Lycopodium - The Moss That Isn’t

Language. It’s supposed to make communication easier, but sometimes it ends up just confusing issues more. Take plant names, for example, specifically mosses. If I say “moss” to you, you probably picture some dark green, low-growing, soft groundcover in the woods. And for the most part, you’d be right. But what about reindeer moss? It’s not a moss at all; it’s a lichen. Clubmoss is another misnomer – the plant may actually look like a large moss, but it isn’t. In fact, it is more closely related to ferns than it is to true mosses.

Clubmosses, which belong to the family Lycopodiaceae, are vascular plants that do not have flowers and that reproduce sexually by means of spores (like mushrooms, ferns and true mosses). Clubmosses have stems, which true mosses don’t, and the sporophyte, at least, has real roots – true mosses don’t have roots.

Here at the Newcomb Visitor Interpretive Center, we have three very common clubmosses: Princess Pine (Lycopodium obscurum), Shining Clubmoss (L. lucidulum), and Stiff Clubmoss (L. anotinum). You can also find Running Clubmoss (L. clavatum) – this is the one pictured above.

Princess pine, as you might expect, looks a lot like a miniature conifer tree. Also called ground pine, at one time it was harvested extensively for holiday decorations. As with many wild harvesting “programs,” gatherers did not make much money for the time and effort they had to expend. As a result, when patches of the desired plant were found, they were often cleaned out. Such unsustainable harvesting practices resulted in many plants becoming rare. Today clubmosses are among the many native plants that are protected by law.

When I started my career as a naturalist, one of the first things I learned about lycopodium was that the spores were used historically for flash powder. We’ve all seen westerns, or other movies that portray life in the 1800s. Whenever you saw a photograph being taken in that time period, there was a guy (usually) with a big box camera draped in black cloth. He would hold up a t-shaped bar, tell everyone to hold really still, and then flash! bang! the cross bar would explode and the photograph was taken. The stuff that flashed was clubmoss spores. Like flour in a mill, the fine dust-like spores, which are very rich in oil, are highly flammable. Unlike flour, however, the spores burn fast and bright, but with little heat. No theater stages (flash powder was used to simulate lightning) or photo studios burned to the ground because of flash powder.

It turns out, however, that clubmosses had many more historical uses. According to a couple sources I found, the Woodland Crees would rub raw fish eggs into stiff clubmoss to separate them from their gelatinous membranes. After they were separated, the eggs were used to make fish-egg bread. It doesn’t appeal to me, but then I’ve never tried it – maybe it’s pretty good.

Clubmoss spores found their way into surgery as a dusting powder, and were even used to treat conditions like eczema. At one time the spores were popular as baby powder. This might be because they are water repellent. Apparently if you cover your hand with the spores and then submerge it in water, it will not get wet!

But that’s not all. Spores from L. complanatum, commonly called groundcedar, were used by the Blackfoot people as an antiseptic and to stop nosebleeds. They also used the entire plant as a mordant, which is a compound used to set dyes.

What about mystical powers? The Dakelh people of British Columbia at one time used clubmoss spores to determine if the sick would survive their illnesses. The divination process was simple: spores were dropped into a container of water. If they drifted in the direction of the sun, the patient had a good chance of survival. I’m not sure I’d want to rely on this for my own survival, but in a time when penicillin was unheard of and belief in the spirit world was strong, it might’ve made all the difference in a person’s will to live.

If you’d like to learn how to identify some of our local clubmosses, stop by the VIC and take the Browsing Botanist tour of the Rich Lake Trail. The guide booklet, which you can pick up at the front desk, will introduce you to these groundcovers. Once you’ve made their acquaintances, you will start to see them everywhere as a new window into the wild opens before your eyes.

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Existentialism in the 23rd Congressional District

Consider the Existentialist dilemma of the candidates seeking New York’s 23rd Congressional District seat. You may recall Existentialism from high school French class or a movie date in college: the hard-to-pin-down philosophy supported largely on the precepts that 1) Orthodoxies and doctrines are meaningless 2) We all live for the moment and determine our fate by our choices, and 3) We’re all doomed anyway, so what the heck. Toss in words like “ennui” and “angst” and you’ve pretty much covered it.

Anyway, on June 2nd, when John McHugh accepted President Obama’s nomination to become Secretary of the Army, he triggered a five-month-long campaign to fill his House seat, a campaign which will end at the polls on November 3rd.

The abbreviated schedule means that the traditional binary and sequential format of American campaigns—an ideological race (left v. right) in the primaries followed by a partisan race (R v. D) in the general election—must be fought concurrently. As a consequence, the race for the 23rd features a pro-choice, pro-gay-marriage Republican who falls somewhere to the left of the opposing “centrist” Democrat, who was never really a Democrat before and doesn’t even mention the word all that often, and a Conservative who falls just to the left of a Viking on social issues. Contemporary political dogma will not help the disoriented voter in this election.

The foreshortened calendar has also served to concentrate the negative advertising in the race. While the regionally-recognized candidates need to define themselves (more by their actions than their party affiliations) across the sprawling district, they (and their surrogates) are already spending more time and money undefining each other—complete with ominous tones, distorted voting records and unflattering likenesses.

Perhaps the most resonant existential element of the 23rd CD race is the utter futility of the goal itself. Whoever wins the right to represent New York’s northernmost citizens will immediately have to gear up a defense of the seat in 2010, a tough job, with or without an extended recount. The 2010 election coincides with the decennial census, and the expected loss of two New York congressional seats in the ensuing redistribution. The choice of which districts to eliminate during reapportionment will fall to a state legislature that owes nothing to whichever rookie legislator occupies the seat.

In short, the best scenario that the victor of the November 3rd special election can hope for goes something like this: Beneath heavy Washington skies, following swearing in to the remainder of the 111th Congress, the Distinguished Representative, along with a few other members from terminal districts in Ohio and Pennsylvania will convoke the Jean-Paul Sartre Caucus at a cafe somewhere off DuPont Circle. Over espressos and Gauloises they will grimly deconstruct the lyrics of “Born to Run,” shrug twice, then disappear forever. C’est la vie.

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Potato News: Late Blight Spares Some Crops

Tucker Farms in Gabriels is in the midst of what's being described as a good potato harvest. According to co-proprietors Steve and Tom Tucker, the 300-acre farm's crop seems to have escaped late blight.

Less important but surprising: the tomatoes in a shared Saranac Lake garden plot were turned to brown mush by the blight, but untreated potatoes in a mound surrounded by those plants produced lots of apparently healthy tubers.

Steve Tucker has heard similar reports from other gardeners. "Tomatoes are a little more tender to the blight apparently," the farmer says. The airborne fungal pathogen has destroyed fields of tomatoes and potatoes around the Northeast this year, introduced on shipments of tomato plants to big box stores. Cornell Cooperative Extension reported in July that an unidentified commercial field of potatoes in Franklin County "was completely lost and has been mowed down."

The Tucker brothers took precautions, spraying the foliage as often as once a week with fungicide. If invisible late blight spores ever reached the Gabriels farm, the fungicide probably killed them. Once the blight enters the plant, however, fungicide won't help, Steve says.

Because this region is remote, high and relatively pest free, the Adirondacks is a source of seed potatoes for the rest of the state. Tucker Farms sells seed potatoes as well as table stock. Tom Tucker explained that Tuckers' eating potatoes can also be planted because, unlike most supermarket potatoes, they're not treated with sprout nip, a chemical that inhibits eye growth. The potatoes in the Saranac Lake garden, by the way, were Tucker Farms' Adirondack Blue variety, and they were delicious.

Photograph courtesy of Richard Tucker

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Adirondack Family Activities:The Great Adirondack Corn Maze

This year we will be hunting space aliens in Gabriels. Yes, crop circles have been found in the Adirondacks, though this time they can be proven the direct result of human effort, not the paranormal. For the fourth year in a row the design for the maze at Tucker Farms is from the artistic work of Scott Rohe. He didn’t even have to perpetuate any crop circle myth by going out in the dead of night to complete the large-scale land art. He just came up with the design so the Tuckers could plant the corn in a grid-like pattern.

