The Town of Keene is creating a Green Graveyard as part of the expansion of its Norton Cemetery. This is believed to be the first significant Green burial ground in the Adirondacks.
The Town Board voted unanimously Tuesday Dec. 13 to embrace the new plan, beginning with burials in 2023. » Continue Reading.
December 13, 2022 – Saratoga PLAN completed two conservation easements with the Pott and VanVorsts families permanently protecting 126 acres of farmland in the Saratoga County Town of Ballston. Conservation of this fertile farmland means it will be forever available for farming and critical wildlife habitat for generations to come.
Both easements include land originally part of the Brookdale Farm, which originated circa 1835 by the McKnight family, a relative of the Potts by marriage four generations prior. The Brookdale Farm is thought to be the original 1800’s hops farm on Hop City Road where wagons were filled with the farm’s hops and transported to breweries in Albany. In addition to hops, the farm also had Merino sheep and dairy cattle, and produced hay and corn.
The SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry (ESF), one of the nation’s premier colleges focused exclusively on the study of the environment, developing renewable technologies, and building a sustainable future, is proud to announce that Dr. Martin Dovciak received a Mid-Career Advancement Award (MCA) from the National Science Foundation.
The award will help Dovciak advance his research—Data Science for Global Change-Does Plant Diversity Imply Forest Resilience?—which examines how plant diversity in the understory impacts the future of the forest.
While young tree seedlings in the forest understory can determine the character of the future forest, few studies have looked at how plant diversity may affect changes in tree seedling layer over time, according to Dovciak, associate professor in the Department of Environmental Biology. While some evidence suggested that more diverse plant communities should be more resilient to change, other studies suggested otherwise, he said. To remedy this problem, Dr. Dovciak will carry out an extensive study of what’s happening in world’s forest understories.
SARANAC LAKE, NY — The Adirondack North Country Association (ANCA) has announced that the regional nonprofit has been selected by the New York State Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) to establish its new Regional Clean Energy Hubs Program in the North Country. ANCA will work closely with Cornell Cooperative Extension (CCE) of Jefferson and St. Lawrence Counties and SUNY Canton Career Ready Education and Success Training (CREST) to administer the $4,099,404 award and bring clean energy programs and workforce development opportunities to North Country residents, homeowners, and businesses.
The project supports Governor Kathy Hochul’s nation-leading climate goals outlined in the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act, as well as the State’s commitment to deliver at least 35 percent of the benefits from clean energy investments, with a goal of 40 percent, to disadvantaged communities and help advance an equitable clean energy transition for all New Yorkers.
DEC announced plans to reclassify certain neonicotinoid (neonic) pesticide products as “Restricted Use” effective January 1, 2023.
Every pesticide product used, distributed, sold, or offered for sale in New York must be registered by DEC. Mainly, pesticides are classified as either general or restricted use pesticides. Restricted use pesticides can only be used by a private or commercial certified applicator possessing NYS issued certification.
Bolton Landing, NY – The Lake George Land Conservancy (LGLC) has purchased two properties in the Town of Bolton, a total of 48 acres of forest and wetlands, including 3,745 feet of Indian Brook and seasonal streams that feed into it.
In October the LGLC purchased a 10-acre property that adjoins 130 acres previously protected in 2016. Extending the protected boundary with this acquisition enhances the ability of its large wetlands to slow and filter surface waters and to mitigate storm events that deliver sediment to the lake. Larger contiguous areas of conserved lands also provide better wildlife habitat and are more resilient to natural disturbances.
The second property, a 38-acre parcel that includes nearly 3 acres of wetlands, was purchased November 22. This land features a mature hemlock forest and steep slopes.
Old Forge Library staff is pleased to announce that there are two new electric vehicle (EV) charging stations installed on the property and ready for use. In keeping with the tradition of providing needed services for the public, the Library’s Board of Trustees decided this would be beneficial in serving the needs of the public and allow electric automobile owners the opportunity to come in and explore what the library has to offer.
A new septic inspection program around Lake George could commence as early as the spring, with just over 500 properties becoming the first to submit to a new requirement that septic systems in critical areas in the lake basin get inspected every five years.
The Lake George Park Commission, which has been developing the regulatory proposal for around 18 months, cleared its latest process hurdle with a public hearing the Tuesday before Thanksgiving.
