Thursday, March 16, 2023

Saranac Lake’s Common Ground Gardens Opening Registration to New Gardeners Today

Saranac Lake Common Ground Gardens growing season in full swing of summer.

Planting a Seed – Saranac Lake‘s Common Ground Gardens Opening Registration to New Gardeners Today, Thursday, March 16, 2023

By Paul Sorgule

It’s a bit ironic as I sit with my morning coffee, looking out the window at a steady Adirondack snowfall, knowing that my shovel is waiting outside – that my thoughts are on planting our garden in a few short months. Our High Mowing Seeds order has already been placed and a path has been cleared to the backyard shed where garden tools stand ready, willing, and able.  There is something so gratifying about getting our hands in the soil, weeding between rows as shoots pop their heads through the dirt, and watching humble seedlings grow and mature into the vegetables that will grace our table during the summer and early fall.  Sharing this experience with dozens of other local planters at Common Grounds Community Garden is icing on the cake.  These thoughts are really the first sign of Spring, long before lawns peek through the snow, and the birds return from their winter homes.

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Tuesday, March 14, 2023

APA to hold monthly meeting March 16

APA logo

APA Honors Women’s History Month with “Remarkable Women of the Adirondacks” Historical Presentation and Fine Arts Exhibit 

Ray Brook, NY – The Adirondack Park Agency (APA) will hold its monthly meeting on Thursday, March 16, 2023. The meeting will be held at the Agency’s headquarters in Ray Brook, NY. The public is welcome to attend in person or remotely.

Public comment will be available to members of the public who attend the Agency meeting in person as well as those who participate remotely. If you would like the opportunity to make a public comment remotely, please email your name and the phone number used to call into the Board Meeting to AgencyMeeting.PublicComment@apa.ny.gov.

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Sunday, March 12, 2023

ANCA Awarded $558K USDA Grant for Climate Smart Project

North Country Creamery in Keeseville, N.Y. will participate in an agroforestry project, coordinated by ANCA, that was awarded a $558,000 USDA Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities grant.

Saranac Lake, NY – The Adirondack North Country Association (ANCA) has been awarded a $558,000 federal grant to support climate-smart agroforestry projects on small farms in northern New York. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS) awarded the regional economic nonprofit a Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities grant to help farmers diversify their operations while implementing farming practices that improve land, water and air quality across the region.

The pilot project will provide customized technical assistance to participating farms and monitor economic and environmental benefits of utilizing agroforestry practices like silvopasture — a technique that integrates livestock, forage crops and trees on the same land. Planning and implementation phases of the project are expected to take two years, beginning in the summer and fall of 2023.

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Thursday, March 9, 2023

DEC hiring for summer, job fairs set for March 16

dec logoOn March 6, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) announced the availability of employment opportunities for the summer recreational season. Individuals looking for seasonal summer employment and who enjoy the outdoors are encouraged to learn more about opportunities to work at DEC facilities at upcoming on-site job fairs on Thursday, March 16, 2023.

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Thursday, March 9, 2023

Common Ground Alliance Announces 2023 Blueprint for the Blue Line

Common Ground Alliance logo

The Adirondack Common Ground Alliance (CGA) is a diverse network of stakeholders focused on addressing issues that affect the Adirondack Park – specifically, though not exclusively, environmental protection, economic development, and community vitality. Our goal is to facilitate dialogue and identify collaborative solutions that improve the Park and its communities for generations to come. Since 2007, CGA has organized an annual forum, yielding an agreed upon set of recommendations for state action referred to as the “Blueprint for the Blue Line.”

In the summer of 2022, more than 190 citizens participated in the 15th annual CGA Forum at Gore Mountain in North Creek. Below is a set of recommendations within five priority themes: housing, vibrant communities, community policing, recreation, and climate change mitigation and adaptation.

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Monday, March 6, 2023

Falconry, Wildlife Rehabilitator, and Leashed Tracking Dog Handler Exams Set for April 14

Falcon

Examinations for individuals seeking a license to practice the sport of falconry, become a volunteer wildlife rehabilitator, or use leashed tracking dogs to find wounded or injured big game animals are scheduled for Friday, April 14, 2023. The registration deadline for these free exams is Wednesday, April 12, 2023. To provide broad access to these examinations, DEC is offering them exclusively online.

Free study guides, the link to the registration website, and directions on how to register are provided on each of the individual license webpages. An email acknowledgment of registration will be sent to applicants along with an additional one-time link to access the website on the day of the exam.

For questions or assistance, please contact the Special Licenses Unit by mail at NYS DEC Special Licenses Unit, 625 Broadway, Albany, NY 12233-4752; by phone at 518-402-8985; or email us.

Photo at top courtesy of USFWS, provided by the NYS DEC.


Saturday, February 25, 2023

Town of Newcomb gifted new, high flow drum composter

CfG’s John Culpepper and a representative from Agriculture product manufacturer Mud Lake Stalls.

AdkAction and the Compost for Good (CfG) team are thrilled to announce that they have selected the Town of Newcomb as the recipient of a high flow drum composter as part of a USDA Rural Business Development Grant (RBDG). Newcomb was selected upon recommendation from a local advisory committee through a competitive application process based on the Town’s long standing interest in community scale composting, its strong collaborative team, and the educational opportunities it will provide.

The RBDG grant was awarded to CfG and AdkAction in 2021 to promote community scale compost business development in the North Country, including manufacturing, food scrap hauling, compost sales, retail, and more. The 20’x4’ drum composter was designed by CfG’s cofounder, John Culpepper, and is capable of transforming several hundred pounds of food scraps per week into rich soil. There are four community scale drum composters currently in the North Country, and Newcomb, receiving the 5th unit, is the first community-led, community scale initiative.