That doesn’t mean you don’t get to search for aliens. Wandering through the maze will take you through three space ships and a television satellite truck beaming down an image of an alien journalist. Yes, it is that complicated. Now just try to find your way out of it.

You can either just try to blaze your way through or play the game. Each person is given a blank game piece and waved off to the entrance. We look for six mailboxes, each holding a partial piece of the maze. We round a corner and discover the first box and tape the piece to our game board. The corn stalks are well over my head. At one point the only indication that we are going in circles is the same rock we keep encountering.

My daughter is now old enough to not break the “short cut” rule, breaking through the stalks and creating a corn maze version of a herd path. In years past she could slip through the stalks and disappear and all I would hear was laughter while I madly spun trying to figure out a way to get to her with creating my own crop formation. After a particularly dodgy search and rescue (lasting minutes but felt like hours), I now require everyone to dress in bright colors.

Snacks and hot chocolate may be purchased at the entrance. Also ask for times for the tour of the 300-acre farm. At a mere $5, the cost works out to 2 cents per acre.

Past experience dictates I give my son his own money for hot chocolate or prepay with the entry tickets. He will find his way out well before I ever do. He has even come back a few times to help me along as I search for each mailbox, patiently piecing the pieces together to complete the puzzle.

Flashlight nights are every Friday and Saturday culminating with a bonfire and smores. This Sunday, October 4 will be a full moon making for a mazeful of fun. Other special events will be a Rock 105 FM Family Fun Day (to be announced) and Fright Night, the Saturday before Halloween.

Admission is $8 for adults and $6 for children ages 4-12, anyone under four years of age is free. The Tucker website has a $1 off admission coupon (can not be applied to other discounts or group rates.) Call 518-637-1230 for hours of operation and more information. Tucker Farms, family owned and operated, is located on Hobart Road in Gabriels.

Photo used with permission
photo credit: Thomas D. Tucker
An aerial view of the 2009 Great Adirondack Corn Maze

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Curious Tales of Lake Champlain Towns

One of the most creative contributors to Adirondack Life is Tom Henry. You never know where one of his travelogues is going to go, and I don’t think he knows, either, until the trip is done and the story finished.

Henry teaches music in Charlotte, Vermont, and is a writer and historian by avocation. A Port Henry Henry, he has made a specialty of exploring the recreation and past of the eastern Adirondacks, often at the same time. He wrote a chapter for Lake Champlain: An Illustrated History (2009, Adirondack Life) and will deliver a slide presentation Saturday, October 3 at Northwoods Inn, in Lake Placid, entitled “Exploring Old Port Towns Along Lake Champlain: Curious Stories Behind Their Relics.”

The following details are from a press release describing the event:

From Shelburne's elegant passenger steamships to Bridport's world-famous 19th-century racehorses to Moriah's strange subterranean world of railroads and iron mines, this slideshow of now and then images from old port towns around Lake Champlain will help us visualize many of the 400-square-mile lake's unusual early enterprises.

2009 marks the 400th anniversary of European discovery of the lake with the arrival of Samuel de Champlain. Lake Champlain: An Illustrated History celebrates America's most historic lake and offers stunning photos, vintage postcards, paintings, maps and military history. Tom Henry's portion of the book, “Towns Along the Lake,” provides some of the book's most interesting writing. He highlights each of Lake Champlain's principle shoreline communities and describes their link to the lake's history.

The evening begins at 6:30 with a half hour cash bar cocktail reception. Mr. Henry will deliver his presentation at approximately 7 p.m. Following, we invite any of our guests to join us in our Northern Exposure restaurant for dinner with Mr. Henry. More information is available at www.northwoodsinn.com.
 
The Northwoods Inn is a 92-room hotel located at 2520 Main Street, the heart of downtown Lake Placid. The hotel includes a sidewalk café, two restaurants and "The Cabin," a cozy fireplace bar overlooking Main Street. A rooftop deck offers views of town plus the High Peaks and Whiteface Mountain.

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New Study: Coy-Wolves Evolved To Hunt Local Deer

A new study by scientists from the New York State Museum shows how local coyotes have evolved to be bigger and stronger over the last 90 years, both expanding their geographic range and becoming the top predator in the Northeast - by interbreeding with wolves.

The study of eastern coyote genetics and skull morphology demonstrates that remnant wolf populations in Canada hybridized with coyotes expanding north of the Great Lakes, and helped turn coyotes from mousers of western grasslands to deer hunters of eastern forests. The resulting coy-wolves are larger, with wider skulls better adapted to killing lager animals like whitetail deer.

Dr. Roland Kays, the state museum’s curator of mammals, and Dr. Jeremy Kirchman, curator of birds, co-authored an article on their research that appears in the peer-reviewed journal Biology Letters. The other author was Abigail Curtis, who conducted the study an undergraduate at SUNY Albany, and is now a graduate student at UCLA.

According to the study's authors "the North American coyote evolved as a hunter of small prey in the Great Plains, but rapidly colonized all of eastern North America over the last half-century." Earlier research had suggested that the spread of agriculture and the extinction of wolves aided coyote expansion, but the question of as to whether remnant wolves and coyotes interbred remained unanswered until now.

A media release form the State Museum notes that "Historical records of the coyote population expansion indicated that movement along the northern route was five times faster than along the route south of the Great Lakes. Populations of pure western coyote and coy-wolf hybrids are presently coming into contact in areas of western New York and Pennsylvania."

The study was based on DNA from 696 eastern coyotes and the measurements of 196 skulls from State Museum specimens. According to State Museum officials "they also tested three very large animals that looked more like large, full-blooded grey wolves. Two of the animals had the western grey wolf genetic signature and one had a Great Lakes wolf signature, suggesting that a few full-sized wolves have recently migrated into New York and Vermont, but are not breeding here. Only one of the 696 coyote samples was closely related to domestic dogs, showing that coyotes are not frequently breeding with domestic dogs in the region and the popular moniker ‘coydog’ is technically inaccurate."

The research also indicates that whitetail deer accounted for about a third of the coyote’s diet and they have made extensive use of forested areas.

The State Museum has the longest continuously operating state natural history research and collection survey in the United States, It was begin in 1836 - you can read more about that here.

NCPR addressed the issue of coy-wolves in the Adirondacks back in June, but this is the first study to parse out the local genetics.

Photo: A coy-wolf, courtesy Eastern Coyote Research.

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St. Lawrence's Peak Weekend: High Peaks Tradition

I crossed paths with a group of hikers on September 27, 2003 while traversing the High Peaks of the Dix Range near Keene Valley. The cloud ceiling that day was hanging at about 3500’ which put it well below the altitude of the herd paths and the rain was blowing sideways under heavy winds. There were no views, but the enthusiastic hikers were focused on a different goal. They were students from St. Lawrence University and comprised one of many groups scattered throughout the Adirondacks at that time.

Each was playing a role in a collaborative effort to put at least one St. Lawrence student on the summit of all forty-six High Peaks over the course of three days.

The annual tradition called Peak Weekend was initiated by the university’s Outing Club in 1982. and coincides closely with autumn’s foliage peak, either the last week of September or the first week of October (though their first effort was attempted in the spring of 1982). An Outing Club meeting held the week prior enables all the participants to choose their objective, meet the group leaders and discuss logistics.

While autumn’s peak foliage hadn’t quite reached its full spectrum, September 25th marked the beginning of this year’s St. Lawrence University Peak Weekend. The weather during the end of last week made for the perfect autumn hiking conditions with most of the adventure taking place on Saturday. Crisp Adirondack blue skies free of summer’s humidity enunciated the splendor of autumn’s colors. Group sizes this year ranged from two to the DEC limit of sixteen, including some staff and faculty. The total participation was roughly 260 including three St. Lawrence athletic teams. Several groups camped Friday night in conditions below freezing while others met early Saturday morning to day-hike their objectives. Routes included both maintained trails and some less traveled routes including Mt. Colden’s Trap Dike which was ascended by a large group of first-year students. The coordinated effort has not always achieved its goal, though according to the Outing Club’s website, 2009 marked success for the fifth consecutive year.

