The leaves are changing color quickly in the Adirondacks and were quite beautiful on Friday when the Explorer team met in Long Lake for a birding walk. Larry Master, one of our board members and a talented wildlife photographer, helped us spot wood ducks, great blue herons, song sparrows and belted kingfishers on our trip to Shaw Pond.

In case you missed it, last week state and local agricultural leaders attended a conference in Saratoga Springs. I stopped by and asked New York State Agricultural Commissioner Richard Ball and U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack some questions including what their thoughts were about solar development on farmland. Read the story here.

U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack (left) and Commissioner of the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets Richard Ball (right) at the National Association of State Departments of Agriculture annual meeting held on Sept. 27 in Saratoga Springs. Photo by Gwendolyn Craig

There are some new projects up for public comment on the Adirondack Park Agency’s website. Make sure you take a look here: https://apa.ny.gov/Hearings/index.cfm.

On a different note, if any of you used the Adirondack Mountain Reserve’s reservation system or the various shuttles in the Keene area this year, I would be interested to hear from you. There’s a new fall foliage shuttle, too, this month. More on that here: https://www.adirondackalmanack.com/2022/09/dec-new-fall-foliage-shuttle-begins-this-weekend-october-1-2.html. Drop me a line by email.

Editor’s note: This first appeared in Gwen’s weekly “Adirondack Report” newsletter. Click here to sign up.