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Saturday, February 25, 2023

DEC: Free Seedlings Available to Qualified Landowners for Streamside Plantings

dec logoOn February 13, New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) Commissioner Basil Seggos announced that the application period for the Trees for Tribs’ “Buffer in a Bag” program is now open. Qualifying private and public landowners may apply for a free bag of 25 tree and shrub seedlings for planting near streams, rivers, or lakes to help stabilize banks, protect water quality, combat climate change, and improve wildlife habitat.

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Thursday, February 23, 2023

Navigating Grant Funding: Municipal Success Stories Webinar set for March 1

dec logoThe NYS DEC and the NYS Association of Regional Councils are hosting a webinar on Wednesday, March 1 at 1 p.m. to highlight strategies used by municipalities of various sizes across New York State to secure grant funding. Municipalities will share information, such as how they access grant funds, what barriers they’ve had to overcome, lessons learned, the skill sets needed, and the key players necessary to access grant funding. Register to attend.

Webinar speakers:

  • Donald Tesoriero, Village of Northport
  • Ruth Ann Devitt-Frank and Natalie Kikel, City of Kingston
  • Beth Gilles, Lake Champlain-Lake George Regional Planning Board
  • Anna Reynolds, Essex County
  • Cassandra Pinkoski, Chautauqua County Soil and Water Conservation District

Photo at top courtesy of the NYS DEC. 


Wednesday, February 22, 2023

Field Training for Invasive Hemlock Woolly Adelgid set for March 11

closeup of hemlock woolly adelgid

Bolton Landing, NY – The public is invited to attend a hemlock woolly adelgid (HWA) field survey training on Saturday, March 11, from 10 am to noon, at Hearthstone Point Campground in Lake George.

Program leaders will give an overview of winter outing safety skills, while teaching how to identify hemlock trees, survey for hemlock woolly adelgid, and report findings using iMapInvasives.

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Monday, February 20, 2023

Support Local Small Farm Agriculture, Join a CSA Farm 

Tangleroot Farm

Small farms. The name says it all. Modest. Practical. Connected to the earth and the local population. Small farms were once the backbone of this country.

Small-scale farmers grow a diversity of fresh produce; often using very few or no chemicals. They raise livestock avoiding added hormones and antibiotics. They sell their goods at local markets and directly to neighbors, friends, and other members of their community.

They’re a self-reliant lot; sometimes stubbornly independent. They love the outdoors. They’re not afraid to work 80 hours a week. And they’re content to reap fair and honest compensation for fair and honest work. They’re creative, resourceful, resilient agricultural entrepreneurs who love their land and the food they grow on it; food that’s the finest, the freshest, and the best that money can buy.

As consumers, we have a choice. We can buy our food from small, local, independent growers who sell their own home-grown produce and meat direct to the public and enjoy the freshest, highest-quality food possible, or we can buy food produced on industrial, corporate, factory farms; and support stockholders, middlemen, and a soulless, faceless, global, industrialized-food-system.

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Monday, February 20, 2023

ADK Park: Environmental Conservation Officer News

Little Bear Gets a Second Chance – Herkimer County
On Jan. 31, ECO Howe responded to a complaint of a black bear cub lingering around a residence in the town of Salisbury. The resident reported the young bear had been in the area for five days with no signs of its mother. The cub appeared malnourished and unlikely to survive on its own. Officer Howe safely captured the bear and transported it to Friends of the Feathered and Furry Wildlife Center in Hunter, a licensed wildlife rehabilitation center, where it will receive care and treatment until it can be released back into the wild.

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Thursday, February 16, 2023

Groups: Add Forest Preserve funding back into the budget

DEC sign

Following the release of Gov. Kathy Hochul’s executive budget, a Forest Preserve group comprised of 32 organizations and municipalities is calling on the governor and legislature to provide funding for the Forest Preserve in the state budget. This comes after a key item from the 2023 budget—a dedicated line for the Forest Preserve—was not retained in the governor’s proposed 2024 budget, which threatens important progress made in the Forest Preserve over the last two years.

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Monday, February 13, 2023

Recreation Highlight: Leave No Trace on State Lands this Winter

Leave no trace graphic

Everyone who recreates on New York’s State lands has a responsibility to adequately prepare themselves and protect natural resources for future generations. Following the Seven Principles of Leave No Trace™, set forth by the Leave No Trace Center for Outdoor Ethics, is one-way visitors are encouraged to Love Our New York Lands.

Plan Ahead and Prepare

Proper planning is vital to a safe winter adventure. Know personal limits, set realistic goals, and choose an experience appropriate for everyone in the group. Research trails and routes before setting out and contact DEC or other knowledgeable parties with questions.

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Saturday, February 11, 2023

DEC Recreation Highlight: Green Staycations

Hiker in the woods during winter time

With its holidays and school breaks, February is a popular time of year for vacations. Luckily, you don’t need to leave New York to enjoy a fantastic green vacation. Whether it’s a day, a week or even longer, enjoy some of the great recreational activities the Adirondacks–and all of New York–has to offer. Need inspiration? Here are some ideas to get started:

  • Visit Camp Santanoni for a Winter Weekend Event. Take in the natural beauty of the Adirondacks with this winter adventure. Upcoming dates include:
    • President’s Holiday weekend, February 18-20.
    • March 11-12

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