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The Last Days of John Brown: North Elba

One of the familiar attacks on John Brown (and by extension his anti-slavery legacy) involves his failed business ventures and accusations that he was a swindler and a drifter, roaming from place to place - only briefly and uneventfully staying in North Elba. "Over the years before his Kansas escapade Brown had been a drifter, horse thief and swindler," Columbia University historian John Garraty once wrote. Garraty served as the president of the Society of American Historians and was co-author of the high school history textbook The American Nation (he died in 2007). A closer look at Brown and the his family, however, reveals an experience typical of many Americans, then and today, and the importance of North Elba on Brown's plans for a raid into Virginia.

Beginning as child on the Ohio frontier, and ending at his farm in North Elba, Brown's life trajectory was a struggle to survive under the new capitalist system then taking shape in America. Biographer David Reynolds called him an "earnest, stubborn man victimized by the risky new American economy." The historian also suggests that Brown saw parallels between what critics called the "wage slavery" of the new capitalism with those held in bondage for labor in the slave economy.

John Brown's movement from place to place kept pace with his own search for economic sustainability for his family in trying times. In the 1840s and 1850s some twenty percent of Americans moved each year. From New York, Ohio, and New England, and the entire eastern seaboard, young Americans left their farms for the Midwest and beyond. Establishing new businesses, failing, trying again, speculating on land, always seeking greener frontier pastures in order to start anew.

Between 1837 and 1842 Brown suffered four business failures. Using credit he bought land that would have made him a bundle, had he been able to hold onto it through the Panic of 1837 (which precipitated a five-year depression). There were some 850 banks in the United States at the time, 343 failed completely and another 62 banks partially failed. The crisis brought record high unemployment (a half million people were out of work in the summer of 1838) and the demise of the plans of many budding American businessmen - including John Brown (and also the first plan to extend a railroad into the Adirondacks, but that's another story). When Brown's wool merchandising business failed during another economic downturn in 1848 he turned to begin a again, in remote North Elba where he felt he could also fulfill his ever growing desire to help America's blacks.

Brown bought 244 acres at $1 an acre from Gerrit Smith to help support the black families moving to Smith's lands in the Adirondacks. Beginning in 1846 Smith (a member of the Secret Six) had offered black families a refuge from their economic conditions - 40 acres of their own.

In May 1849, ten years before Harpers Ferry, years before the fame of Kansas and Old Osawatomie Brown, John Brown moved his family to North Elba. They moved into a house rented from Chapin Flanders which Brown's eldest daughter Ruth later described:

The little house of Mr. Flanders, which was to be our home, was the second house we came to after crossing the mountain from Keene [on Old Mountain Road]. It had a good-sized room below, which answered pretty well for kitchen, dining-room, and parlour; also a pantry and two bedrooms; and the chamber furnished the space for four beds - so whenever 'a stranger or wayfaring man' entered our gate, he was not turned away.

John Brown stayed behind in Springfield, MA to attend to his business. He traveled to England and throughout Europe (even visiting the Waterloo Battlefield) and then again throughout western Virginia, Ohio, and Pennsylvania attending to debts and deals. In September 1850 he arrived at North Elba, an average struggling American increasingly concerned with the way generations of some Americans were being treated.

He showed his Devonshire cattle at the Essex County fair. "The appearance upon the grounds of a number of very choice and beautiful Devons, from the herd of Mr. John Brown," the 1850 Annual Report of the Agricultural Society noted, "attracted great attention, and added much to the interest of the fair." Within the year several more Devons were brought into the county by local farmers. Brown also witnessed the marriage of Ruth to Henry Thompson, a North Elba neighbor who was himself an abolitionist.

Adirondack historians have often downplayed the role of North Elba in the making of John Brown. The most prominent offender was Adirondack historian Alfred Lee Donaldson, who exhibited an early 1920s racist interpretation of Brown and his connection with Timbuctoo, the community of black settlers in North Elba. "The natural gregariousness of the race tended to defeat the purpose of the individual [black] holdings," Donaldson wrote in 1921, "the darkies began to build their shanties in one place, instead of on their separate grants."

Donaldson poked fun at the "dilapidated red flag... bearing the half-humorous, half-pathetic legend Timbuctoo." According to Donaldson "those who stayed permanently were roused to spasmodic activity by Brown," who the historian all but accuses of taking advantage of the black farmers he had settled with. "Unless directed by him," Donaldson wrote, "they did nothing for themselves or their own land." Mimicking an 1859 essayist with southern sympathies, the eminent Adirondack writer declared the whole project a failure, with even Brown becoming disillusioned by 1851. The assertion would be laughable, if it had not carried so much water for racists and their sympathizers ever since and generally misinformed generations of Adirondackers.

The truth of North Elba was that it was perhaps the most important place in John Brown's life and seminal to his understanding of African American culture. He hoped his wife Mary would live there after his death, and made it known that if he should be killed by the slavers or their minions, he was to be buried there.

During the summer of 1854, while Brown was in Ohio tending his farm there, tensions in Kansas rose to the boiling point. Three of his sons, Owen, Frederick, and Salmon left that fall to join the free-soil forces, by the following spring they were joined by their brothers John Brown Jr. and Jason at what was then called Brown's Station. Old John Brown encouraged his sons, but in a letter written in August 1854 he told them he would not join them because "I feel committed to operate in another part of the field." That field, was Virginia. On September 30th 1854, Brown wrote to his family in North Elba:

After being hard pressed to go with my family to Kansas as more likely to benefit the colored peopled on the whole than to return with them to North Elba; I have consented to ask for your advice and feeling in the matter; and also to ask you to learn from Mr. Epps and all the colored people (so far as you can) how they would wish, and advise me to act in the case, all things considered. As I volunteered in their service; (or the service of the colored people); they have a right to vote, as to the course I take.

In the summer of 1855 John Brown finally moved the rest of his family to North Elba and began planning for a raid on southern slaveholders, assembling weapons and other supplies at the farm his son-in-law Henry Thompson built for the Brown family. Brown had been ready to set out for a raid on Virginia, but after consulting with his North Elban neighbors, he and Thompson set out together for Kansas that fall instead. As the Missouri-Kansas Border War raged, the Browns reported back to the community at North Elba what was taking place on their behalf. Henry Thompson's brothers Dauphin and William would later die at Harpers Ferry.

I'll let David Reynolds describe then, the importance of the community at North Elba to Brown, the cause of Abolition, the Civil War, and American history:

Brown engagement with black culture gained a deeply personal dimension at North Elba, where he may have failed to find recruits for his planned raid but where he gained new familiarity with and respect for individual African Americans...

In death as in life, then, John Brown was a North Elban. The blacks of North Elba affected the course of American history by helping him decide upon the direction of his anti-slavery activities. What would have happened had the Harpers Ferry raid come off four years earlier than it did? No one can say, but there is evidence that it could have occurred as early as 1855, possibly even 1854. Largely because of a decision made by black colonists at North Elba, Brown deferred his plan.

As we'll see later in this series celebrating the life of John Brown on the 150th Anniversary of Harpers Ferry, his execution, and the return of his body to North Elba, the community at North Elba continued to hold an important place in African American history.

Photo: The house rented from Chapin Flanders by the Brown family in North Elba. It still stood in the 1920s on Route 73, opposite the road to Adirondack Loj near what is now the Craig Wood Golf Course. It is believed to have been destroyed by fire in the late 1920s.

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Welcome Kevin MacKenzie, Outdoor Recreation Writer

Beginning tomorrow the list of Adirondack Almanack contributors will grow once again with the addition of our first dedicated outdoor recreation writer - Kevin MacKenzie, known as "MudRat" at several hiking forums where he is active (including Summitpost and ADK High Peaks Forum).

MacKenzie will be offering a weekly contribution on a variety of outdoor sports topics, including covering issues around access, events, sensitive flora and fauna issues for the back country, DEC camping policy, and more. His regular reports will appear on Monday afternoon at 3 pm.

Kevin's love of the Adirondacks began, he says, "even before I was born, when my family bought a small bit of property across from the Ausable's East Branch." Only a half day’s drive away from where he grew up, the Adirondacks became a central theme to all his family vacations. Time spent in "the mountains," MacKenzie told me, made an impression that intensified throughout his childhood and into his adult years. "The only problem was," he said, "by that point, I’d lived on west coast of Florida for nearly twenty years and was pretty entrenched."

