Celebrating the Life of Clarence Petty

On Sunday morning, the Wild Center hosted a memorial celebration of the life of Clarence Petty, the ardent conservationist who died last fall at 104.

The Wild Center showed two films about Clarence. After a brunch, several longtime friends and colleagues spoke about Clarence's passion for protecting Adirondack wilderness.

As serious as Clarence was about preservation, anyone who met him was struck by his sense of humor and friendly manner.

Clarence had lots of stories from his long, rich life. He spent the first years of his life in a squatter’s cabin on the Forest Preserve. He grew up in the tiny hamlet of Coreys on the edge of the woods, a virtual frontier in those days, and went on to become a manager in the Civilian Conservation Corps, a forest ranger, a state pilot, and an indefatigable defender of the Adirondacks.

Most of the speakers at the memorial celebration, such as Michael Carr, Barbara Glaser, David Gibson, and Peter O’Shea, had known Clarence for decades and regaled the audience with one humorous anecdote after another. I particularly enjoyed Carr’s story about the time Clarence mistakenly air-dropped a load of trout over a fisherman. Thinking he may have killed or injured the fellow, Clarence flew back over the pond and saw him raising his hands in thanks.

I didn't know Clarence as well as those folks, but as the editor of the Adirondack Explorer, I had the chance to speak with him many times in the last decade of his life. Every two months, I interviewed him for a feature called “Questions for Clarence,” which the Explorer published from 2004 until Clarence’s death.

The questions covered just about every topic under the sun, but often I would try to get Clarence to reveal what bit wisdom he would like to pass on to posterity. He kept on returning to his faith in democracy. He believed that if the people were allowed to vote on the important issues facing the Adirondack Park, they would opt to protect it.

By “the people,” he meant the people of the whole state, since the Forest Preserve is owned by all of them. The difficulty is that many of the Park’s residents don’t like outsiders making decisions that affect their lives. Hence, the continuing animosity toward the Adirondack Park Agency.

To this, Clarence had an answer. He described the Park’s wild lands, especially the Forest Preserve, as “the magnet” that draws tourists to the Adirondacks. The more wildness that is preserved, the greater the appeal to tourists. And tourists are money.

In short, protecting the Park is good for the economy--and hence good for the people who live here.

Despite his best efforts, Clarence failed to convince everyone of that point of view. But the argument will be carried forth by those he did reach.

You can find out more about Clarence Petty's life in this remembrance by Dick Beamish, the founder of the Adirondack Explorer.

Photo by Phil Brown: Clarence Petty memorabilia at the Wild Center.

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1963: A North Country Racehorse Makes Good

In honor of the Belmont Stakes being run this weekend, here’s an item from 1963, when a horse whose name had North Country ties nearly won the coveted Triple Crown (Kentucky Derby, Preakness, and Belmont). Any idea what the horse’s name was?

The owner was John W. Galbreath, well known nationally, and a frequent visitor to the Adirondacks. While his wealth was notable, it was in the world of sports that Galbreath earned his greatest fame. He owned baseball’s Pittsburgh Pirates from 1946–1985 (one of his partners was Bing Crosby), winning the World Series in 1960, 1971, and 1979. He was also a graduate of Ohio State and a longtime supporter of the school’s athletic program, one of the most successful in the nation.

Like Donald Trump did in more recent times, Galbreath became fabulously wealthy as a real estate developer, owning major properties in Columbus, Los Angeles, New York, and Pittsburgh. In 1986, the family fortune was estimated at $400 million.

Despite his substantial fame in baseball and real estate, Galbreath’s favorite subject was horseracing. Perhaps the name of his birthplace (in 1897) was a good omen for a future in the sport: he was born in Derby, Ohio.

Among other things, Galbreath’s great wealth allowed him to indulge his passion. He became involved in horse racing in the 1930s, eventually serving as chairman of Churchill Downs in Louisville (where the Kentucky Derby is run). Near Columbus, Ohio, he developed the famed Darby Dan Farm into a 4,000-acre spread, producing many outstanding racehorses.

He had never won the Kentucky Derby, a goal of all major owners, and in 1963, none of Galbreath’s horses seemed particularly promising. Then, shortly before the Derby, one of his colts captured three straight races, including the Blue Grass Stakes. Suddenly, anything was possible.

The horse’s name was Chateaugay, and despite the sudden success, most of the hype went to several other competitors prior to the Triple Crown races. Never Bend was the leading money-winner, and Candy Spots and No Robbery were the first undefeated horses to face off in the Derby in 88 years. In front of 120,000 fans at the Kentucky Derby, Galbreath’s favorite horse went off at 9-1 odds. There appeared to be little chance for success.

After running at mid-pack for much of the race, Chateaugay moved up to fourth. Near the final stretch, future-hall-of-fame-jockey Braulio Baeza steered his horse through an opening to the inside, where Chateaugay strode to the front, topping all the pre-race stars to win by 1¼ lengths.

In race number two, the Preakness, the same strategy was employed. This time, Chateaugay came roaring to the front but fell just short, finishing 3½ lengths behind winner Candy Spots. In the Belmont, the results were very similar to the Preakness, but this time, Chateaugay’s charge to the lead was successful, overtaking Candy Spots to win by 2½ lengths.

Only a close loss at the Preakness prevented Chateaugay from winning the Triple Crown, but Galbreath’s colt had proven nevertheless to be a great racehorse.

During this time, the excitement in the North Country was fairly palpable, especially in the town of Chateaugay (in the northeast corner of Franklin County). Many were fervent supporters of Galbreath and his horse, and the famed owner expressed his appreciation in a letter that appeared in local newspapers:

Dear Mr. Peacock:

It was certainly nice of you to write me a letter about Chateaugay winning the Kentucky Derby. Several people have asked me how we happened to name this horse as we did.

As you perhaps know, we have some interest in Lyon Mountain and Mineville, New York [the iron mines], and while I was up there several years ago, I saw the name Chateaugay. I made the remark at the time that I thought it was a pretty name for a town, and also thought it would be a good name for a horse.

Since Chateaugay’s older sister, Primonetta, was our best filly to date, we naturally hoped this colt would be a good one, and for that reason, we applied the name to him.

It has been very gratifying indeed to have so many nice letters from people of your town, and I hope you will thank the members of the Chamber of Commerce for their nice telegram which they sent under your name last week. I am going to have some pictures made just as soon as we receive the proofs, and I will eventually send you a picture which you can use for publishing in the paper.

Thank you again for your nice letter and wire.

Sincerely yours,

John W. Galbreath

In honor of the victory, Galbreath named one of Darby Dan’s buildings “Gay Chateau” (well before a new meaning entered the vernacular).

A few years after winning the Derby, Chateaugay was retired to stud service, first at Darby Dan Farm, and later in Japan after his sale to racing interests there. He died in 1985.

Galbreath died in 1988 at the age of 90. Besides a grand legacy in the sporting world, he left behind the John W. Galbreath Company, America’s third-largest real estate developer. A second Darby Dan horse, Proud Clarion, won the Derby in 1967, but it was Chateaugay who first made Galbreath’s long-held dream a reality.

Photo Above: Chateaugay after winning the Kentucky Derby.

Photo Below: Chateaugay after winning the Belmont Stakes.

Lawrence Gooley has authored eight books and several articles on the North Country's past. He and his partner, Jill McKee, founded Bloated Toe Enterprises in 2004 and have recently begun to expand their services and publishing work. For information on book publishing, visit Bloated Toe Publishing.

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'Have A Seat in Glens Falls' Outdoor Art Project Begins

After well over a year of planning, thirty-eight unique Adirondack chairs will be placed throughout downtown Memorial Day through September 6, 2010. Each chair was created by a regional artist offering a Glens Falls theme, built to be weather resistant and functional. This project is hoped to focus on Glens Falls as a tourism destination with many shopping, dining, cultural, and entertainment choices.

