired the name and story behind Patrick Sapling.
The sculpture is Dambo’s answer to that meeting: a troll kneeling among the rocks of the Adirondacks, holding a young tree toward the light it will grow toward. Patrick Sapling represents the relationship between generations—the care needed to nurture something new and the responsibility to leave something meaningful behind.
“Patrick Sapling is a sculpture about planting things—a tree, an idea, a legacy—and about the care one generation owes the next. Those are the most Adirondack values we know, and the fact that his name honors an artist whose work already lives on our campus makes this feel like a story that was always meant to come home,” said Gunn.
Dambo also wrote an original poem for Patrick Sapling, which visitors can read at the sculpture site.
A Landmark for New York State
Patrick Sapling is the 191st giant troll sculpture created by Thomas Dambo — and his first permanent troll in New York State. Dambo has created giant trolls across five continents, each mapped on his global Troll Map, which draws an estimated 4.5 million troll-seeking visitors annually. His installations have transformed parks, forests, and cultural sites into international destinations, with coverage from the BBC, National Geographic, and NPR. Permanent Dambo trolls already stand in states from Maine to California — but never, until now, in New York.
Patrick Sapling builds on the success of TROLLS: Save the Humans, the blockbuster exhibition on view at The Wild Center through October 31, 2026, which has helped drive the highest attendance in the museum’s 20-year history. While the traveling exhibition will continue its journey, Patrick Sapling will remain in the Adirondacks—a lasting invitation to slow down, look up, and consider what it means to plant something for the future.
This is made possible in part through the Mid Atlantic Folk and Traditional Arts - Community Projects program of Mid Atlantic Arts with support from the National Endowment for the Arts. Additional support for Patrick Sapling is provided by Cape Air and the Greenspan Foundation.
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