Kevin finally returned for good to the Lake Placid area in 2003 after encouragement from a Lake Placid friend (who he now calls his wife); he is Assistant Registrar at St. Lawrence University in Canton.

Kevin's focus is on exploring the High Peaks back-country and slides, always with a camera in hand. He has been combining his photography and writing and describes his explorations at http://www.mackenziefamily.com/46/46r.html; he constantly adds pictures to the archives of his photography business Creative Nature Photography.

Please join all of us at the Almanack in welcoming Kevin MacKenzie.

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When is it Apple-picking Time?

For the first time, I have apples that are perfect! Admittedly, I only have a few (okay, four), but that's more than I've had in the past. I've been on the fence, however, about picking them. Last year I finally picked my Northern Spies out of desperation—we were expecting snow. I made tarts and took them to our Book Club meeting, but they really weren't ripe. Unlike most people I know, I do not like green fruit (green as in "unripe", not green as in color, although the two can be synonymous).

This year there was enough rain that the apples grew well. The sunny days of late August and September made the fruit grow. No scab appeared, and only a few were attacked by insects. But each day the fruits remain on the tree is one more day for something to happen. When should I pick the apples?

It all depends on what type of apples you have. Some varieties ripen early in the season (some, I've read, as early as July), while others linger until almost Thanksgiving. Up here in the North Country, that can be a problem; by Thanksgiving the tree could be buried in snow!

Your best bet is to find a local orchard and find out what apples are being picked and when. Sure, you could go on-line and find picking dates, but unless the orchard you select is in the same climate as you, you cannot count on the accuracy of those dates.

But suppose you don't have any local orchards. There are certainly plenty of orchards along the Champlain Valley, but that's the banana belt compared to the central Adirondacks. No one in his right mind has an orchard in our neck of the woods. Sure, there are lots of "wild" apple trees, but you can't necessarily go by them. These were likely planted by early settlers as a source of fruit for making apple jack, a fermented tangy cider (not the sweet cider that you get with your donuts when you go pumpkin picking). They didn't care what the apples tasted like or what condition they were in. No, you can't go by these wild apples. The bears may like them, and the deer, but most of them are not for the likes of you and me.

So you stand there staring at the fruit on your tree. Do you go by color? If it's red, is it ripe? Well, suppose your tree doesn't bear red apples - what if they are yellow, or green? Can you trust color?

The answer is yes, sort of. First, you need to know what color your apples are supposed to be. Unless they are green apples, you can use color as a guideline. You want to look at the color of the skin near the base of the stem. If this area is green, the apple isn't ripe yet. Once it turns red, or yellowish, then it is probably safe to pick.

You can also go by firmness. If your apple is hard as a rock, it isn't ripe. If, however, it has a little bit of give to it when you give it a gentle squeeze, go ahead and pick.

You can test readiness by the ease of of the apple's release from the tree. When you pick an apple, it should pluck easily, almost falling into your hand. If you have to tug and wrench it off, it's not ripe.

Now, suppose a heavy killer frost is coming, and your apples are still on the tree. What do you do? You have to make a decision. Are they ripe enough that if you pick them and place them in a cool, dark place they will continue to ripen? If so, pick away. If not, then you might want to cover your tree, just like you would your pumpkins and squash.

Up here in the mountains growing perfect apples can be frustrating. Some years you might succeed, and other years your crop may be a complete failure. The best thing you can do it relax; after all, there isn't much you can do about the weather. Get to know your trees, learn what varieties you have, and check the picking dates at the nearest orchard(s). From there you can only use common sense. With a little luck, you will have apples to enjoy throughout the cold and grey days of winter - a little taste of fall.

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Adirondack Harvest Benefit Dinner Announced

The Lake Placid Lodge's Chef Kevin McCarthy and DaCy Meadow Farm will be hosting an Adirondack Harvest Dinner on Tuesday, September 29th at 6:00pm at the St. Agnes School Auditorium in Lake Placid. This unique dining experience will feature ingredients supplied by local Essex County farmers. According to the official event announcement, "dinner will feature beverages, an appetizer, Dogwood Bread Company bread, soup, garden salad with maple balsamic vinaigrette, an entree featuring a selection of local, pasture-raised meats and fresh vegetables, and a dessert created with pure maple sugar."

A keynote speaker, noted food and restaurant consultant Clark Wolf, will discuss developments in the local and healthy food movements and how the Adirondack region can move towards a more sustainable agricultural-based economy.

Ticket prices are $30 for adults and $15 for students and all proceeds will benefit Adirondack Harvest and Heifer International. Seating is limited to 150 people and reservations are required (call Dave Johnston at (518) 962-2350 or email djohnston [AT] dacymeadowfarm [DOT] com. Checks should be made payable and mailed to: DaCy Meadow Farm, Box 323, Westport, NY 12993

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Appreciating Adirondack Grasses

Are you one of those people who, when driving down the Northway, notices the various colors of the grasses growing in the median? If you aren’t, then you should slow down a bit and take a peek, for this time of year, especially in the early morning sunshine, they are quite beautiful: clouds of delicate purples, patches of russet oranges. I find it very tempting to pull over, get out of the car, and wade in amongst them. Since I’m sure the state troopers are not as likely to share my enthusiasm, I never have.

Grasses have caught my attention for years. They have wonderful flowerheads (inflorescences) that come in a great many varieties, and the colors, when seen en masse, can be quite the delight for the eye. I actually love to see lawns that have been allowed to go wild, for they fill an otherwise boring green expanse with delightful colors and textures.

Recently I was out botanizing with a friend who, among other things, really knows her grasses and sedges. Most of us wouldn’t know the difference between a grass, a sedge, or a rush if our lives depended on it. Sure, perhaps we recall the rhyme “Sedges have edges and rushes are round, and grasses have nodules where elbows are found” (or some variation thereof), but in practice, they all look like "grass" to the untrained eye. I asked my botanically-inclined friend if she knew of any good books for grass ID, but she said no.

I, however, have two grass ID books in my rather large collection of natural history books. One I’ve had in my Naturalist Daypack for quite some time, but I’ve never taken the time to actually read it. Until now. Inspired by my friend’s knowledge, and never one to want to be left behind in the proverbial dust, I decided to crack the book and learn me some grasses.

As with many natural history and species ID adventures, at first it seemed intimidating, an almost insurmountable task. They all look the same! I’ll never be able to tell them apart! But by taking the time to actually read the text, the small details, those clues that tell one species from the next, soon become apparent.

To begin with, many sedges, but not all, have triangular stems (edges). Many rushes have cylindrical, or round, stems. And grasses, as a whole, have joints, or nodules, where their leaves join the stem. After learning this, you can start to study some of the other distinguishing factors. The book I’m currently reading, Grasses by Lauren Brown, starts off with a dichotomous key, which many people find intimidating, but which I find a relief to use. From there, she’s grouped the plants by visual similarities. The simple pen and ink illustrations point out key traits for quick identification. Unlike many ID guides (try some of the moss or fern books), this one is written for the layperson. Technical jargon is explained – it’s not assumed you are working towards your PhD in botanical sciences.

The only real “work” will be memorizing the scientific names. Most real botanists forego common names and with good reason: they are not standardized. What you may call Indian Paintbrush is known as Hawkweed to someone else, and that person applies Indian Paintbrush to an entirely different plant. But the reason for learning the scientific names goes beyond this, for many grasses (sedges, rushes) and other plants, like mosses and lichens, have no common names. The common man has given most of them very little attention, and if you aren’t paying attention to something, you aren’t going to give it a name. If it weren’t for the scientists, these plants would have no names at all.

I think that for some time now Grasses will join my Newcomb’s Wildflower Guide as a passenger in my car. I’m actually eager, now that I have inspiration, to get out in the field and start getting to know my grassy neighbors. Armed with my field guide and a hand lens, I hope to soon have names like Anthoxanthum ordoratum and Cyperus esculentus tripping off my tongue.