To promote "Have a Seat in Glens Falls," ninety-thousand rack cards have been distributed along eastern New York from Suffern to Plattsburg and twenty-thousand brochures with chair maps have been delivered to local retail stores, restaurants, and attractions. A website provides access to all pertinent information, including an interactive map of the chairs’ locations. The project also has an active presence on Facebook. Ads, both radio and print, and banners will run throughout the summer months.

After the event is over, the chairs will be sold to the highest bidders at the “Chair-itable Auction", scheduled for Wednesday, September 15, at The Queensbury Hotel. Each artist will receive 25% of their chair’s sale price. Net proceeds from the project benefit the City Park Restoration Project, Crandall Public Library, and Lower Adirondack Regional Arts Council.

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Overlooked Adirondack Grasses, Sedges and Rushes

Birders love their birds, and botanists love their flowers; rock-hounds love their rocks and minerals, and entomologists love their insects. But who loves the grasses, sedges and rushes? Even though some members of this group of plants have become global celebrities (wheat, corn, rye), most are overlooked by the majority of people, or at least they are in this country, where the knowledge of local plant life is no longer vital to our daily survival.

Those who took a basic botany course in college probably learned some version of the rhyme “Sedges have edges and Rushes are round; Grasses have joints where elbows are found,” an amusing bit of poetry designed to help students learn which of these plants were which. As with all such things, there is an element of truth in it, but every rule has its exceptions.

Learning to tell grasses from sedges from rushes can be a challenge and one that not too many are willing to tackle. We like grass in our lawns and not in our gardens (unless it is ornamental), but there our knowledge ends. In an effort to try and stimulate a little interest in these seemingly “boring” plants, let me share some quick descriptors from Grasses, an Identification Guide, by Lauren Brown.

We’ll start with grasses. Grasses have (usually) round stems that are (mostly) hollow, and long narrow leaves with parallel veins. When you get to the part of the stem where the leaf is attached, the stem is solid and a little node or joint is formed. The base of the leaf (called the sheath) wraps around the stem at this joint. On grasses the sheath is split open along part of its length. When a grass blooms, its flowers grow in two rows along the stalk. The base of the flowering portion of the plant has two empty scales (no flowers inside).

Sedges can look a lot like grasses to the untrained eye. Keep in mind, though, that they have solid stems, and their stems are often, but not always, triangular (hence, they have “edges”). The leaves, which are also long, narrow and have parallel veins, wrap around the stem, too, but their sheaths are entirely closed. The flowers grow in a spiral around the stalk, and there are no empty scales at the base of the flowering section. You will tend to find sedges in cooler and wetter areas than grasses.

This brings us to rushes. Rushes are round (but then, so are most grass stems). Their leaves are also similar to those of the grasses and sedges: long, narrow, and with parallel veins. Their stems can be solid or hollow. Unlike the grasses, however, they don’t have nodes/joints. And unlike the grasses and sedges, their flowers are terribly tiny and occur in a circle at the very tip of the stem. Described as lily-like, the flowers have three petals and three sepals. Like the sedges, rushes prefer cool, damp habitats.

Recently a friend and I were out exploring the Ice Meadows of the Hudson River, just outside Warrensburg. This is a special habitat that runs for about 16 miles along the course of the river, where the heavy snows and ice of winter collect to depths often in excess of ten feet. Spring thaws send these small glaciers grinding along the river, scouring the cobble-strewn shore and rocky upthrusts of all but the most tenacious of plants. Anything tall and resembling a shrub stands very little chance of surviving the seasonal onslaught. The end result is one of New York’s few native grasslands. But don’t expect to find something that looks like the prairies of the Midwest. These grasslands would probably be better named “rocklands,” but the term Ice Meadows suits.

Our goal this particular morning was to find and photograph dwarf sand cherry (Prunus pumila var. depressa), a lovely sprawling plant that is on the state’s protected species list. We found it blooming in all its glory and immortalized it in pixels. The highlight of the walk for me, however, was a sedge.

Like most folks, I haven’t taken the time to try and learn many grasses, sedges or rushes. Oh, I have a of couple books, and on more than one occasion I have declared I’m going to learn them, but soon they seem overwhelming in their similarity and difficulty to ID. In truth, however, there are plenty of differences if we just take the time to learn them.

This particular plant caught my eye because of its lovely colors (see photo above). I had never seen such a grass (which I incorrectly thought it was) before. The black and green striped scales were stunningly beautiful. I was seized by its splendor like a teenager dazzled by a movie star.

My botany buddy told me that it was Buxbaum’s sedge (Carex buxbaumii), a threatened species in New York State. This was another target species for our trip here, although admittedly it was secondary to the dwarf sand cherries. Most of them weren't blooming yet, but that was fine by me, for it was the bicolored pistallate scales that had me enthralled.

It turns out that Buxbaum’s sedge, also called brown bog sedge, is a circumpolar species that has a global status of G5 (secure), while in NY its abundance is listed as S2 (imperiled). It was named after Johann Christian Buxbaum, a German botanist who lived from 1693 until 1730. I’m not sure if he “discovered” this plant or not – sources have not been forthcoming on this point. As for the label “brown bog sedge”, well, it likes wet, boggy areas, and the stripes on its scales are actually brown, not black.

The delightful discovery of this unassuming plant has renewed my interest in learning my grasses, sedges and rushes. A daunting task, perhaps, but not impossible. With the added incentive of hanging out with other amateur botanists whose knowledge of plants is nothing short of impressive, I feel pretty confident that this summer I will master at least a few of these treasures that are hidden in plain sight.

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This Week's Adirondack Web Highlights

• Adk Family Time: Memorial Weekend Events
• The In Box: Another Kid Dies On An ATV
• Adirondack Diary: St Regis PortageFest
• A New Parks/ Historic Sites Deal?
• Watershed Post: Have You Seen This Bee?
• Rural Blog: Urban, Rural Gun Death Rate Same
• MoFYC: This is Pulitzer Prize Editorial Writing?!
• Times Leader: Female Climbing Guides Featured
• Terra Daily: World's Biggest Beaver Dam Discovered

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Lake George Considers Phosphorus Fertilizer Ban

Lake George’s Supervisor wants his town to become the first within the Lake George watershed to ban the use of lawn fertilizers containing phosphorus.

If the ordinance that Supervisor Frank McCoy has proposed is adopted in June, Lake George will not only be the first town within the watershed to limit phosphorus, but the first community within the Adirondack Park to take that step, said John Sheehan, a spokesman for the Adirondack Council.

“The Lake George Park Commission should follow the town’s lead and ban phosphorus in fertilizers everywhere on the lake,” said Sheehan.

“Phosphorus is a major contributor to pollution in Lake George,” said McCoy. “If we take preventive measures, we can have a positive impact on the water quality of Lake George.”

According to Peter Bauer, the executive director of The Fund for Lake George, the heavy use of fertilizers with phosphorus has been linked to the growth of algae.

“A healthy Lake George needs phosphorus to function. Excess phosphorus causes water pollution and accelerates the lake’s aging process,” said Bauer.

Phosphorus also stimulates the growth of aquatic weeds such as milfoil, said John Sheehan.

“Without the sediment and run-off, there would not be the nutrients in the lake that allows the milfoil to grow,” said Sheehan.

The ban would apply to the entire town, not just the lake shore, said McCoy.

“Most of the Town of Lake George is within the watershed; it makes no sense to prohibit the use of fertilizers with phosphorus on the lake but allow it to be used near streams that run into lake,” McCoy said.

Representatives of lake protection groups welcomed McCoy’s proposal.

“We thinks it’s a fantastic plan,” said Walt Lender, the executive director of the Lake George Association. “Banning the use of fertilizers with phosphorus throughout the town would be more effective than limiting it just along the lake, and we hope the Town Board adopts the Supervisor’s proposal.”

Peter Bauer of the Fund for Lake George called the proposal “a much needed, bold move.

Added Bauer, “Using phosphorus-free fertilizers is a small inconvenience for the property-owner, but a huge step forward for the lake.”

McCoy said he did not anticipate much opposition to the proposal from town residents.

“I have a sense that everyone wants to do the right thing,” said McCoy. “Banning fertilizers with phosphorus is to everyone’s benefit; by protecting the lake, we protect our property values.”

