Right now, we’re getting down to crunch time at the Adirondack Explorer, wrapping up many of our writing and photo assignments for the November issue.
We’ve got a lot of interesting news and recreational features lined up for this issue, including ones about Boquet and the Saranac rivers and how they’ve been impacted by dams. Atlantic salmon, in particular, have historically seen their spawning grounds cut off by the dams. Not only in the Adirondack region, but on the west, too.
The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation DEC Announced that they, along with Cornell University’s NYS Hemlock Initiative, The Adirondack Invasive Plant Program, Lake George Land Conservancy, and The Fund for Lake George, are developing a plan to mitigate the spread of the Hemlock Woolly Adelgid HWA on Forest Preserve Lands in the towns of Dresden and Fort Ann, in Washington County. The DEC confirmed the HWA infestation August of 2020, in infected hemlock trees at the Glen Island Campground on the shore of Lake George. This marks the second infestation of HWA in the Adirondacks.
Home Composting takes some care, as well as greens, browns, water and air. Fall is a great season to start home composting, as an abundance of leaves, and the waste from fresh fruits and vegetables can become an excellent resource for a compost pile. Compost supplies our soils with organic matter and nutrients which help capture and retain water, providing an environment for beneficial microorganisms to enliven plant roots. To learn more about home composting options click here. You can also tune into composting specialist Gary Feinland talk about common problems people encounter while creating a backyard composting pile and how to remedy them.
Adirondack North Country Association (ANCA) is gearing up for a virtual summit that will advance clean transportation — a key ingredient to the state’s low-carbon future.
“Clean Transportation: the Adirondack ON-RAMP,” will focus on topics including EV infrastructure, public transportation and commercial vehicles, as well strategies and policies for making clean transportation more accessible for residents and communities in northern New York.
Lieutenant Governor Kathy Hochul will be the summit’s keynote speaker. She will speak about the North Country’s clean transportation efforts in relation to New York State’s goals, incentives and policies, including the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA).
You care about the Adirondacks, its woods, waters and people. That’s why you’re reading the Explorer (and its sister site the Adirondack Almanack), on top of everything else going on in the world.
Like the park, the Explorer is a special place. Last year, it hired me to come write about water — so abundant here we might just take it for granted.
As beautiful and seemingly protected as that water is, I’ve reported how that beauty and those protections only run so deep. There’s pollution we can’t see and problems we haven’t fixed, like the contamination caused by road salt or the sewage slowly fouling up Lake George.
With fall officially upon us, there’s no better native to highlight this month than one of the first trees to showcase its autumn colors – the red maple (Acer rubrum).
Red maple is one of the most common tree species in the eastern United States, and red maple trees can be found all across New York State. This species’ tolerance of a wide range of site conditions makes it suitable for both natural and urban environments. Mature trees tend to reach a height of 40-60 feet with a full canopy of 30-40 feet in width.
New York State has launched a “Go Car-Free for the Climate” campaign in recognition of Climate Week 2020, which will take place September 21-27.
There are several ways to go car free, such as carpooling or combining errands into a single day, using public transit or walking to your destination.
Transportation makes up 36% of greenhouse gases in New York State, which is more then electricity generation, waste, refrigerants, and agriculture combined. Car Free for Climate is aligned with New York State’s long term plans to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 40% by 2030, and 85% by 2050 from its levels in 1990.
To participate, just click here to take a pledge not to drive your car for at least one day out of the week of September 21 to September 27. Those who participate are encouraged to spread the word to their friends, family, and neighbors about going Car free for Climate. Use of the social media hashtag #NYSCarFree is also encouraged to spread the message as far as possible.
Scientists have found a large swath of trees with hemlock woolly adelgid in the Lake George watershed, including a 1.5-mile stretch along the eastern shoreline. This is in addition to some that was found in August on Glen Island.
This is considered especially troubling for the Lake George region because hemlocks are so prevalent there, and they play a key role in the ecosystem, providing habitat for trout and other wildlife.
These weekly emails are supposed to come “out of the notebook,” a journalism term for something in my notes that hasn’t made it into a story.