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Weekly Adirondack Blogging Round-Up

Winter Campers: Canister Stoves

Hulett's Current: Interview With A Boat Builder

Wonder & Wooden Post: Camp Sagamore

The Rural Blog: Fixing Rural 'Brain Drain'

MyUFO.com: Another Adirondack UFO Sighting

Alan Gregory: Legacy of Coal Mining [Kayaking]

Kathryin Cramer: Wireless Broadband in Westport

Goose Tales: Tough Job!

Tonic: Lean-To Sweet Lean-To

EDGE: Locavore’s North Country Dilemma

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Can Ralph Lauren Save the Adirondacks?

New York State’s Secretary of State had never been north of Albany until she visited Lake George, a village official told me recently.

State Senator Betty Little likes to tell a story about another state official, who grew alarmed when told that people were living in the park—the Adirondack Park, that is.

“People being forced to sleep in the park? How awful!” the official reportedly said.

No wonder the Association of Adirondack Towns and Villages decided to sponsor the Adirondack Park Regional Assessment Report.

At the very least, it reminds Albany that the Adirondack Park contains 130,000 people living in more than one hundred communities, which need viable economies (and perhaps some additional state aid or at least broad band) if they are to survive. Statistics about the park’s aging population and declining school enrollments are not, however, the only way to tell the story of the Adirondacks.

Walk into a Ralph Lauren Home store in New York or Milan this fall and you’ll see, displayed on a library table or console, portfolios of Lake George paintings and guidebooks by Seneca Ray Stoddard.

You’ll also see rustic Adirondack furniture and plaid fabrics given Adirondack names.
The rooms have been installed in stores throughout the United States and Europe to showcase Ralph Lauren’s new collection of furniture and home furnishings, which the company calls “Indian Cove Lodge,” after a mythical Adirondack camp.

It is, to be sure, an idealized version of the Adirondacks. It’s a backdrop for a story playing in Ralph Lauren’s mind, about what, one can only imagine – how Marjorie Merriweather Post spent August, perhaps.

Nevertheless, whoever created these backdrops wanted them to be as authentic as possible. They even contain copies of the Lake George Mirror to link the collection to the Adirondacks. (Last winter, I was told, Black Bass Antiques owner Henry Caldwell and rustic furniture impresario Ralph Kylloe were visited by a team from Ralph Lauren, who spent hours selecting items that would complement the new collection.)

“Snowshoes, antique skis, fishing creels, canoe paddles: they bought a truckload of things,” said Kylloe, who’s furnished Ralph Lauren’s private homes as well as his showrooms for years.

Attention from retailers like Ralph Lauren helps the Adirondack brand remain vital, said Kylloe.

Lisa Foderaro, who frequently covers the Adirondacks for the New York Times, made a similar contribution to that effort last week with a story about Jay Haws’ and Steve Pounian’s Dartbrook Lodge in Keene.

They’ve converted a roadside cottage colony into a retreat that is, Foderaro said, “at once rustic and hip.”

There may be, as Ralph Kylloe suggests, some economic benefits from this kind of exposure in the form of increased tourism.

Other effects may be more problematic, such as a renewed demand for second homes and hence the rising costs of housing for year-round residents.

Another potential effect – and whether it’s a negative or positive one will depend upon your perspective – is a new constituency for the protection of he Adirondacks.
But at the very least, campaigns like these broaden awareness of the Adirondacks, and if those anecdotes about Albany’s lack of awareness of the region are true, that’s as necessary now as it ever was.

Photo: Indian Cove Lodge bedside table.

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Hickory Ski Center and Big Tupper on Track to Open

Adirondackers will have two new old places to ski this winter. Hickory Ski Center in Warrensburg will hold a volunteer work day Saturday to get the hill in shape for its re-opening. Another group of volunteers is trying to get a chairlift running again for skiing at Big Tupper, in Tupper Lake.

Hickory Hill has been closed for four years, so it won’t need an Adirondack Park Agency permit to resume business; however, Big Tupper has not been operational for more than five years, so it will need approval from the state land use agency.

“Everything seems to be falling into place,” Hickory president Bill Van Pelt said this week. A previous volunteer work day on Sept. 12 attracted about 30 people, who repainted buildings, tuned lifts, drilled a new well and created a new drop-off area, he said. Hickory’s new owners, a group of mostly local shareholders, are also pursuing snowmaking, he said, and they expect to have at least a partial system in place this year, but details are still being worked out.

Ticketing will be electronic, Van Pelt said, so when a skier passes through an archway to get on a lift, sensors will keep a tally of how many vertical feet the person has skied this season. Ticket prices are now available here.

To volunteer at Hickory Saturday contact operations manager Shawn Dempsey at skihickory@gmail.com. Dempsey advises: plan to come prepared with a lunch, hiking boots, gloves and any brush-clearing equipment, shovels, rakes.

Van Pelt said Hickory's opening date will depend on snow and snowmaking. In Tupper Lake, volunteer organizer Jim LaValley said Big Tupper's opening date is set for December 26. The mountain will go without snowmaking for now, LaValley said, but he's optimistic about the forecast. "It's going to be a good year because you've got El Nino spinning and the sunspot cycle has made its shift."

APA staff made a site visit Wednesday, and LaValley said he expects to receive the operating permit by November or December. Volunteers are working continuously on getting a chairlift ready for inspection, improving the base lodge and electrical systems. There will be a call for a volunteer work day in the next few weeks, LaValley said, but in the meantime people who wish to pitch in can contact him at jim.lavalley@lavalleyrealestate.com or (518) 359-9440. Ticket prices have not yet been set. For future information a Web site is being developed at skibigtupper.org.

You can read more about Hickory's and Big Tupper's years of limbo here.

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This Week's Top Adirondack News Stories

Study: Local SUNY Huge Economic Boost

DEC: Cormorant Control Successes

Paterson Urged to Reject Lows Plan

McHugh Begins Army Secretary Job

Invasive Milfoil Found In Lake Champlain

2009 Black Bear Forecast

Spiegel APA Suit Dismissed

Local Man Killed in Afghanistan

Overcrowding in Local Prisons an Issue

St. Lawrence County Eyes $2.5M Cuts

Moose Enter Wanderlust Season

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Adirondack Music Scene: Organs to Opera and Rock and Roll

Cooler weather and changing colors seems to bring out the classical concerts (my that's a lot of "c's"). There are so many great performances to choose from this weekend. I feel a bit more intelligent just writing about them; imagine how you'll feel if you actually get out to hear these great musicians and instruments.

Tonight in Jay is a meeting of the Acoustics Club at the Amos and Julia Ward Theatre at the junction of routes 9N and 86 next to the Village Green. The meeting starts at 7 pm and is for beginner musicians to play, learn and share experiences with music and sound in a casual setting. Any and all instruments, including the voice, are invited. Call Janet Morton at 946-7420 with any questions.

Friday in Glens Falls a Beeman Organ Concert will be held at the First Presbyterian Church. Organist Alan Morrison will play at 7:30 pm. Mr. Morrison has a very impressive resume having played at most of the fine concert halls and cathedrals in the States and Canada. You can call 793 - 2521 or go to www.fpcgf.org for more information.

In Lake Clear on Friday, local favorite Steve Borst will be performing at Charlie's Inn. Steve has written some lovely original songs and is great at taking requests. He starts at 6:30 pm and you can call 891 - 9858 for more information.

Saturday in Keene Valley, Adirondack Brass will be holding a concert at the Congregational Church at 4 pm. Check out their myspace page - they sound great. Keene Valley has some cool restaurants to check out after going to what is sure to be an inspirational evening of music. The event is sponsored by The East Branch Friends of the Arts. For more information call 576-4769. A donation is appreciated.

On Saturday in Saranac Lake, High Peaks Opera will be performing Italian Opera at Will Rogers. This is the same group that blew folks away in Tupper Lake earlier this year and features Metropolitan Opera bass George Cordes. What a fantastic voice—I've heard him before and you can check it out for yourself by clicking on the link. The performance starts at 7:30 pm. A donation is appreciated.

Later on Saturday in Saranac Lake at the Waterhole the Rev Tor band gets going around 10 pm. This is in the great-to-play Upstairs Music Lounge, where the cocktails start flowing at 9 pm when the doors open. There aren't a lot of places to sit, but at that hour it's usually more fun to dance and sway then stay planted anyway. Rev Tor has some fine musicianship going on in their band. I'm particularly impressed with the keyboards and guitar solos.