McCoy said that the ban would be adopted through voluntary compliance rather than enforcement.

“We won’t have a phosphorus police; we’ll rely on education and peer pressure,” he said. ”If we have 50% compliance, we’ll be better off than we were before. Any step we take today is better than what we were doing the day before.”

According to Peter Bauer, high levels of phosphorus contribute to the creation every summer of a ‘dead zone’ in Lake George’s south basin.

“In that part of the lake, oxygen levels are depleted due to high nutrient levels, making the water there unable to support fish life,” said Bauer.

Using phosphorus free fertilizers, in addition to adding vegetative buffers to absorb runoff before it reaches water bodies, is a crucial first step in protecting Lake George’s water quality,” said Peter Bauer.

“The Town of Lake George has stepped up to the plate and shown that it can be a model for every municipality in the watershed,” said Bauer

Photo: Aerial view of Town of Lake George courtesy the Lake George Mirror.

For more news from Lake George, subscribe to the Lake George Mirror

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This Week's Top Adirondack News Stories

• No More Boat Mail on Upper Saranac
• DOT Says No Rte 86 Placid-Saranac Repaving
• Moose River Plains Road to Reopen
• A New Parks/ Historic Sites Deal?
• DEC Tickets Drivers Transporting Firewood
• Public Using Parks Despite Closure
• Sayward: "Shut Government Down"
• VT Residents Oppose Border Plans
• Memo Outlines DEC Budget Cuts
• Essex Co Leaders Oppose Open Govt Law

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2nd Annual Lake Placid Adaptive Cycling Festival

The 2nd Annual Lake Placid Adaptive Cycling Festival will take place in Lake Placid on Saturday, June 12th. The event, which will begin at 9:00 am at the base of the ORDA Ski Jumping Complex on Route 73, is sponsored by Adirondack Adaptive Adventures (TriAd) and Mountain Orthotic and Prosthetic Services.

The Adaptive Cycling Festival features activities for cyclists of all abilities, and anyone who rides bicycles, tricycles, handcycles, tandems, recumbents and anything else cycling-related is welcome to attend. "This is a celebration of adaptive recreation," notes Jeff Erenstone, certified prosthestist and owner of Mountain Orthotic and Prosthetic Services in Lake Placid, "We believe everyone should be able to enjoy cycling."

"We wanted to create an unique event that would not only promote the region as a destination for adaptive outdoor recreation, but that would also benefit local residents with disabilities and their families," says Elijah Cooper, director and founder of Adirondack Adaptive Adventures.

Participants will be able to join supported group rides along the Ausable River, or work with a volunteer instructors to learn how to enjoy cycling in a way that best suites their abilities. Bike demos will be available, but participants are encouraged to bring their own equipment and helmets. The organizers welcome anyone who has found a creative solution to their cycling challenges to come and share their experiences.

Refer to the event website at www.lakeplacidadaptive.com or on Facebook for more information about registration and fees, the schedule of events, volunteer and sponsoring opportunities, driving directions and local accommodations.

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Current Conditions in the Adirondack Park (May 27)

This announcement is for general use - local conditions may vary and are subject to change. For complete Adirondack Park camping, hiking, and outdoor recreation conditions see the DEC's webpage. A DEC map of the Adirondack Park can also be found online [pdf].

Fire Danger: HIGH

Memorial Day Weekend
Due to Monday’s holiday and the forecast for good weather, visitors should be aware that popular parking lots, camping sites, motels and hotels may fill to capacity. This is a weekend to seek recreation opportunities in less-used areas of the Adirondack Park.


Weather
Friday: Sunny, with a high near 74. Calm wind becoming northwest around 5 mph.
Friday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 44. Light north northwest wind.
Saturday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 73. Winds 5 to 8 mph; could gust to 23 mph.
Saturday Night: Partly cloudy, slight chance of showers after 2am. Low around 52.
Sunday: Sunny, with a high near 79.
Sunday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 46.
Memorial Day: Chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly cloudy, high near 79.
Monday Night: Chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly cloudy, low around 54.

Biting Insects
"Bug Season" has begun in the Adirondacks so Black Flies, Mosquitos, Deer Flies and/or Midges will be present. To minimize the nuisance wear light colored clothing, pack a head net and use an insect repellent.

Firewood Ban
Due to the possibilty of spreading invasive species that could devastate northern New York forests (such as Emerald Ash Borer, Hemlock Wooly Adeljid and Asian Longhorn Beetle), DEC prohibits moving untreated firewood more than 50 miles from its source. Forest Rangers have begun ticketing violators of this firewood ban. More details and frequently asked questions at the DEC website.

General Backcountry Conditions
Wilderness conditions can change suddenly. Hikers and campers should check up-to-date forecasts before entering the backcountry as conditions at higher elevations will likely be more severe. All users should bring flashlight, first aid kit, map and compass, extra food, plenty of water and clothing. Be prepared to spend an unplanned night in the woods and always inform others of your itinerary.

Blowdowns: Due to recent storms and high winds blowdown may be found on trails, particularly infrequently used side trails. Blowdown may be heavy enough in some places to impede travel.

Bear-Resistant Canisters: The use of bear-resistant canisters is required for overnight users in the Eastern High Peaks Wilderness between April 1 and November 30. All food, toiletries and garbage must be stored in bear resistant canisters; DEC encourages the use of bear-resistant canisters throughout the Adirondacks.

Local Conditions

Lake George Wild Forest / Hudson River Recreation Area: Funding reductions have required that several gates and roads remain closed to motor vehicle traffic. These include Dacy Clearing Road, Lily Pond Road, Jabe Pond Road, Gay Pond Road, Buttermilk Road Extension and Scofield Flats Road.

Moose River Plains Wild Forest: Funding reductions have required that most gates on the Moose River Plains Road System will remain shut and the roads closed to motor vehicle traffic, however crews began clearing the main Moose River Plains Road this week and plan to open it Friday. Roads south of the "Big T" junction (Otter Brook and Indian Lake roads) will remain closed for now.

Raquette River Boat Launch: The Raquette River Boat Launch along State Route 3 is closed at this time as DEC is rehabilitating the boat launch. See the press release for more information. It is expected to reopen in mid-June.

Pok-O-Moonshine Mountain: A peregrine falcon nest has been confirmed on The Nose on the Main Face of Poke-o-moonshine Mountain. All rock climbing routes including and between Garter and Mogster, are closed. All other rock climbing routes are open beginning May 12.

St. Regis Canoe Area: The carry between Long Pond and Nellie Pond has a lot of blowdown. Also beavers have flooded a section of trail about half way between the ponds. A significant amount of bushwhacking will be needed to get through the carry, so be prepared for a real wilderness experience.

Chimney Mountain / Eagle Cave: DEC is investigating the presence of white-nose syndrome in bats in Eagle Cave near Chimney Mountain. Until further notice Eagle Cave is closed to all public access.

Giant Mountain: All rock climbing routes on Uppper Washbowl remain closed due to confirmed peregrine falcon nesting activity. All rock climbing routes on Lower Washbowl in Chapel Pond Pass are opened for climbing.

Opalescent River Bridges Washed Out: The Opalescent River Bridge on the East River Trail is out. The cable bridge over the Opalescent River on the Hanging Spear Falls trail has also been washed out. The crossing will be impassable during high water.

High Peaks/Big Slide Ladder: The ladder up the final pitch of Big Slide has been removed.

Calamity Dam Lean-to: Calamity Lean-to #1, the lean-to closest to the old Calamity Dam in the Flowed Lands, has been dismantled and removed.

Mt. Adams Fire Tower: The cab of the Mt. Adams Fire Tower was heavily damaged by windstorms. The fire tower is closed to public access until DEC can make repairs to the structure.

Upper Works - Preston Ponds Washouts: Two foot bridges on the trail between Upper Works and Preston Pond were washed out by an ice jam. One bridge was located 1/3 mile northwest of the new lean-to on Henderson Lake. The second bridge was located several tenths of a mile further northwest. The streams can be crossed by rock hopping. Crossings may be difficult during periods of high water.