The comments were largely supportive of new septic inspection requirements, but some raised concerns about newer, better maintained systems being treated the same as old, malfunctioning ones.
Over one hundred people attended Community Resiliency Trainings throughout the Champlain and Upper Hudson River Watersheds. Ten events bolstered flood resiliency toolboxes for highway departments, prepared communities for climate change, and instructed Soil and Water Conservation District staff how to protect watershed health through erosion prevention.
“Soil and Water Conservation Districts partnered with Watershed Coalitions to host trainings that were laser focused on climate resiliency,” said Upper Hudson River Watershed Coalition president Caitlin Stewart. “Our target audience was municipalities, departments of public works, contractors, SWCD staff, environmental and conservation groups, and the public.”
On Friday, December 2, Governor Kathy Hochul announced 38 new graduates from the 23rd Basic School for New York State Forest Rangers. As part of the Department of Environmental Conservation’s Division of Forest Protection, New York Forest Rangers protect the state’s natural resources and communities and stand ready to support states across the country in the face of emergencies like wildfires. The ceremony held in Lake Placid [the morning of Dec. 2] celebrated graduates from across New York State who followed extensive law enforcement and natural resources training in the classroom as well as in the field.
Knowing the fundamentals of how to read a map and use a compass should be at the core of your outdoor skills. GPS tools or apps are great to have, but they aren’t a replacement for a paper map and compass and the ability to use them. Even if you have top of the line technology for wayfinding, a map and compass should still always be among the essentials in your pack.
The water of Lake George is rated as drinking water quality, which is no small feat for a lake of this size and with such heavy usage. The water remains clean and clear for several reasons. We have no industry or commercial agriculture on the shores, and the many springs on the lake’s bottom constantly feed it with clean water. Lake George is also unique in that it has its own state regulatory body, the Lake George Park Commission (LGPC), created in 1988 to protect the lake and safeguard the people who use it.
Lowville, New York – Results from the latest Northern New York Agricultural Development Program (NNYADP) maple research projects will be presented at the Making the Most of Maple workshop on Saturday, December 3, 2022, in Lowville, New York. Northern New York Maple Specialist Adam Wild, director of the Uihlein Maple Research Forest at Lake Placid, will be joined by Cornell University’s Statewide Maple Specialist Aaron Wightman, and Cornell Maple Program Product Development Food Scientist Catherine Belisle, Ph.D., as workshop presenters. The 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. workshop will be held at the Cornell Cooperative Extension of Lewis County Learning Center located at 7395 East Road in Lowville. Contact CCE at 315-376-5270 to reserve your space by November 30.
In 1986, Patricia LeClair and her husband built a house on nine acres of land in Corinth that they bought from neighbors, Jack Curtis and Mary Curtis. Jack, Mary’s brother, was an old friend of Patricia’s husband. Over the years, Mary and Patricia became close and Patricia frequently walked in the woods that spread across both the LeClair and Curtis’ properties. After Jack and Mary passed away, the Curtis’ property was left to the LeClair family.
Patricia LeClair held on to an article about Saratoga PLAN for many years and after thinking about how important land preservation was, she decided to donate a substantial portion (127.5 acres) of her land, the land that had been left to her by the Curtis family, to Saratoga PLAN. The LeClair family has made an outstanding gift to the community; helping to ensure the property’s ecological, educational, historic, recreational, and scenic values are maintained for generations to come. This gift to the community was also made possible by Saratoga County’s Farmland and Open Space grant, where monies were used to pay transaction costs, and from the Nature Conservancy’s Resilient and Connected Network grant which will help with future stewardship needs for the land.
AdkAction’s Compost for Good (CfG) project is looking for a new home for a community scale in-vessel drum composter. The 4’x20′ design is capable of processing up to 50,000 pounds of food scraps per year and will be made available to a North Country Site Host to be used as a demonstration site.
The in-vessel system was conceived of by John Culpepper and the late Greg LeClair from Jay, NY as an opportunity for the North Country School Camp Treetops to streamline their composting practices. The duo built the unit out of readily available materials through a grant from NYSERDA in 2015. It has successfully converted tens of thousands of pounds of food scraps into compost while offering educational opportunities for students and visitors alike. Three additional systems were built through the same grant and are now in operation at the Tupper Lake Wild Center, Lake Placid Central School, and Hermon Dekalb Central School.
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