Humans take pride in their unique, perhaps exalted, place among creatures. We’re the only animal that can point to triumphs like space travel, nerve gas, for-profit prisons, and plastic- filled oceans. Until recent times, we also thought we stood alone in our taste for addling our brains with drugs. Alas, we can no longer claim that distinction: Dolphins, dogs, wallabies,waxwings, and loads of other species like to get loaded. » Continue Reading.
Paul Smiths, NY- Paul Smith’s College VIC has announced a slew of upcoming events to suit a wide variety of interests, including a free jazz concert featuring The Circular Jazz Trio set for tomorrow, Saturday, September 23, as well as an informative and interactive training course focused on the seven principles of Leave No Trace. This two-day event is slated for Saturday, September 30 and Sunday, October 1.
Please see below for more details on these events and a link to keep tabs on other upcoming VIC events, such as a Mushroom Foray event set for tomorrow, and several opportunities to take a beginner-level canoe paddle on Barnum Pond with VIC staff.
I haven’t seen very many grasshoppers, this year. But people have been asking me about them recently. Evidently, they’ve been observing them for several weeks. And they’re seeing a lot of them, lately.
The 6.8-magnitude earthquake in Morocco has killed over 2,100 people so far, with 2,500 more people injured. It has been hard for many of the mountain villages to get help with recoveries, buried in the rubble. Aftershocks have been happening, which is keeping people out on the streets and in open parks (away from buildings.) Then closer to home, the southern United States ducked a bullet when Category 5 Hurricane Lee turned north. [It stayed] out over the ocean, when it could have slammed the coast a terrible blow. It went from a tropical storm to a Category 5 [hurricane] in less than 24 hours, then swerved north. The wind from this storm will batter the east coastline all the way up into the Canadian Maritime provinces all week, with high waves and strong undertow currents.
Old Forge, NY- Old Forge Library staff has recently announced that they will host a casual Meet-the-Town of Webb-Candidates event on the evening of Tuesday, September 19 to celebrate National Voter Registration Day, and an Autumn Equinox Celebration which is slated for Thursday, September 21. See below for more details about these events.
Onchiota, NY — At noon on Saturday, September 16, there will be a public unveiling of a historic roadside marker to celebrate the recent naming of John Thomas Brook. The new name pays homage to 19th-century Black settler John Thomas, who escaped enslavement in Maryland and established a successful farm near the small stream in Vermontville, NY that was formerly known pejoratively as “N-word Brook” then as “Negro Brook.” Mr. Thomas, his wife Mary, and their son Richard are buried in Union Cemetery in Vermontville.
Heat Lightning:
The folks in the Southeastern states of Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, and North Carolina are putting together their infrastructure and many homes that were flooded out (or damaged) with the wind and rain from Hurricane Idalia. It came through at the worst time. There was a full moon, causing the highest time for tides and storm surges of up to twelve feet. That hit areas in Florida where they were less than that above sea level.
When he thinks I’m not looking, my husband indulges in a little eye-rolling. For the fourth or fifth time along this stretch, I stop, point, squat and aim my phone’s camera into some weedy roadside patch. He has only himself to blame. He’s the one who introduced me to my wildlife-identification app [Seek by iNaturalist], and our morning walks haven’t been the same. As my world has shrunk with the pandemic, so has my area of focus. My app is a fitting tool. I have found 141 plant species—and counting!—between our house and the turnaround point, a round trip of 2.2 miles. There’s always something new or transformed to look at, whether it’s the ephemerals in early spring, the berried possumhaw in winter, the swamp rose mallow in late summer or flowering snakeroot in fall.
Monarch butterflies (Danaus plexippus) begin their annual fall migration around mid-August. These butterflies are the great-great-grandchildren of the monarchs that migrated to Mexico last fall. You can help monarchs by providing food (nectar) and keeping those areas protected:
Tropical Storm Idalia is crossing the tip of Cuba right now, and it will become a hurricane as it crosses the Gulf of Mexico heading for the west coast of Florida. It is scheduled to hit at high tide on Wednesday, [August 30] with a 7-to-11-foot storm surge in an area that isn’t that much above sea level. People still claim there is no climate change, and that this is just a normal weather pattern. There are three more storms out in the Atlantic. The first one looks like it will stay out to sea, [however] where the other two [will] go hasn’t been determined yet.
The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation’s (DEC) Division of Law Enforcement enforces the 71 chapters of New York State’s Environmental Conservation Law (ECL), protecting fish and wildlife and preserving environmental quality across New York. In 2022, Environmental Conservation Police Officers (ECOs) and Investigators across the state responded to more than 25,600 calls and worked on cases that resulted in nearly 13,800 tickets or arrests for violations ranging from deer poaching to solid waste dumping, illegal mining, the illegal pet trade, and excessive emissions violations.
Injured Eagle – Essex County
On Aug. 17, ECO Nicols received a report of a downed bald eagle at a private residence in the town of Westport. The officer met with the property owners (who were keeping a watchful eye on the bird prior to the ECO’s arrival) and set out to try and catch it.
Our next OurStoryBridge Inc. story share is called Why Advocacy is Important for the Adirondack Park by Diane Fish. This story is about being an advocate for protected areas that are a blend of people and wilderness. Listen to this story in its entirety at the following link: https://app.memria.org/stories/public-story-view/2fb1eef1e4894995b7c3d070e1659717/
Holiday weekends are a convenient time for everyone to explore outside. But with more people on the trail, it’s important to share them properly. Be considerate of others and follow these tips so that everyone has a great time outside this Labor Day weekend.
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Moose on the Loose in the ADKs, Moose Fest happening this weekend
Hurricane Lee hit mainland, but it was in the Canadian Maritimes (still as a hurricane) with 80 MPH winds. The coastal areas of Massachusetts and Maine suffered some damage from the wind and waves putting out power and flooding water to the areas near the ocean. This area has been hit with every storm coming up the coast and storms coming across the nation, so they didn’t need any more water. It is still raining there today, September 18.
» Continue Reading.