Duck Hole: The bridge across the dam has been removed due to its deteriorating condition. A low water crossing (ford) has been marked below the dam near the lean-to site. This crossing will not be possible during periods of high water.

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Forecast provided by the National Weather Service; warnings and announcements drawn from NYS Department of Environmental Conservation.

The new DEC Trails Supporter Patch is now available for $5 at all outlets where sporting licenses are sold, on-line and via telephone at 1-866-933-2257. Patch proceeds will help maintain and enhance non-motorized trails throughout New York State.

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Gates to Remain Closed at Hudson River Recreation Area

Saying the agency was "acting to protect natural resources and to curtail illegal and unsafe activities," the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) has announced it has relocated six campsites closer to main roads and will not reopen the gates at the Hudson River Special Management Area (HRSMA) of the Lake George Wild Forest. The gates, only recently installed to limit the area's roads during spring mud season, will remain closed until further notice. "Unfortunately, due to funding reductions resulting from the state’s historic budget shortfall, DEC is, as previously announced, unable to maintain many of the roads in HRSMA and must keep the gates closed until the budget situation changes," a DEC statement said.

Also known as the “Hudson River Rec Area” or the “Buttermilk Area,” the HRSMA is a 5,500-acre section of forest preserve located on the eastern shore of the Hudson River, straddling the boundary of the towns of Lake Luzerne and Warrensburg in Warren County. Designated “Wild Forest” under the Adirondack Park State Land Master Plan, HRSMA is a popular location for camping, swimming, picnicking, boating, tubing, horseback riding, hiking, hunting and fishing. The Hudson River Rec Area has been a popular spot for late-night parties, littering, and other abuses.

Six campsites (# 6-11) have been relocated due to vandalism and overuse. Campsites #6, 7, 8, and 10 and 11 are relocated in the vicinity of the old sites and just a short walk from the parking areas. Parking for each of these sites is provided off Buttermilk Road. Site 9 has been relocated to the Bear Slide Access Road providing an additional accessible campsite in the HRSMA for visitors with mobility disabilities. Site 11 is located off Gay Pond Road, which is currently closed to motor vehicle traffic.

Signs have been posted identifying parking locations for the sites and markers have been hung to direct campers to the new campsite locations. Camping is permitted at designated sites only - which are marked with "Camp Here" disks.

Gay Pond Road (3.8 mi.) and Buttermilk Road Extension (2.1 mi.) are temporarily closed to all public motor vehicle access. Pikes Beach Access Road (0.3 mi.) and Scofield Flats Access Road (0.1 mi.) may still be accessed by motor vehicle by people with disabilities holding CP3 permits. As in the past, the Bear Slides Access Road and Darlings Ford are closed to motor vehicle use by the general public but will remain open for non-motorized access by the general public and motorized access by people with disabilities holding a CP-3 permit.

Currently eight campsites designed and managed for accessibility remain available to people with mobility disabilities. All of the designated sites are available to visitors who park in the designated parking areas and arrive by foot or arrive by canoe.

DEC Forest Rangers will continue to educate users, enforce violations of the law, ensure the proper and safe use of the area, and remind visitors that:

* Camping and fires are permitted at designated sites only;

* Cutting of standing trees, dead or alive, is prohibited;

* Motor vehicles are only permitted on open roads and at designated parking areas;

* “Pack it in, pack it out” – take all garbage and possessions with you when you leave; and

* A permit is required from the DEC Forest Ranger if you are camping more than 3 nights or have 10 or more people in your group.

Additional information, and a map of the Hudson River Special Management Area, may be found on the DEC website.

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Carpenter Ants: Marching One by One

It happens every year. The heat of summer arrives and the ants are on the move. I usually first see them in the evening when I take the dog for his walk, and then again the next morning. The apparent migration lasts for several days. Who are these ants, where are they going and what are they doing? I had to know.

First I needed to know what kind of ant I was encountering. I headed out last night with my camera and attempted to photograph some of these insects. It seems that whenever I need a close-up of a plant, the wind blows. Likewise, when I need a close-up of an insect, it insists on continuously moving… rapidly. Still, determination was on my side and I finally captured a couple images that were good enough for ID.

I suspected these were carpenter ants simply because of their size. My insect field guide has images of two carpenter ants: the western carpenter ant and the black carpenter ant, the latter of which is common here in the east. But, my ant is not totally black; it has a red thorax. I needed a better ID source.

Once more, www.bugguide.net came to the rescue. Within half an hour of posting my photos the answer came back: Camponotus noveboracensis, the New York carpenter ant. This is a nearctic species, which basically means it is found in the northern parts of North America. How lucky are we New Yorkers to have a carpenter ant named after us?

When it comes to carpenter ants, most of us have an understandable aversion, for they can be the bane of the homeowner’s existence. When I bought my house, the insurance company went over details of my policy with me over the phone. One comment that the agent made has always stuck with me: we don’t have termites up here, so we don’t have to worry about that. But she said nothing about carpenter ants.

Termites eat wood; carpenter ants do not. Still, carpenter ants are not called “carpenter” for whim alone. These large ants live in wood. A newly fertilized queen seeks out a damp, rotted stump or log to set up home. Damp, rotted wood is soft and easier to excavate. She finds a suitable site, enters, breaks off her wings, and commences the business of creating a colony: excavating a nest and laying eggs.

Because she has no workers to help her out with this first batch of young, the queen has to take care of them all by herself. She never leaves the nest to forage, so when her eggs hatch into hungry larvae, she feeds them from reserves in her own body. Because this food is rather Spartan, these larvae end up pupating into rather runty adults, which are known as “minors.” Once they are all grown up, these minors live to serve their queen: they forage for food, further excavate the nest, and raise the queen’s subsequent broods.

Adults born from later broods are more robust (and thus called “majors”), thanks to the foraging efforts of the workers (which are sterile females). When they are full adults, they join the workforce as additional workers. Slowly the colony builds up. By the time the colony is about four years old, there may be 400 individuals populating it.

It isn’t until the numbers swell to about 2000 (six to ten years) that the colony is ready to divide. At this point the queen lays eggs that hatch into winged females and winged males, both of which are called “reproductives”. These hormonally active adults are produced at the end of the summer and spend the winter at home with Mom and all their sisters. When the first really warm weather of the following spring arrives, they head out in search of mates (ah-ha!). After mating, the males die and the newly inseminated females, now queens in their own rights, seek out stumps or logs to call home.

So, it turns out that the (mostly) winged ants that I’ve been seeing on the roads are the reproductives. Knowing that once the colonies are large enough to expand and form satellite colonies, which are often in our homes, I don’t feel too guilty when I step on any individual that gets too close to my foot.

But when do they become problems in our houses? As mentioned above, the queens seek out soft damp wood because it is easier to excavate. If your house has damp conditions, you may be a target for carpenter ants. But even if your house is high and dry, well-ventilated, free of foundation plantings and woodpiles, you could still have carpenter ants, for satellite colonies are not as fussy as the queen in the parent colony. No, these industrious individuals are just as happy to take up residence in solid wood – the timbers of your home. Here they excavate extensive galleries that enable them easy access to other parts of your house, to food, to friends and family.

If you see piles of sawdust collecting about your house, you should be suspicious. You should also look for trails in your yard, for these ants are a lot like people, building highways for repeated use and maintaining them for ease of travel by keeping them free of debris and vegetation.

They also like sweets. While insects and other arthropods make up a large part of the carpenter ants’ diet, they also collect the sweet exudate, or honeydew, produced by aphids. And they seek out rotting fruits.

Eliminating carpenter ants from your house can be a real chore, for you have to eliminate the parent colony in order to have any real success. And if you have carpenter ants, you really should look into getting them under control, for they can seriously damage the structural integrity of your home.

Still, in their rightful place out in nature, carpenter ants serve a useful purpose by helping turn old, rotting trees into sawdust that eventually becomes part of the soil of the forest floor, creating a continuously self-renewing and balanced ecosystem. And it’s hardly the ants’ fault if we provide them with such lovely abodes in which they can take up residence. We just need to build better and learn how to make our homes less appealing to our small carpenter friends.