Also on Saturday in Glens Falls the Saratoga Chamber Players are giving another Degas and Music concert at 3 pm. The performance is at the Hyde Collection Art Museum located at 161 Warren St. Call 584-1427 for more info.

You have two chances to hear Dan Gordan "International Man of Saxophone." The link I connected to is all about a book he wrote detailing his journeys as a street musician in Europe. It looks fun—I'd like to read it—and it gives a little insight as to why he considers himself an international man of sax. This is the beginning of the new Piano By Nature season, which means that pianist Rose Chancler—who will be accompanying Mr. Gordon—is back presenting and giving concerts in her community. The Saturday concert starts at 7 pm and the Sunday one at 3 pm; both take place in the Hand House Parlor in Elizabethtown. Tickets are $15 for adults and $5 for 15 and under. Reservations are required due to limited seating: 518-962-2949.

Lastly, there are two chances for some open mic action this weekend: First, there is an ongoing Coffee House and Open Mic that happens on the last Saturday of every month at the Universal Unitarian Church in Queensbury. It is held 7:30 - 10 pm and you can call 793-1468 for more details. Then on Sunday at 7 pm there is an Open Mic being held in Lake Placid. The Luna Java Coffee Shop is located at 5794 Cascade Road. I can't find a phone number for them so... I've no other details other than to say, Go and perform or cheer on the local talent. Thriving open mic scenes are essential for a musical community.

Photo: Alan Morrison

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Adirondack Winter Finch Forecast

We birders (those who watch birds) eagerly await an e-mail that comes about this time every early fall. It's a message that's filled with information that can be good news or bad news. The good news can fill a birdwatcher's heart with anticipation of a wonderful winter with colorful sightings. The bad news can mean a not-so-good winter with few of these colorful sightings. However, the bad news for us in the Adirondacks turns out to be good news for others.

All this I am referring to is the long-awaited Winter Finch Forecast given by naturalist/ornithologist Ron Pittaway of the Ontario Field Ornithologist group: www.ofo.ca/reportsandarticles/winterfinches.php

First you might ask, What is a winter finch? I'll reply with: winter finches are a group of birds that traditionally spend most of their time in the boreal forest of coniferous trees well north of the Adirondacks in Canada. Here these birds, with the help of specifically adapted bills, feed on the many pine cone seeds that are found throughout these forests.

Most of us have heard of finches. We're familiar with the American goldfinch, house finch and purple finch which frequent our birdfeeders. But we may not be familiar with the others in this group, namely evening grosbeaks, pine grosbeaks, common and hoary redpolls, red- and white-winged crossbills . . . great names, eh? This group will often feed solely on pine cone seeds, but as with many other aspects of nature there is a cycle to pine cone production; there are good years and bad years.

Pine cone seeds are chock-full of nutrients and fat that birds need to survive a harsh northern winter. Spruce cones, pine cones, tamarack cones, hemlock cones—all provide these birds with food. But what if the cones are not produced in a given summer season? Well, the bird must find an area where there are cones are being produced.

That's where the forecast come into play. Throughout the summer months Ron and many other naturalists trod throughout the forests of Canada and our own Adirondacks in search of the cone-bearing trees. This year in particular the Adirondacks have just an “OK” crop of cones in the Adirondack woods—not too good but not too bad. But Canada seems to be having a good year across the Provinces.

How do you forecast bird movements? Well over the many years of bird study we can determine if and when finches will move in search of food. If Canada is experiencing a poor cone crop and the border states of the US (like NY) are producing good crops then the birds will move en masse to our neck of the woods and “invade” or “irrupt” into our area, as they did in 2008-2009. Thus we give the winter finches the all encompassing label of “irruptive winter finches.”

So what's the forecast for this winter? Well Ron says that we shouldn't be looking for too many finch visitors to our Adirondack feeders and woods this year. Sad, yes, but that means there's plenty of good food sources fattening up birds deep in the forests of our neighbors to the north. Maybe next year. But we'll still look forward to chickadees, woodpeckers, sparrows, nuthatches and the occasional finch this winter.

Another area of study is the cycles of rodent (mice, squirrels, voles, lemmings) and rabbit populations. If those populations crash in a given year up north then those that feed on them (hawks and owls) need to move elsewhere to find food. Will they be coming to the Adirondacks? That's another subject for another posting!

Photograph of evening grosbeak

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DEC Proposes Fishing Regulations Changes

The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) has announced proposed changes to the state's freshwater fishing regulations. The agency will be accepting public comments on the changes until November 2, 2009. According to a DEC press release: "The proposed regulations are the result of careful assessment of the status of existing fish populations and the desires of anglers for enhanced fishing opportunities. The opportunity for public review follows discussions held with angling interest groups over the past year."

The following are highlights of the proposed changes in the Adirondack region provided by DEC:

* Apply the statewide regulation for pickerel, eliminating the “no size” limit regulation in: Essex, Hamilton, Saratoga, Warren and Washington County waters.

* Apply the statewide regulation creel limit of 50 fish per day for yellow perch and sunfish for Clinton, Essex, Franklin and Hamilton Counties, as well as for Schroon Lake, as this limit will help protect against overexploitation.

* Eliminate special regulation prohibiting smelt fishing at Portaferry Lake in St. Lawrence County as no smelt runs have been reported in many years.

* Delete the 5+5 brook trout special regulation (Regions 5, 6 & 7), which allows for an additional 5 brook trout under 8 inches as part of the daily limit, as there is no basis for retaining this special regulation for this species.

* Prohibit fishing from March 16 until the opening of walleye season in May in a section of the Oswegatchie River in St. Lawrence County to protect spawning walleye.

* Ban possession of river herring (alewife and blueback herring) in the Waterford Flight (Lock 2-Guard Gate 2) on the Saratoga County side of the Mohawk River, where blueback herring, declining in numbers, are especially vulnerable to capture.

* Allow the use of alewives and blueback herring as bait in Lake Champlain, Clinton County, Essex County, Franklin County, Warren County, Washington County and Canadarago Lake (Otsego County).

* Add new state land trout waters to bait fish prohibited list for Essex, Hamilton, and Washington Counties to guard against undesirable fish species introductions and preserve native fish communities.

* Allow ice fishing for rainbow trout in Glen Lake, Warren County.

The full text of the proposed regulation changes are available on DEC’s website at http://www.dec.ny.gov/regulations/57841.html.

Comments on the proposals being submitted by e-mail should be sent to fishregs@gw.dec.state.ny.us or mailed to Shaun Keeler, New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, Bureau of Fisheries, 625 Broadway, Albany, NY 12233-4753.

After full review of the public comments, the final regulations will go into effect October 1, 2010.

Artwork of Brook Trout by Ellen Edmonson from Inland Fishes of New York, a publication of Cornell University and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation

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Are Dragonflies Disappearing this Year?

Lots of folks have commented to me this summer that they haven’t been seeing many dragonflies. Hm. I’ve seen lots of dragonflies (and damselflies) this year, and I haven’t been able to think of any reason why dragonflies would be sparse; after all, it was good and wet this year, so they had plenty of water for successful reproduction and growth. All the rain also meant a lot of habitat for mosquitoes and the other insects that make up their diet.

Maybe numbers were down in some locations because it was also a cool summer. Like all insects (that I know of), dragonflies need sunshine to get the blood moving (so to speak). This is why you see them basking in the sunshine. Just like people, when they get too chilled, they cannot move well, making them easy targets for other predators. Perhaps some of the species that we see in July and early August never got warm enough to successfully emerge as adults. I just don’t know.

I can tell, you, however, that September has been a great month for dragonflies. I’ve seen squadrons flying in formation over the streets and roads, phalanxes patrolling yards and parking lots, and down on the water the air has been filled with non-stop dragonfly action.

I’ve been very lucky this month to put my canoe on the water several times. This has put me smack in the middle of the action. Most prominent among the Odonates (the order of insects known as dragon- and damselflies) I’ve been seeing this fall are pairs of yellow-legged meadowhawks (Sympetrum vicinum) flying around in their mating embrace.

