Tuesday, May 15, 2018

Comment Period Begins On High Peaks Management

High Peaks Wilderness Map May 2018The High Peaks Wilderness Complex and the Vanderwhacker Mountain Wild Forest Draft Unit Management Plan Amendments have been released and public input is sought by June 27th.

Two public meetings will be held; on May 23, 2018, at 10 am at DEC Headquarters, 625 Broadway, in Albany; and the same day at 6 pm at Newcomb Central School, 5535 State Route 28N, in Newcomb.

The meetings will provide the public with an opportunity to learn more about the proposed management actions and comment on the proposals. » Continue Reading.


Sunday, May 13, 2018

Oil Tankers Out, Railway Closes, Future Uncertain

oil tankers in north creekThe last 24 oil tanker railcars that were stored all winter on the banks of the Opalescent River were hauled 30 miles south to the North Creek Depot on Tuesday, May 8th.

Just under 100 oil tankers were stored all winter in the Adirondacks. Widespread opposition from state and local leaders, and an array of environmental organizations, last fall stopped storage of oil tankers at just under 100. » Continue Reading.


Sunday, May 6, 2018

Web of Mystery: Euonymus Caterpillars

Ermine SpindleJanet Hayward Burnham, of Bethel, Vermont, was driving to the bank one day when she saw a tree on the side of the road that looked like it was covered in decorative webbing, “cans and cans” of it, as if for Halloween. However, it was June.

Burnham is an illustrator, children’s book author, and writer of sweet (as opposed to sexy) romances and mysteries. She is, in other words, an intellectually curious person and she pulled over for a better look. From the sidewalk, she could see that the whole yard was covered in cottony webbing. Deep inside the webs were yellowish-white caterpillars with black heads. “I’d never seen anything like this in Vermont,” Burnham said. “Clearly, it was infested with something. What were they? Should we be concerned?” » Continue Reading.


Friday, May 4, 2018

An Arbor Day Experience On Thomas Mountain

Late last year, our NYS DEC removed a cabin atop Thomas Mountain in the Lake George Wild Forest. The cabin, dating to the mountain’s former private ownership, had been vandalized and had become a public hazard. Its presence was also a violation of Article XIV, Section 1 of our NYS Constitution. DEC did the right thing to remove it.

Restoration of the former cabin site was a logical next step, and Arbor Day the right occasion. Adirondack Wild was very pleased to be invited by DEC to collaborate. We reached out once again for volunteers to the Youth EdVenture and Nature Network (YENN). » Continue Reading.


Thursday, May 3, 2018

‘I Love My Park Day’ Events Across The Adirondacks

i love my park daysThe New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) has announced ‘I Love My Park Day’ stewardship events have been set for Saturday, May 5 at five locations across the Adirondacks.

Locations include: » Continue Reading.


Thursday, May 3, 2018

Work Begins On Nine Adirondack Northway Bridges

i87A two-year, $5.1 million project to rehabilitate nine bridges along the Interstate 87 (the Adirondack Northway) in Essex, Warren, and Saratoga counties has begun.

The project will replace bridge joints, approach slabs, and bearings, as well as repair concrete and steel. The nine bridges, which are on or over the Northway, include: » Continue Reading.


Wednesday, May 2, 2018

DEC Seeks River and Stream Monitor Volunteers

Ausable River Near AuSable Forks in AugustThe New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) has announced they are recruiting participants for the 2018 summer sampling season to conduct water quality assessments in streams and rivers as part of the State’s Water Assessments by Volunteer Evaluators (WAVE) project. » Continue Reading.


Tuesday, May 1, 2018

Littering Season is Upon Us

For any movie buffs out there, here’s a trivia question: what single substance is mentioned during memorable conversations in the films It’s A Wonderful Life and The Graduate? Hints, if you need them: in It’s A Wonderful Life, the word is mentioned by Sam Wainwright during a famous and subtly steamy telephone conversation with George Bailey and Mary Hatch (Jimmy Stewart and Donna Reed) together on the other end of the line. In The Graduate, the word is uttered at a graduation party, and is part of an often-repeated line that was offered as confidential advice by Mr. McGuire to the college graduate himself, Benjamin Braddock (Dustin Hoffman).

For me the word also comes to mind each spring, a season that seems to bring out the worst in some drivers. The winter cold apparently discourages littering — people who toss garbage out of their cars tend to do so much less from November through March. Apparently disposing of their trash in alternate fashion (maybe a garbage can or recycling container, god forbid) is more attractive than opening the car window during the cold season. » Continue Reading.