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Paddling: Lows Lake to The Upper Oswegatchie River

It's been exactly two years since I paddled the Lows Lake-Oswegatchie River traverse with my friend Dan Higgins. So by now the bug bites have healed.

That is, of course, the danger of doing the Adirondack's greatest canoe trip in the middle of black fly season. But with a bit of perseverance, some luck as to the weather (lower temperatures and wind keep the flies down), bug dope and a head net, and the trip this time of year can be not only tolerable but even grand.

Lows, a wilderness lake a half-day paddle from the nearest public road, is a madhouse on busy summer weekends. But during our trip on Memorial Day weekend we saw only a handful of paddlers. This is the controversial wilderness lake where the float-planes land, although we didn't see any of those either. [Ed.: The floatplane ban begins in 2012].

To do this route, you need a car parked at Lake Lila and another at a boat launch near the state ranger's school at Wanakena, west of Cranberry Lake. You also need a $2,000 lightweight kevlar canoe (unless you truly enjoy pain) for the three-mile portage. Pack light, and eat your vitamins before you go.

On the first day, paddle across Lila, do a short carry, and join the beautiful and serene Bog River Flow. This takes you to Lows, a massive (though man-made) lake filled with mysterious bays, twists, ghost trees standing in the water, some hiking trails and the famous floating bog, an island of grass in the middle of the lake. You can reach it in about half a day's paddling, or a full day at a relaxed pace.

There's a variety of campgrounds to choose from. We picked one near the portage, wanting to get an early start the next day.

On day two we found the portage route and began the long carry. There are several ways to haul a "lightweight" canoe, none of which are entirely pleasant. We favored us both carrying the beast while wearing backpacks, using the seats and flotation devices to rest the weight on our heads. Later, we founded this stretched the wicker seats, so it's probably not a good idea.

Our canoe also came with a shoulder yoke for a single person to carry, so probably a better idea would have been to take turns carrying the boat and a light pack while the second person carried most of the gear in a second backpack.

We were told that wheeled canoe or kayak wagons were not a good idea due to the tight turns of the portage. But looking back, one might have worked OK. Also, some solo paddlers will carry their boat and then go back for their packs -- hiking the route three times total. Any way you slice it, it's tough.

After a mile portage, you come to another small lake, which you paddle across. Then there's another two mile walk. There is one tough hill to climb, but most of the route is level.

The trail takes you past an area struck by a massive windstorm more than a decade ago, which felled seeming every tree in the area. Huge old-growth trunks three or four feet thick lie defeated on the ground , but the damage will be hard to look at, seeing as how you will be carrying a canoe atop your head.

Eventually, you reach the Upper Oswegatchie. The river at this point is a small stream, just deep enough to float a boat. Between here and High Falls, a popular camping spot, is about 10 miles of twisting, turning, thick, fly-infested woods. There are also several dozen beaver dams to pull the boat over (our livery owner suggested getting out of the boat at each dam so as not to risk puncturing the craft, which we did). There are numerous other spots where massive, fallen tree trunks block the way -- including one case where a ranger carved out a tunnel big enough for a canoe to float through. It's more an obstacle course than a float trip.

Along the way, there are campsites for the weary. By the time we reached our chosen spot, we were exhausted. Dan collapsed into our tent, joined by dozens of flies. I donned a long-sleeve white shirt (black flies and mosquitoes apparently favor darker colors) and a head net, and read a book as ten thousand insects fluttered around me.

But the bugs left precisely at 7 p.m. as temperatures dropped, and gave us peace for the evening. The next day, we reached High Falls, did a final portage and spent the afternoon in a leisurely paddle back to the car (managing to spill the canoe in the one rapid we ran, a class two that's easily avoided).

The biggest secret to doing this traverse during black fly season? Like mosquitoes, black flies seem to favor some people over others. In our case, it was Dan -- he reported well over a hundred bits on his arms, neck, back, while I counted only six on me. Or maybe it was the white shirt. In any event, to really enjoy this trip, bring someone to lure the bug bites away from you!

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Interested in the Lows Lake-Oswegatchie River Traverse? You can rent a Kevlar canoe for around $50 per day at St. Regis Canoe Outfitters in Saranac Lake (which also has a two-page route description for the traverse) or Raquette River Outfitters in Tupper Lake. They also operate car shuttles if you only have one vehicle.

Be sure to pick up a waterproof Adirondack Paddler's Map of the route for $17 to $20, which shows camping spots, portage routes and local hiking trails. If you find one floating somewhere, it's probably ours -- it got lost after we capsized on the Lower Oswegatchie.

To read more about this trip, check out an article I wrote two years ago in the Times Union.

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Commentary: Climate Change in the Champlain Basin

Over the past several hundred thousand years, global atmospheric levels of carbon dioxide have remained relatively stable, averaging 280 parts per million (ppm) and varying between 180 and 300 ppm through several ice ages. But over the past 60 years, the carbon dioxide concentration in the atmospheric has risen steadicly, at an accelerating rate from decade to decade, to the current level of 392 ppm.

Why should we care? There is a strong causal link (shown by ice core and other scientific studies) between atmospheric concentrations of "greenhouse gases" such as carbon dioxide and global surface temperatures. Moreover, scientists who study the earth's history have discovered periods in the Earth's history, tens and hundreds of millions of years ago, when high concentrations of greenhouse gases apparently led to global warming and mass extinctions of the earth's biota as much of the planet became uninhabitable. In the current period of rapidly rising atmospheric CO2, we are already seeing dramatic evidence of ecosystem change. Among many recent examples of climate-caused ecosystem change, two widely publicized ones include coral reefs bleaching and dying as the oceans warm and become more acidic, and dramatic losses of summer ice cover on the Arctic Ocean as the poles warm.

Why should we care? Well, if you live in the Arctic, or if you live on a low-lying island in the ocean, or if you live in an area suffering from climate-caused drought, or if you live an an area where the forests are dead all around you (e.g., southern British Columbia and many areas in the Rocky Mountains), or if you fish for salmon in Alaskan rivers, you care. But for those of us living in temperate regions it is often hard to perceive, and thus to care about, the relatively slow incremental changes that are occurring due to rising levels of atmospheric CO2 and a changing climate. Scientists have only recently started to focus on impacts of climate change on a regional or local level in the temperate parts of the world.

A new study by Dr. Curt Stager and Mary Thill sheds light on climate impacts that have already occurred in the Lake Champlain Basin and what impacts are to be expected in the near future. Funded by The Nature Conservancy, the research was an effort to find out how climate change might affect the aquatic habitat in one relatively small region. Their research showed that average temperatures have risen 2°F in just the past 30 years and that winter ice cover is significantly less extensive than in the past. For example, in the 19th century the lake failed to freeze over only three times, while between 1970 and 2007 it failed to freeze over 18 times.

No one can precisely predict future climates, but a host of climate models do a demonstrably and increasingly good job of doing so. An on-line tool is available, Climate Wizard, which allows anyone to easily access leading climate change information from 16 leading climate models and visualize the impacts anywhere on the planet. Report authors Stager and Thill applied Climate Wizard to the Champlain basin to develop a deeper understanding of how climate change might impact the basin and what resource managers could do. The good news is that many of their recommendations are things that we are already doing or should be doing: reduce pollution inputs, monitor environmental conditions and vulnerable species, be flexible and adaptive and prepared for varying lake levels, and prevent alien species invasions. As the authors state, dealing proactively with potential climate change impacts in the basin will be less costly and more effective than trying to respond after the fact.

The same thought process applies at the global level where I began this commentary. Climate change is real. It is going to get much warmer within the next 50-100 years. There is strong scientific consensus (e.g., Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change reports) that the primary cause of the dramatically rising atmospheric concentration of greenhouse gases are human emissions. But this is good news, in a sense, as it means that unlike past episodes of climate change linked to volcanic eruptions and meteor impacts, we can control our future - if we take steps soon to reduce greenhouse gases before large areas of the planet become uninhabitable.