As with all dragonflies, when the male encounters a likely female, he grasps her by the head. It sounds worse than it really is. The male uses a special grasper at the tip of his abdomen (tail) to grab the female just behind her enormous eyes. They are now flying in tandem. The female then bends her abdomen around to receive the sperm packet from the male. You’ve probably seen pairs of dragonflies in this loop formation; now you know what’s going on.

Sometimes after fertilization the female lays eggs with the male still attached to her head. Other times the male flies away, his work finished, and the female, who can store sperm for a very long time, eventually lays her eggs on her own. If you see a dragonfly flying along and repeatedly tapping its abdomen to the water, that is what she’s doing.

The eggs eventually hatch, and the emerging nymph begins its life in the water, where it is a major predator of other aquatic invertebrates. Depending on the species, dragonflies remain in the nymph stage anywhere from one month to five years! As they grow, they molt, just like caterpillars and other larvae. Eventually, however, they emerge from the water for a final molt, in which they transform (metamorphose) into their adult forms.

One of the latest dragonflies of the season around here is the large common green darner (Anax junius). It is the first to appear in the spring, and often the last to disappear in the fall. If you find yourself in need of a dragonfly fix, get down to your nearest wetland and have a seat. A little patience is all you need, and before long you will see these flying wonders zipping and zooming all around.

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Almanack Welcomes Birding Contributor Brian McAllister

Adirondack Almanack is delighted to announce that Brian McAllister is joining the site as resident bird columnist. Brian is a naturalist, educator and one of the Adirondack Park’s most dedicated birdwatchers. His interest in all things avian often takes him beyond the Blue Line (two trips to Cape May this fall alone).

Starting tomorrow, Brian will post birding news every other Thursday at noon. We feel very lucky to know him and to introduce him to Almanack readers.

In his professional life Brian has taught ornithology lab and how to interpret habitats at Paul Smith’s College. The Saranac Lake resident has been involved for six years in an Adirondack boreal bird survey for Wildlife Conservation Society. He also served as a natural history consultant to the Wild Center, a naturalist with the Adirondack Park Visitor Interpretive Centers and the Adirondack Mountain Club, as well as field assistant with the Adirondack Cooperative Loon Program. He helped the Adirondack Trail Improvement Society design a natural history education program and is one of the founders of the Great Adirondack Birding Celebration.

Brian is a contributor to the Adirondack Natural History blog and has his own site, Adirondacks Naturally.

He’s also just the best guy to take a walk in the woods with. He notices things most of us don’t, knows what they are and is able to open your eyes and ears to them in a way that never leaves you. We welcome him to the Almanack.

Photograph: Brian McAllister on Ampersand Mountain

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A 2017 Constitutional Convention And The Adirondacks

There has been a lot of public discussion about the potential for a constitutional convention in 2017 (as allowed by the current state constitution every 20 years), one that could influence the future of the Adirondack Forest Preserve and the Adirondack Park.

The New York State Constitutional Convention of 1967 (the last State Constitutional Convention) was held in Albany April 4 - September 26, 1967 and the revisions submitted to the voters that November; all of the convention's proposals were rejected. Among the proposals that failed during the process were those to establish the forerunner of the Department of Conservation and to make it easier for the legislature to take land from the Forest Preserve (with voter referendum).

Wilderness preservation issues are likely to be hotly debated in the run-up to a constitutional convention—in fact, former Governor Mario Cuomo recently called for a chance to revise the constitution using, in part, these words:

A constitutional convention is a peoples' meeting to design or redesign the peoples' government. The legislature has traditionally not favored calling such a body to life. It feared that a convention might take steps to diminish the legislature's institutional power or incumbents' chances of re-election.

Others with particular interests to protect have also been skeptical. For example, environmentalists worry—needlessly, we think—about a convention altering the present constitution's commitment to keeping our parks in the Adirondacks and Catskills 'forever wild.'

This is short-sighted. Environmentalists might make gains at a convention by convincing us to constitutionalize positive rights to clean air and clean water.

Sure, it seems a long way off, but the idea that a new constitution might either abolish the forever wild clause, or "constitutionalize positive rights to clean air and clean water" is something Adirondack residents take seriously.

The New York State Library has recently digitized and made available online a treasure trove of documents relating to the 1967 convention. The current NYS Constitution can be found in pdf form here.

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Adirondack Family Activities: Museum Day

If you have not had an opportunity to visit the Adirondack Museum yet this season I am here to pave the way with offers of free admission and coupon savings. Okay, it isn’t money falling from the sky but if you attend Smithsonian magazine’s free museum day money may just jingle in your pocket. Though with or without Museum Day the Adirondack Museum is a bargain any day of the week.

In its fifth year Museum Day is an annual event taking place across the country on September 26th. More than 900 participating museums will offer free general admission to an attendee and guest with a Museum Day admission card. The Adirondack Museum at Blue Mountain Lake is just one facility that is participating. A complete list by state can be found at Smithsonian magazine.

The Adirondack Museum houses twenty buildings on 32 acres of land, beautiful gardens and ponds. There are many interactive elements like the Rising Schoolhouse filled with paper crafts and era-specific wooden toys, a treasure hunt in the “Age of Horses” building, or build a toy boat at the Boat Shop. Since that barely touches on the activities available, keep in mind all admissions are valid for a second visit within a one-week time period.

If unable to attend Museum Day, The Adirondack Harvest Festival will be held the next weekend, October 3rd and 4th. A good tip for all: year-round residents of the Adirondack Park are admitted free all days that the museum is open in October.

This festival will provide wagon rides, music and even a traditional blacksmith demonstration by David Woodward. There is a barn raising, cider pressing and pumpkin painting. If just having fun isn’t enough there are altruistic opportunities as well. Have children bring canned or dried goods to support the Warren–Hamilton Community Action Harvest Food Drive.

Please call 518-352-7311 for more information. Open daily from 10:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. until October 18. If you visit the museum website, click on the monthly special icon for a coupon good for $2 off one adult admission. There is no charge for children under six.

Even with discounts, coupons and free admission museums need to function so keep in mind that even on free days a donation (no matter the size) is probably greatly appreciated.

Photograph of an antique cider press.

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"Artist At Work" Studio Tour This Weekend

Gabriels-based artist Diane Leifheit sent us a note about this weekend’s self-guided Artist at Work Studio Tour in and around the Tri-Lakes. “More than 36 artists in their 'natural habitat' will be working on and showing their work,” she wrote. “If you have not picked up a year-round Artists Guide, they are available at the Adirondack Artists Guild, 52 Main Street, Saranac Lake, and at many sponsor storefronts in the Tri-Lakes area. You can also log on to adirondackartistsguild.com for information. Look for the signs this weekend. Now I have to go clean up my studio! Yikes!”

The open-studio event begins Friday and runs through Sunday.

Raven photograph by Burdette Parks, one of the participating artists

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Commentary: Anti-Enviros Look For Legal Loopholes

This month three anti-environmental activists clashed with state agencies charged with protecting the environment in the Adirondack Park. In what appears to be a growing trend, all three men are using legal technicalities to attempt to enforce their own personal wills.

Earlier this month, Salim B. “Sandy” Lewis won the right to have three additional single-family houses exempted from Adirondack Park zoning rules because they were built on a farm. Lewis had refused to seek an APA permit because he claimed that the structures were for agricultural use, as farmworker housing. The APA Act says all structures on a farm count as a single principle building lot, and are exempt from density requirements and APA permits. After losing in a lower court, State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo’s Office appealed on behalf of the APA, but Appellate Division justices agreed with Lewis's claim that the houses were farm buildings, equivalent say, to a barn, a greenhouse, or a chicken coop.

On Monday, Plattsburgh-area businessman Arthur Spiegel lost another battle in his personal war to build his Lake Placid house bigger and more visibly than his neighbors'. In 2004 Spiegel had begun building his vacation home, taller then allowed, on too steep a slope, and by taking out too many trees according to the Adirondack Park Agency (APA). The APA demanded that Spiegel meet the same rules we're all supposed to live by, but Spiegel went to court instead to argue he was being unfairly targeted. U.S. District Judge William Sessions agreed that the understaffed Adirondack Park Agency doesn't do as well as it should in enforcing egregious zoning violations, but he also found that Spiegel had to take his medicine—No, the judge said, the APA's decision wasn't malicious or political, the agency was simply enforcing the law.