Right now, I’m still working on my next stories and it’s hard to say what in my notebook will or won’t make it. So, let me share a few concepts that are important to our coverage here, particularly mine.
First, since I spend my time writing about water, I think a lot about what climate scientist Brad Udall says: climate change is water change.
International Compost Awareness Week (ICAW) May 2 – 8, 2021 – Save the date!This upcoming year’s ICAW 2021 theme, Grow, Eat…Compost…Repeat, empowers us to recognize and promote the importance of composting and the use of compost in growing healthier food, supporting healthier soils and, ultimately, creating a more just and sustainable world.
Video Contest Grades 4-8: This international contest runs from September 1, 2020 through November 2, 2020. Submit a short video (less than 30 seconds) highlighting this years theme, Grow, Eat…COMPOST…Repeat. Learn more about the video contest and rules.
Poster Contest Grades 9 -12 and Adults: This international contest runs from September 1, 2020 through November 2, 2020. Submit a poster design highlighting this years theme, Grow, Eat…COMPOST…Repeat. Learn more about the poster contest and rules.
In the midst of the worst pandemic in a century, The Rewilding Institute was at work creating its second annual anthology, which showcases the consequences of an “unwinnable war on nature,” including our encroachment on species-rich habitats, and the exploitation and marketing of wild animals for food and aesthetic items.
Produced by The Rewilding Institute and published by Essex Editions, Rewilding Earth has contributions from conservation and restoration leaders and artists who live all over the globe, but several make their home in the Adirondacks and Champlain Valley, including Bill Amadon, Sheri Amsel, David Crews, John Davis, Steven Kellogg, Jon Leibowitz, Rob Leverett, Larry Master, Patty Meriam, Shelby Perry, Kevin Raines, Sophi Veltrop, and Brendan Wiltse.
A handful of harmful algae blooms have struck the Adirondacks this summer, according to state environmental regulators.
Many blooms are inconvenient and ugly, but some are the product of toxic cyanobacteria that are often called and mistaken for algae. Without lab results, it’s impossible to know which is which, but officials tend to err on the side of caution now.
Inside the park’s boundaries, the state has identified five blooms it labels harmful, meaning not just icky but risky for people swimming in or drinking from the water. That figure, though, is sort of an undercount because it doesn’t include other blooms along Lake Champlain that are tracked by officials in Vermont.
A separate bloom tracker for Lake Champlain shows a series of blooms along the edge of the Adirondacks and the lake, though the ones happening now have been labeled “generally safe.”
Residential food scraps collection services and community food scraps drop-off spots are popping up across the state. Both are a great way to compost your food scraps locally if you can’t at home. Residential food scraps collection services collect food scraps at your curb while community food scraps drop-off spots allow you to drop your food scraps off at a designated location and time, such as your local farmers market or community garden. In return, the compost from these programs is used to build local healthy soils. Find a food scraps drop-off spot or residential food scraps collection service near you.
New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) Commissioner Basil Seggos released proposed regulations to reduce greenhouse gas emission statewide and implement the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA). The proposed regulations mark a milestone in realizing New York’s nation-leading clean energy and climate agenda.
The announcement demonstrates New York’s leadership on climate by taking a new and ambitious approach to the accounting of harmful emissions from fossil fuels – within and outside of the state – and for potent, short-lived pollutants such as methane. Additionally, the proposed regulations enable New York State to apply a flexible, stakeholder-driven approach for the annual accounting of net emissions.
Denuding the Adirondack Woods.
There is in the previous sentence a title of a book. There are many reasons why we go into the Wilderness. I go to be away from people and visit my church, if you will excuse the expression.
The natural wonder of nature and of being in a wild place calms my nerves and feeds my soul more than anything else I can do in my day to day life. The Adirondacks feel timeless, and throwback to an early period in American history. Trees, water, rocks, sand, wildlife, all of this profoundly changed during the many periods of ice advancement from Canada almost down to Virginia. Advance and retreat, then repeat and repeat again.
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