The steps we should be taking - reducing our dependence on foreign oil, eliminating the burning of coal until its combustion is clean and non-polluting, using renewable energy sources, eating locally grown food, driving hybrid and electric cars, and reducing our heating and electric bills - are things that we should do regardless, even if all the climate scientists are all wrong (inconceivable to me). These steps amount to taking out relatively cheap insurance to ensure that our grandchildren inherit a healthy planet - just in case the scientists are correct.

Curt Stager and Mary Thill's full report is available here.

Graph: Lake Champlain ice dates, courtesy Curt Stager.

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Diane Chase Adirondack Family Activities: 2010 Farmers' Markets

It is time to celebrate fresh produce. Unlike other parts of the country when a Farmers’ Market is just an every day occurrence, here in the Adirondacks it is a like a long awaited festival of food. Some of us have endured a wintertime of foreign grown produce while others have managed on a local 100-mile diet. If you were interested in starting your own version of a 100-mile diet, summer is a good season to start.

There are many variations of eating local. Perhaps it is just a simple start of eating just one meal of week derived from local food or a monthly potluck with a local theme. Cornell Extension recently concluded an Eat Local Yet? conference providing recipes, directions to local producers as well as community-supported agriculture (CSA) programs. CSA programs provide local produce to consumers that buy shares of a farm’s harvest.

Adirondack Harvest has an easy way to look for local producers within a certain radius. You have the capability to find locally grown food by interactive maps for farmers’ markets, farm stands, restaurants and stores. There are even county guides that highlight U-Pick farms as well as regional food sites online.

I was just copying some recipes from my husband’s great aunt and looking over canning directions and becoming slightly overwhelmed with her crimped handwriting and copious notes. It was making me feel a bit remiss in any past attempts to store food that my garden may produce. Like so many home gardeners, my family eats what the garden produces, most of the time, right off the vine. I am not complaining. It is a wonderful sight to see my children “sneaking” veggies and fruit under the pretense of weeding.

Since we have no green house and will not be making our own goat cheese, we have to make trips to the Farmers’ Market to satisfy our needs. For our family, a trip to a Farmers’ Market becomes as much a social excursion as grocery errand.

Markets in Plattsburgh, Elizabethtown, Saratoga Springs, Canton, Ogdensburg, Potsdam, Glens Falls, Queensbury, and Lowville have been open for a few weeks now while this weekend the Alexandria Bay (May 28), Carthage (May 28) and Watertown (May 26) will be ready for business. In the High Peaks and colder regions of the Adirondacks there are varying dates from early to mid-June.

Most Adirondack Farmers Markets are also a great source of entertainment. Area musicians gather to jam while other vendors provide child-friendly activities in an idyllic atmosphere. Besides a plethora of baked goods and condiments, seasonal items to look for are fresh rhubarb, asparagus, garlic, chives, and some early lettuces.

Now if I can just decipher the recipes, I can put all those products to good use.


© Diane Chase is the author of the Adirondack Family Activities Guidebook Series including the recent released Adirondack Family Time: Tri-Lakes and High Peaks Your Guide to Over 300 Activities for Lake Placid, Saranac Lake, Tupper Lake, Keene, Jay and Wilmington areas (with GPS coordinates), the first book of a four-book series of Adirondack Family Activities.

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Let's Eat: Adirondack Spruce Gum

In the late 19th century, a new fad swept the nation. Chewing gum was decried by newspaper editors and public pundits as “an essentially vulgar indulgence that not only shows bad breeding, but spoils a pretty countenance.” Nevertheless, the June 14, 1894 edition of the Malone Palladium commented, “No observant person can have failed to note the marked growth of the habit of chewing gum…in all parts of the country and among all classes.” The paper noted that even the “late Senator Roscoe Conkling of New York was a firm believer in spruce gum chewing.”

The gum-chewing craze began in the conifer forests of Maine and the Adirondacks. Made from the dried and crystallized sap of spruce trees, spruce gum was an important commercial crop in the Adirondack region during the 19th and early 20th centuries.

The New York Times reported in 1889 that “very few people know how extensive [spruce gum picking] is, or how many people depend on it to help out a scanty living…Most of the Adirondack gum pickers are gum pickers from necessity, not from choice. They are a nondescript class... They are found among farmers, mechanics, lumbermen, guides, and even some of the young and robust maidens who dwell on the borders of the woods.”

Gum collectors scored spruce trees with an ax. The tree filled the wound with sap, which weathered and hardened over the summer and into winter. In early spring, Adirondackers used an ax or a picker make from a tin can with a sharp edge or scraper attached on the end of a long pole. Boiled and processed, the gum was broken into bite-sized chunks. Still brittle, it took a few seconds to soften in the mouth, and retained a distinctively “sprucy” taste.

Enterprising men and women could collect hundreds, even thousands of pounds each year, to sell to manufacturers or process at home. In good years, one could sell the collected gum for as much as a dollar a pound. In 1881, the Pulaski Democrat announced, “A gentleman was in Lowville the other day, buying all the spruce gum that could be found in the market... The gum is shipped to Lowell, Mass., where it finds ready sale.” In 1916, John Kelly of Croghan collected and sold more than 3,000 pounds, “quite an achievement when taken into consideration that Mr. Kelly is well up into the sixties and did the work alone.”

In 1870, Thomas Adams of Staten Island, NY, developed chewing gum made from the sap of the Mexican Chiclezapote tree, and invented the Chiclet. Softer and sweeter, the new gum gradually outpaced the demand for brittle, unsweetened spruce gum.

By 1926, the Tupper Lake Herald reported that spruce gum had fallen out of favor, so much so that “only one man is actively engaged in having it gathered and only a dozen Indians tramp through the woods to bring in the stores.”

Nevertheless, spruce gum had its devotees, and one could still buy it in the late 1940s from a few Adirondack drug stores. It was sold by weight, and wrapped in “a neat packet sealed with olive green wax.” Old timers waxed nostalgic, recalling that it “tastes better if it’s all mixed up with resin, bark and pitch... Spruce gum is the distillation of rainbows and sunsets, of hurricanes and sunshine, of hard winter and puissant spring... Certain things do go with the Adirondacks, inalienably... When folks have been a long time absent from their homeland, their faces light up like lamps when they think about spruce gum.”

Come see the Adirondack Museum’s spruce gum picker, which was made and used in the Willsboro area in the early 20th century. It is on exhibit in “Lets Eat! Adirondack Food Traditions” which opens May 28.

Photo: Spruce Gum Picker Found in Willsboro, NY ca. 1900-1920, Adirondack Museum, Gift of Dennis Wells.

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APA Seeks Public Comment on General Tower Permitting

The Adirondack Park Agency (APA) is proposing a new general permit entitled “Installation of New or Replacement Telecommunications Towers at Existing Agency Approved Sites.” According to APA press materials, this will be a General Permit which "will allow for an expedited review of certain types of telecommunications projects at sites where the Agency has previously issued telecommunications permits and where the Agency has reviewed visual analyses prepared for the approved projects."

The general permit would cover the following types of proposed projects park wide:

1) the installation of one new telecommunications tower in the immediate proximity of an existing telecommunications structure approved by the Agency and where the existing access drive and utility infrastructure are used to the greatest extent practicable; and

2) the replacement of a pre-existing telecommunications tower or a telecommunications tower previously approved by the Agency to address structural deficiencies of the existing tower in order to accommodate co-location of an additional telecommunications provider on said structure; with potential for some de-minimus increase in height.

According to APA staff, the concept for this general permit came about after consultations with cellular companies, elected officials and agency staff. Projects eligible under this General Permit would not result in significant adverse changes in the overall visibility of the tower site as seen from public viewing points, according to the APA.

This action is a SEQRA, Type 1 action. A negative declaration and Full Environmental Assessment Form has been prepared by the Agency and is on file at its offices in Ray Brook, New York. The proposed General Permit, application and certificate forms are available for review on the Agency’s website at www.apa.state.ny.us/.

