This weekly report of outdoor recreation conditions in the Adirondacks is compiled each Thursday afternoon.
Contribute Your Knowledge: Add a comment below, or send your observations, corrections, updates, and suggestions to adkalmanack@gmail.com.
Practice Leave No Trace Principles when visiting the Adirondack Park.
As noted in stories in Adirondack Explorer and Almanack, the Inner Gooley Club buildings on the shores of Third Lake in the Essex Chain, were nominated for inclusion in the State and National Register of Historic Places.
The nomination is controversial because the lake and lands around it, including the Gooley Club footprint, is publicly-owned Adirondack Forest Preserve classified Primitive, and managed as closely as possible to Wilderness guidelines. » Continue Reading.
The Adirondack Mountain Club’s ADK Stewardship Ambassador program, is a new volunteer program created to provide six recreationists to promote and advocate for the importance of protecting New York’s public lands by sharing their experiences through social media and blogs.
“Social media is a powerful tool for promoting stewardship efforts in wild places,” said ADK’s education director Julia Goren in a statement sent to the press. “ADK’s Stewardship Ambassador program will help us reach people where they are and help inspire people to protect their public lands.” » Continue Reading.
There’s a myth environmental educators like to tell, and it goes something like this: after every long northern winter, spring returns. Days lengthen, temperatures rise, the snowpack slowly disappears, and one afternoon, it begins to rain – a soaking, 45-degree rain that continues well into the night.
On that one big night, all of the wood frogs and salamanders and spring peepers clamber out of their winter burrows and migrate – up to a quarter-mile, on tiny feet – to their breeding pools. An explosion of life, all on that one big night. We call this myth: Big Night.
In reality, most years, our region experiences several Big Nights, one or two Medium Nights, and sometimes a smattering of Small Nights. It all depends on the weather. » Continue Reading.
April 1st marked the 90th anniversary of the development of the modern sweet pepper, also known as the bell pepper. In Central America, Mexico, and northern South America there is evidence that numerous types of peppers (Capsicum annuum) have been cultivated by native peoples for at least 6,500 years.
Hot peppers were the first New World crop grown in Europe, with seeds arriving in Spain in 1493. Since that time, plant breeders around the world have selected peppers for various traits, giving rise to such names for this Native American vegetable as “Hungarian” and “Thai” hot peppers. » Continue Reading.
The Adirondack Explorer‘s next “Views of the Park” photo contest highlights towns, hamlets, and homesteads you love in the park.
Post your photos on the theme “My Adirondack Town: photos from the place you call home – seasonally or year-round – in the Adirondacks” to Facebook and Instagram using the hashtag #adkexplorerpix.
Explorer staff will choose their favorite photos to be included on the Adirondack Explorer website and highlighted in the bimonthly magazine. If yours is chosen, you’ll receive a free one-year subscription to the Explorer.
Don’t worry, you don’t need to be a professional. Just get out your phone and snap a pic. Or send one from a previous year. » Continue Reading.
On Friday of last week, Governor Cuomo and the State Legislature approved a 168.3 billion dollar budget, within the context of what was considered to be a lean budget year.
In spite of the budgetary challenges the Governor and Legislature faced this year, core environmental funds were upheld, including the Environmental Protection Fund and community water infrastructure funding approved over the last few years.
The final approved budget contained a mixed bag when it came to more detailed aspects of the budget; some were good, and some were bad. What follows is a review of the state budget for the 2018-19 fiscal year: » Continue Reading.
In October 1947, pilot Betty Pettitt moved to Indianapolis and joined a staff (for automobile maker Kaiser-Frazer) that included an unusual co-worker: a skywriter who handled the company’s airborne advertising. Skywriting was once expected to prevail as the prime advertising method of the future, only to drop into a steep decline when a new technology, television, provided a reliable method of reaching mass numbers of consumers without having to rely on the whims of weather. But for a few decades, skywriting was a very popular method of advertising and provided excellent employment for skilled pilots.
As luck would have it, Betty’s skywriting co-worker soon opted for a salesman’s position, leaving her as his obvious replacement. Something as complex as creating huge letters high in the sky would surely require extensive training. It wasn’t, after all, the same concept as writing letters by hand, as Betty explained: “When you remember that you are writing so someone below can read it, you find it is just like writing backwards on a steamy window so someone outside can read it…. It’s all done backwards and upside down.” » Continue Reading.
Author, sociologist and juvenile justice expert Alexandra Cox will speak in Lake Placid on Sunday, April 8 at 4:30 pm on the flaws in the Juvenile Justice System in New York State.
Just 22 North Country teenagers were sent to prison as adults in the last two years, but New York State is investing millions of dollars to convert a medium-security prison in Ray Brook to a juvenile facility. » Continue Reading.
Nearly all historians agree Marie Antoinette probably never coined the phrase “Let them eat cake,” a saying already in popular culture before her time. The phrase was ascribed to her by opponents to bolster her reputation as callous and arrogant.
She would have seemed far more benevolent if she had said “Let them eat wood.” » Continue Reading.
Annual breeding migrations of salamanders and frogs are underway.
Typically, after the ground starts to thaw in late winter and early spring, species such as spotted salamander and wood frog emerge from underground winter shelters in the forest and walk overland to woodland pools for breeding. This migration usually occurs on rainy nights when the night air temperature is above 40F. When these conditions align there can be explosive “big night” migrations with hundreds of amphibians on the move, many having to cross roads. » Continue Reading.
A family’s donation of land to the Adirondack Land Trust will protect part of a beloved vista of Pitchoff, Cascade and Porter Mountains in the town of Keene.
Howard and Darcy Fuguet, whose families have owned land in Keene since the early 1900s, donated 4.6 acres near the intersection of Routes 9N and 73, including 1,000 feet on the East Branch of the Ausable River. The Adirondack Land Trust will protect the land until its expected eventual transferred to New York State’s Adirondack Forest Preserve. » Continue Reading.
The late Adirondack wilderness advocate and conservation leader Paul Schaefer (1908-1996) had loads of stories to tell about his life and the people he came to know in the Adirondacks.
Now that Adirondack rivers are starting to flow again and trout season is about to open, it may be an appropriate time to relay one Paul told me at his fireside. » Continue Reading.
With spring right around the corner, despite what seemed to be a nor’easter a week, I wanted to bring light to something we may not consider with these sunny days but colder temperatures: sunburn.
According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human services, exposure to UV rays can cause a number of health complications, such as problems with sight, and everything from age spots, wrinkles, and leathery skin to skin cancer, with about 5.4 million cases diagnosed per year. » Continue Reading.
The Ausable River Association (AsRA) and Adirondack Watershed Institute (AWI) have released the 2017 Water Quality Report for Mirror Lake.
The lake serves as a focal point for the Village of Lake Placid. For the past three years, AsRA and AWI have been studying the water quality of Mirror Lake with a goal to provide science data for decision making. » Continue Reading.
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