Yesterday, Lake Placid Snowmobile Club President James McCulley asked Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo to launch an investigation into the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC). McCulley drove his truck down the Jackrabbit Trail in May of 2005 and was ticketed. A DEC administrative judge later found that the trail, part of the former Old Mountain Road between North Elba and Keene, had never been closed properly back in 1974. In May, DEC Commissioner Pete Grannis was forced into a position of effectively reopening Old Mountain Road between North Elba and Keene. Now the status of the trail is in limbo—sort of. I sense that McCulley knows pretty well that his win on a technicality won't stand, so now he's launching another attack, claiming that the DEC is colluding with the Adirondack Mountain Club, the Adirondack Council, and Association for the Protection of the Adirondacks to violate the state “ex parte” law. That law says that employees of a state agency cannot “communicate, directly or indirectly” on legal issues unless all parties are included. His proof? E-mails between the DEC and environmentalists he obtained through the Freedom of Information Law. That's right: McCulley used a law designed to keep citizens informed on what state agencies are doing to claim that information was illegally given to citizens.

One of the funnier moments of all this looking for legal loopholes comes from a recent legal motion. “DEC has developed a close alliance with various environmental groups and, in reality," McCulley's attorney Matthew Norfolk argued, "has morphed into a state-sponsored environmental advocacy organization funded by the taxpayers of the state of New York,”

No kidding! The DEC was established on EARTH DAY in 1970 and it's mission is simple:

"To conserve, improve and protect New York's natural resources and environment and to prevent, abate and control water, land and air pollution, in order to enhance the health, safety and welfare of the people of the state and their overall economic and social well-being."

That sounds like a "state-sponsored environmental advocacy organization" to me, although I'm sure some of our neighbors would disagree, and find a loophole to "prove" it.

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Harvest Festival at The Adirondack Museum

The Adirondack Museum will hold its annual Harvest Festival next Saturday and Sunday, October 3rd and 4th, from 10:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m. The Museum offers free admission to year-round residents of the Adirondack Park in the month of October including the Harvest Festival.

As a part of festival the Museum is sponsoring a food drive in support of Warren-Hamilton Community Action. Donations of non-perishable food items will be collected in the lobby of Visitor Center from September 29 through October 6.

Circle B Ranch in Chestertown will be providing rustic wagon hay rides through around the museum grounds as wel as pony rides.

Traditional folk music eill be provided by Roy Hurd and Frank Orsini both days at 11:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m.

Other Harvest Festival highlights include cider pressing, a blacksmithing demonstration, barn raising (for young and old), as well as pumpkin painting
and crafts inspired by nature. Regional artists and crafters will offer unique handmade items for sale. Kids can enjoy a variety of harvest-themed games and activities.

For more information call (518) 352-7311, or visit
www.adirondackmuseum.org.

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Upper Hudson River Railroad Schedule Features 40-Miler

The Upper Hudson River Railroad in North Creek has announced its Fall Schedule which includes foliage rides, a BBQ trip to 1,000 Acres Ranch, and the all-day 40 Miler excursion. Regular trains will run Thursday through Sunday through Columbus Day weekend, on Columbus Day, and on Saturday and Sunday thereafter to October 25th. Regular trains include a round trip from the North Creek Station to Riparius and back including a half-hour layover at the Riverside Station. Reservations are strongly recommended for Columbus Day weekend.

Upcoming special events include:

LUNCH AT 1000 ACRES - September 30, 2009. Features BBQ lunch at the 1000 Acres Ranch. RESERVATIONS REQUIRED, 10% early bird discount. Includes a short stop at the Thurman Craft and Farmers’ Market Christmas in September at Thurman Siding.

40 MILER - Saturday October 17, 2009 - RESERVATIONS REQUIRED. The weekend after Columbus Day, features an all day excursion from the restored 90’ turntable in North Creek to the 96’ trestle where the Sacandaga River meets the Hudson.

For additional information call the Upper Hudson River Railroad at 518-251-5334 or visit their website at www.uhrr.com

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The Last Days of John Brown: Pikes, Rifles, and Revolvers

John Brown's raid on the slaveholders of Virgina is often considered a hopeless fool's errand, but it was far from it. Brown's plan was simple enough: capture weapons and ammunition form the Harpers Ferry federal Armory, retire to the countryside and conduct nighttime border raids to free Southern slaves. The principal goal of the actual raid was to free slaves, not attack and hold a Southern state. Brown, well-armed and experienced in the type of raid he was planning, was fairly confident in its success.

In early September 1859, the Massachusetts Kansas Committee (through the auspices of George Stearns, a member of the Secret Six) sent Brown by wagon from Chambersburg, Pennsylvania fifteen boxes of weapons. The boxes included 198 Sharps rifles, produced by the Sharps Rifle Manufacturing Company in Hartford, Connecticut. This was the same rifle used during the Civil War by the U.S. Army sharpshooters, because of its greater accuracy than the regularly issued rifled muzzle-loaded muskets; since the Sharps rifles were breech loaded they could fire at a much faster rate. In short, Brown's raiding party would carry one of the best weapons available at that time. The shipment also included 200 Maynard revolvers (made by he Massachusetts Arms Company in Chicopee Falls) and percussion caps. What Brown didn't know was that the revolvers were useless because the special tape primers they required had not been sent.

Brown also had some 950 pikes, which he intended to distribute to the freed slaves he expected would revolt on word of the raid and join the cause. The pikes would be potent weapons in the hand of freed slaves, who might not be familiar with operating the rifles and revolvers, but they turned out to be more potent as weapons of propaganda after the raid.

While fund raising in the the late winter of 1857, Brown visited Canton, Connecticut where he met Charles Blair, manager of the Collins Co., later known as the Collins Axe Co., makers of metal edge tools and farm implements. From his boot, Brown pulled a 8-inch pike (also called a dirk) which he had taken from pro-slavery guerrilla Henry C. Pate at the Battle of Black Jack, a stop on the Santa Fe Trail in Kansas. Brown asked Blair to have the Collins Company make 1,000 6-foot pikes (at $1 a piece) for defensive use by free soil Kansas settlers. Brown paid for about half the order and then returned in the summer of 1859 to settle the bill - the pikes were shipped in unmarked crates to the Kennedy Farm, were Brown was planning the raid.

For reasons we'll explore later, none of the pikes were ever used in combat, although Brown carried one himself on the raid. Following the raid, about half were found in a wagon the raiders brought to Harpers Ferry and the other half were found at the Kennedy farmhouse.

The pikes went on to serve as a propaganda weapon on both sides in the lead-up to the Civil War. According to Dr. Lawrence Carlton of the Canton Historical Museum (located on the grounds of the former Collins Company), about a dozen of the pikes found there way to Edmund Ruffin, a pro-slavery extremist who was said to have fired the first shot at Fort Sumter at the beginning of the Civil War. Ruffin sent the pikes to Southern governors and other political leaders with a label reading "Sample of the favors designed for us by our Northern brethren."

On the other side, at least one Northern abolitionist, Wendell Philips, also acquired a pike and carried it on stage during anti-slavery lectures. As the war began thousands of Northern soldiers celebrated John Brown's pikes in the marching song "John Brown's Body" (the basis for both the "Battle Hymn of the Republic" and "Solidarity Forever"):

Old John Brown's body is a-mouldering in the dust,
Old John Brown's rifle is red with blood-spots turned to rust,
Old John Brown's pike has made its last, unflinching thrust,
His soul is marching on!

A Dallas auction gallery sold one of the original pikes for $13,000 about two years ago. The Kansas Historical Society also owns two original pikes (one of which was purchased in 1881 for $15 from a Harpers Ferry local). The Smithsonian Museum of American History has one, and the University of Kansas has one.


This is the fourth installment of a series of posts marking the 150th anniversary of John Brown's anti-slavery raid on the Harpers Ferry Armory, his subsequent execution and the return of his body to North Elba in December of 1859. I'll be writing each week to retrace the steps of Brown and his followers. You can read all the posts in the series here.

Photo: An original pike held by the Kansas Historical Society.

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