All persons and agencies are invited to comment on this proposed project in writing or by phone no later than June 28, 2010.

Please address written comments to:

Holly Kneeshaw, Acting Deputy Director Regulatory Programs

NYS Adirondack Park Agency
P.O. Box 99
1133 NYS Route 86
Ray Brook, NY 12977

Photo: A Mass of communication towers atop Prospect Mountain overlooking Lake George. Photo by John Warren.

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Governor George Clinton and Pok-O-Rushmore?

Untouched scenic vistas and natural landscapes are treasured in the Adirondacks. Seventy years ago, a popular landmark, since admired by millions, was nearly transformed into something far different from its present appearance.

It all began in 1937 with the editor of the Essex County Republican-News, C. F. Peterson. Formerly a Port Henry newspaperman, active in multiple civic organizations, and clearly pro-development and pro-North Country, Peterson was a force to be reckoned with.

Just how influential was he? The Champlain Bridge that was recently blasted into oblivion probably should have been named the Carl F. Peterson Bridge. In fact, efforts were made to do exactly that. Peterson originated the bridge idea, and as Vermont and New York debated whether to locate it at Ticonderoga, Crown Point, or Rouses Point, it was Peterson who put his all into promoting the Crown Point site.

Still not convinced? This should help. At the grand opening of the bridge in 1929, Governor Franklin D. Roosevelt summoned him to the reviewing stand and said, “Peterson, you have done a great work. I am proud of what you did and you have every reason to be very happy. This is your bridge because, without your zeal, it is very doubtful whether it would be here. You sold the bridge to New York State and Vermont, both of which should, and do, feel grateful.”

When Peterson talked, people listened, and eight years later, when he urged the Essex County Board of Supervisors to action, they took him at his word. The 200th anniversary of the birth of New York State’s first governor, George Clinton, was approaching. To honor the occasion, Peterson pushed for an appropriately lasting memorial to an undeniably great American.

The board responded with a succinct message to state leaders: “The resolution requests the legislative body at Albany to name a commission for the observance next year, asking that the group should consider the feasibility of perpetuating the memory of Governor Clinton by the carving of his likeness on the side of Pok-o-Moonshine Mountain.”

Seeking support for his proposal, Peterson framed the idea in patriotic terms, and it worked like a charm. Among the first to jump on the bandwagon was Senator Benjamin Feinberg of Clinton County (the library at Plattsburgh State -— Feinberg Library -— was named in his honor).

A man of great power and influence, Feinberg wrote this in a letter to Peterson: “Your suggestion … is a good one. Undoubtedly, some action will be taken by the Legislature to fittingly observe this anniversary, and I shall be glad to aid in carrying out such a plan. The carving of the likeness of Governor Clinton on the side of Pok-o-Moonshine would not only be a great attraction to visitors, but would commemorate the birth of the first Governor of the state in a magnificent manner.”

With Feinberg on board, the idea gained momentum. Soon the Essex County branch of the American Legion adopted a resolution in support of the memorial. The idea also received the unanimous backing of the Adirondack Resorts Association.

After all, it sounded like a great cause and a fine way to express patriotism. Widespread approval was expected, and it didn’t hurt that the idea coincided with the pending completion of a national monument—the one on Mount Rushmore in South Dakota.

An editorial by the Plattsburgh Daily Press added this supportive comment: “We can think of no son of the State who has deserved better from the hands of the people, and it is sincerely to be hoped that the Legislature will show its recognition of this by providing for this statue on rugged old Pok-o-Moonshine Mountain.”

The gung-ho beginning preceded a period of thoughtful consideration; then, dissent began to surface. In January 1938, a Ticonderoga organization passed their own resolution, stating in part: “ … it is the considered opinion of the Ticonderoga Kiwanis Club that the forests, streams, lakes, and mountains of Essex County constitute the county’s greatest asset … and that unnecessary artificial alteration of the natural state of these resources irreparably diminishes their value to our citizens … Be it hereby resolved that the Ticonderoga Kiwanis Club is unalterably opposed to the said requested legislation and to any attempt to alter or deface the natural beauty of Pok-o-Moonshine Mountain…”

The letter was sent to several officials, including Governor Lehman and Senator Feinberg. The Kiwanis were soon joined by Ti’s Chamber of Commerce, the Adirondack Mountain Club, and the Keene Valley Garden Club. All supported the observance of Clinton’s birthday, but opposed the altering of Poko’s steep cliffs. One alternative proposal was a “super-improved highway through this region, to be known as the Governor Clinton Memorial Highway.”

Though many protests against the plan had surfaced, the danger to Pok-o-Moonshine was real. In March, among the final rush of bills passed by the legislature was the Feinberg-Leahy bill (by Feinberg and Assemblyman Thomas Leahy of Lake Placid). It called for a $5,000 funding package to prepare a celebration in Clinton’s memory.

With the state and the nation still struggling to recover from the Great Depression, many bills were vetoed, and that same fate befell Feinberg-Leahy. In April, Governor Lehman vetoed a second bill “designed to bring about the carving of a memorial to Governor George Clinton, the state’s first chief executive, on the face of Pok-o-Moonshine Mountain in Essex County.” Supporters were disappointed, certain the carving would have been a great tourist attraction.

No one in opposition was suggesting Governor Clinton wasn’t worthy of such honor. He was widely revered as one of the state’s greatest citizens. After serving under his father in the French and Indian War, George Clinton practiced law and held various public offices. A staunch defender of the colonial cause for independence, he was selected as a member of the Second Continental Congress.

Clinton voted in favor of the Declaration of Independence, but missed the signing, and for good reason, having been urgently dispatched to serve as brigadier-general of the militia by his good friend, George Washington (so good, he named his children George and Martha).

Clinton saw action at White Plains and other locations. He eventually served as governor of New York for 18 consecutive years, and 22 years in all, the longest of any New York governors. He was vice-president under Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, one of only two vice-presidents to serve under two different presidents. He also became the first vice-president to die in office, succumbing to a heart attack in 1812.

Perhaps the governor’s carved likeness would have been a great tourist attraction, but Poko today gets plenty of attention for other reasons: spectacular cliffs clearly visible from Interstate 87; its peregrine falcon nests; the climbing trail leading to magnificent views; the preserved fire tower; and a reputation as one of the most popular rock-climbing sites in the Adirondacks.

Photo Above: The cliffs of Pok-O-Moonshine.

Photo Below: NYS Governor George Clinton.

Lawrence Gooley has authored eight books and several articles on the North Country's past. He and his partner, Jill McKee, founded Bloated Toe Enterprises in 2004 and have recently begun to expand their services and publishing work. For information on book publishing, visit Bloated Toe Publishing.

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Almanack Welcomes Local Author, Historian, Lawrence Gooley

Please join me in welcoming Adirondack Almanack's newest contributor Lawrence Gooley. Gooley is an award-winning author who has hiked, bushwhacked, climbed, bicycled, explored, and canoed in the Adirondack Mountains for 40 years. With a lifetime love of research, writing, and history, he has authored eight books and several articles on the region's past, and in 2009 organized the North Country Authors in the Plattsburgh area. His book Oliver’s War: An Adirondack Rebel Battles the Rockefeller Fortune won the Adirondack Literary Award for Best Book of Nonfiction in 2008. His most recent effort is Terror in the Adirondacks: The True Story of Serial Killer Robert F. Garrow.

Gooley's fascination with area history serves his readers well and he's not afraid to get away from his desk an onto the ground where that history happened. He once researched a brief history of each bay on the Lake Champlain shoreline for example, prepared it in a binder with protective plastic sheets, laid it open on the bench seat of his canoe, and “lived history” for a week while paddling from Whitehall to Plattsburgh.

Gooley is a strong supporter of the Lyon Mountain Mining & Railroad Museum, where a 6-foot-long wall plaque hangs with the names of 162 men who died in accidents in Lyon Mountain’s iron mines. The plaque is based on information from his book Out of the Darkness.