Tuesday, May 1, 2018

Hudson River Source to Sea Clean-Up May 5th

riverkeeper sweepIn a massive, one-day effort stretching from New York Harbor to the Adirondacks, some 2,000 volunteers will help clean-up the shorelines at more than 100 locations along the Hudson River and its tributaries during the 7th Annual Riverkeeper Sweep on Saturday, May 5.

With 112 projects scheduled, this effort is the largest in the event’s history. Teams of volunteers, organized by local schools, businesses, scout troops, paddling groups, park staff and others, will remove trash and plant trees and native grasses. » Continue Reading.


Sunday, April 29, 2018

Mute Swans: An Adorable Invasive Species

swan by Adelaide TyrolThe big white birds paddling gracefully across a Massachusetts pond last November surprised me. I’d grown up in the town I was visiting and had never seen swans there, although my friend assured me they were resident birds. The only mute swans I’d seen before, years ago, were floating along the River Thames between Eton College and Windsor Castle.

Swans in England have a long history, and the mute swans along the Thames are, by law, the property of the queen. Mute swans on our side of the Atlantic are a more modern phenomenon and have no such protection. In fact, wildlife managers have been working for years to reduce the population of this species in order to protect native habitat and waterfowl. » Continue Reading.


Saturday, April 28, 2018

Opinion: New York State’s Plastic Carrying Bag Ban

My family has always spent Earth Day cleaning up a trailhead parking area. We’ve managed to gather plenty of disgusting items throughout the years, but the one thing we’ve never seen is a smaller amount of garbage.

There is always plenty of styrofoam containers, to-go cups, plastic straws, and plastic bags tucked into trees or buried in streams. We find paper, personal mail and crates of items that should be in a recycle bin. Cleaning the trailhead never seems to lessen the amount of plastic, or help people recycle. » Continue Reading.


Thursday, April 26, 2018

Arbor Day: What Is An Arbor Anyway?

Muskrat Day. Velcro Appreciation Month. Hair Follicle Hygiene Week. Arbor Day. You know it’s an obscure event when the greeting-card trade hasn’t bothered to capitalize on it. I like to think the industry knows Arbor Day is worthy of a Hallmark line, but that they’ve decided to honor its spirit by conserving paper. (C’mon, it’s possible.) While not the best-known observance, Arbor Day has a respectable history, as well as a local connection.

Rooted in Jefferson County in New York’s northern tier, Arbor Day, which is observed on the last Friday in April, has become recognized around the world. Mr. J. Sterling Morton of Adams, NY germinated the concept of Arbor Day in 1872 to highlight the need to conserve topsoil and increase timber availability in his adopted state of Nebraska. Mr. Morton went on to a sterling career in business, founding the Morton Salt Company, still in existence today. Arbor Day went on to become a somewhat obscure, if virtuous, tradition. » Continue Reading.


Thursday, April 26, 2018

Great Lakes Invasives Writer to Keynote FUND Meeting

death and life of the great lakesPrize-winning reporter and The Death and Life of the Great Lakes author Dan Egan is set to deliver the keynote address at the 2018 FUND for Lake George Annual Meeting on Saturday, July 7, 2018, at the Sagamore Resort Conference Center.

An account of how invasive species have devastated the largest freshwater ecosystem on earth, Egan’s The Death and Life of the Great Lakes shows what the future could hold for Adirondack waterways if invasive species are not stopped. Only hours from the Adirondacks, the Great Lakes are among the main sources of invasive species directly threatening the region. » Continue Reading.


Tuesday, April 24, 2018

Adirondack Wild: Limit Motors at Boreas Ponds

Photo by Phil Brown 2016. View of Gothics from Boreas Ponds.What follows is a press release issued by Adirondack Wild: Friends of the Forest Preserve:

In a letter submitted today to the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation, the nonprofit advocate Adirondack Wild: Friends of the Forest Preserve recommends that the Boreas Ponds tract be managed in ways that avoid damage to natural resources and enhance opportunities to experience solitude.

The highly controversial decision by the NYS Adirondack Park Agency in February, approved by Governor Cuomo, not to consider an all-Wilderness alternative, but to split the 20,000-acre Boreas Pond tract between Wilderness and Wild Forest classifications was opposed by Adirondack Wild, which offered many reasons why the entire tract should be managed as an addition to the High Peaks Wilderness area. » Continue Reading.


Tuesday, April 24, 2018

DEC Releases Draft Invasive Species Management Plan

LGA Lake Steward Monika LaPlante inspects a boat in 2010 at the Norowal MarinaThe New York State Departments of Environmental Conservation (DEC) and Agriculture and Markets (DAM) has announced the release of the State’s draft Invasive Species Comprehensive Management Plan for public comment.

The proposed plan is designed to minimize the introduction, establishment, and spread of invasive species throughout New York. Comments will be accepted through June 1, 2018. » Continue Reading.



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