With his partner, Jill McKee, Gooley founded Bloated Toe Enterprises in 2004 and have recently begun to expand their services and publishing work. They especially enjoy helping organizations and new authors navigate all the pitfalls of getting their work published, and seeing authors earn profits from their books. Besides Bloated Toe Publishing, they also operate an online store to support the work of other regional folks. The North Country Store features more than 100 book titles and 60 CDs and DVDs, along with a variety of other area products.

Lawrence Gooley's regular contributions to Adirondack Almanack will appear on Mondays.

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Commentary: On Towers in Wilderness Areas

This month the Adirondack Park Agency board authorized its staff to solicit public comment on proposals to save the fire tower on Hurricane Mountain through a bit of legal legerdemain.

I understand the board’s motivation: the public wants the tower to stay. This has been amply demonstrated in letters, petitions, and comments at hearings.

But the solutions on the table are intellectually dishonest and make a mockery of the Adirondack Park State Land Master Plan.

The tower is in the Hurricane Mountain Primitive Area. Under the master plan, Primitive Areas must be managed essentially as Wilderness Areas, where fire towers and most other man-made structures are not allowed.

Here’s what the plan, written in the early seventies, has to say on the matter: “The fire tower on Hurricane Mountain is currently an essential communication link to the Department of Environmental Conservation at present. Should it be replaced by other means of fire patrol and communications, the entire area should be reclassified as wilderness.”

Since DEC stopped using the tower years ago, the department has called for removing the structure and designating the tract Wilderness.

The APA has proposed two methods for thwarting the plan’s intention. One idea is to classify the land under the tower as a Historic Area. In this scenario, the state or volunteer groups could rehabilitate the tower and reopen it to the public (the lower steps have been removed to prevent access). The other idea is to classify the tower’s footprint as Primitive and amend the master plan to permit towers in Primitive Areas under certain circumstances. In this scenario, the tower could not be repaired beyond the minimal maintenance necessary for public safety. It would remain closed.

Under either proposal, the rest of the Hurricane tract would be reclassified as Wilderness.

Think about this. The tower is the only thing that stands in the way of reclassifying the Hurricane Mountain Primitive Area as a Wilderness Area. But now it seems that if we draw an imaginary line around the structure and call this patch Historic or Primitive, then—by bureaucratic sleight of hand—the surrounding lands become Wilderness. Even though the tower is still there. Even though nothing has changed except a few words in a document.

I suppose we could draw imaginary lines around every non-conforming structure in our Wilderness Areas. That would save us the trouble of removing them.

Let’s be honest. If the APA adopts either of these schemes, it is approving the existence of a fire tower in a Wilderness Area. So if the tower must stay, why not take the straightforward approach and amend the State Land Master Plan to permit towers to remain in Wilderness? This solution has several advantages over those on the table.

First, it upholds the integrity of the master plan. The APA is charged with enforcing the plan. By creating a loophole for the Hurricane tower, it would not be enforcing the law so much as making an end run around it. Who knows what else could fall through that loophole down the road?

Second, it would spare us much hand wringing over the fire tower on Wakely Mountain. The summit of Wakely is classified as Primitive, but the master plan says it should be added to the Blue Ridge Wilderness after the tower is removed. DEC is using the tower for radio communications, but someday it may no longer be needed. If the master plan is amended, the summit could be added to the Wilderness Area with the tower intact. It’s worth noting that you can’t get a good view from Wakely without climbing the tower.

Third—and as surprising as this may sound—it could strengthen protection of the Forest Preserve.

A fire tower does no damage to the environment. The objection to towers in Wilderness Areas is an aesthetic one—a subjective judgment that most people disagree with. In contrast, motor vehicles do harm the environment. They pollute the air, make noise, destroy vegetation, and create ruts on the landscape. And in my experience, if a place is accessible by vehicle, you are more likely to find litter, broken glass, empty beer cans, and other evidence of abuse. For all of these reasons, motor vehicles are prohibited in Wilderness Areas. However, vehicular access is allowed in Wild Forest Areas, where regulations are not as strict.

Now consider that there are sixteen fire towers in Wild Forest Areas. Some of these areas could become candidates for Wilderness if interior roads were closed and/or “non-conforming” structures were removed. If we allow towers in Wilderness Areas, we eliminate one obstacle to upgrading Wild Forest Areas to Wilderness. Yes, the man-made structure will remain, but the land will be better protected.

Just this month, the APA voted to classify the state lands on Lyon Mountain as Wild Forest. The Adirondack Council had lobbied for a Wilderness classification, but one argument against this idea was that the summit is home to a fire tower. (The council would have settled for a Primitive classification until the tower were taken down.)

A few years ago, the Open Space Institute sold the state a large tract near Tahawus, but it kept a tiny parcel on top of Mount Adams. Why? Because if the summit were added to the High Peaks Wilderness (along with the rest of the tract), DEC would have been obligated to get rid of the fire tower. In effect, though, we now have a fire tower in the High Peaks Wilderness. We might as well make it official by amending the State Land Master Plan and adding the summit to the Forest Preserve.

Furthermore, there are a dozen fire towers on private lands in the Park. As things stand, a tower’s presence would militate against a Wilderness classification if the state were to acquire any of these lands. One of the towers is atop Salmon Lake Mountain on property owned by the Whitney family—a water-rich tract long coveted by preservationists. If the state were to buy this tract someday (the family says it’s not for sale), environmentalists no doubt would urge it be designated Wilderness. Those who favor motorized access would push for a Wild Forest classification, and unless the master plan is amended, the fire tower would be one argument in their favor.

In short, by permitting towers to remain in Wilderness Areas, we would make it easier to create more Wilderness and protect the land against threats that matter.

And we would square our words with our deeds.

Note: the APA also is considering ways to preserve the fire tower on St. Regis Mountain in the St. Regis Canoe Area. One option is to amend the State Land Master Plan to permit fire towers in Canoe Areas. If this tower is to be saved, that’s the way to go—for reasons similar to those outlined above.

Photo of Hurricane fire tower by Phil Brown

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Fur, Fortune, and Empire: A History of American Fur Trade

"The fur trade was a powerful force in shaping the course of American history from the early 1600s through the late 1800s," Eric Jay Dolin writes in his new comprehensive history Fur, Fortune, and Empire: The Epic History of the Fur Trade in America. "Millions of animals were killed for their pelts, which were used according to the dictates of fashion -- and human vanity," Dolin writes. "This relentless pursuit of furs left in its wake a dramatic, often tragic tale of clashing cultures, fluctuating fortunes, and bloody wars."

The fur trade spurred imperial power struggles that eventually led to the expulsions of the Swedes, the Dutch, and the French from North America. Dolin's history of the American fur trade is a workmanlike retelling of those struggles that sits well on the shelf beside Hiram Martin Chittenden's 1902 two-volume classic The American Fur Trade of the Far West, and The Fur Trade in Colonial New York, 1686-1776., the only attempt to tell the story of the fur trade in New York. The latter volume, written by Thomas Elliot Norton, leaves no room for the Dutch period or the early national period which saw the fur trade drive American expansion west.

Dolin's Fur Fortune, and Empire, is not as academic as last year's Rethinking the Fur Trade: Cultures of Exchange in an Atlantic World by Susan Sleeper-Smith. It's readable, and entertaining, ranging from Europe, following the westward march of the fur frontier across America, and beyond to China. Dolin shows how trappers, White and Indian, set the stage for the American colonialism to follow and pushed several species to the brink of extinction. Among the characters in this history are those who were killed in their millions; beaver, mink, otter, and buffalo.

Eric Jay Dolin's focus, as it was with his last book Leviathan: The History of Whaling in America, is the intersection of American history and natural history. Readers interested in the history of the New York fur trade will find this book enlightening for it's connection of the state's fur business with the larger world as the first third deals with the period before the American Revolution, when New York fur merchants and traders were still a dominate factor. Yet, like last year's Sleeper-Smith book, Dolin's newest volume is simply outlines the wider ground on which the still necessary volume on the fur trade in New York might be built.

Note: Books noticed on this site have been provided by the publishers. Purchases made through this Amazon link help support this site.

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