The Lake George Land Conservancy (LGLC) is set to host a series of informational and training sessions for the terrestrial invasive pest, the hemlock woolly adelgid. The sessions are free and open to the public.
There are two opportunities to hear from LGLC staff and Charlotte Malmborg of the NYS Hemlock Initiative to learn about the hemlock woolly adelgid (HWA), including its threat to our forests and water, current research, and what residents can do to help. » Continue Reading.
Our Town Theatre Group has announced they will present Agatha Christie’s The Mousetrap, at the Lyle Dye Auditorium stage at Tannery Pond Community Center on October 19, 20 and 21.
Performances are set for Friday October 19 and Saturday October 20 at 7:30 pm and Sunday October 21 at 1 pm. Tickets are $12 and $8 for students through 12th grade. » Continue Reading.
Adirondack history is naturally rife with river-related stories—wildly successful fishing trips, damaging floods, wilderness exploration, and dam construction. Rivers were the lifeblood of development: settlements sprang up along waterways, where partial diversion of streams provided the wheel-turning power necessary to many industries. But freshets were so common and destructive that dams were introduced as flood-control measures, and then for hydropower as the electrification of society unfolded.
Recognizing the great financial potential of providing electricity to industries and the masses, power companies sought to develop dozens of potential reservoir sites. Among the arguments they used to justify building dam after dam was public safety. Ironically, the construction of a hydro dam was marred by one of the worst tragedies in Adirondack history. » Continue Reading.
TAUNY, Traditional Arts in Upstate New York, is set to host their TAUNY Folklife Fair: Celebrating 25 Years of North Country Heritage Awards on Sunday, October 28 from noon to 5 pm, with a closing concert by the Fraser Family Friends at 4:15 pm, at The TAUNY Center in Canton.
Over 25 years, TAUNY has recognized 129 individuals, groups, places, and events representing the array of traditions that make the North Country special. The Folklife Fair, held this year in place of TAUNY’s annual Salute event, will feature over thirty past award recipients and friends sharing their traditions with the community through demonstrations of material, visual, food, and musical arts, award-themed refreshments, and further hands-on activities and learning experiences. » Continue Reading.
The North Atlantic Regional Figure Skating Championships are returning to the Lake Placid Olympic Center from October 17 to 21, 2018. » Continue Reading.
I listened to NCPR’s Brian Mann recent report about NYS DEC Forest Ranger staffing, and the great pressures on the static ranger staff resulting from so many emergency incidents. DEC Commissioner Seggos’ remarks appeared to be resistant to the need for additional Forest Rangers. He was quoted as saying that the entire DEC staff must rally to help to relieve the pressures on the Rangers and – I would add – on all natural resource professionals at the DEC. In other words, don’t worry members of the media, members of the public, we always do more with less.
In my experience, this Commissioner is very responsive to issues facing him and pays attention to detail. I also know he supports his people in the field. However, it was important for him to hear the support for more DEC Forest Rangers from local government representatives, like Wilmington Town Supervisor and Essex County Board of Supervisors chair Randy Preston. The supervisor was persistent because he knows what we all know: that the DEC Commissioner has no authority to increase the number of rangers, or foresters, or wildlife or fisheries, or operations or campground professionals. The urgent message that DEC natural resource and lands and forests and ranger personnel are at the breaking point must get to the Governor. Local government officials make excellent messengers. » Continue Reading.
In the past two years we’ve seen an outpouring of hate, attempts at overt discrimination, attempted role back of basic human rights protections at the federal level. We are facing a potential crisis in the US Supreme Court over settled law in the area’s of women’s health, reproductive rights, marriage equality, and basic LGBTQ civil rights protections.
We’ve seen attempts to ban members of the transgender community from serving openly in the military as well as prohibit their use of public accommodations based on lies and fears of spread by homophobic and transphobic hate groups bent on our elimination from society. Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who heads the Department of Justice, issued guidance stating that LGBTQ people are not covered under federal anti-discrimination laws. This opened the gates to discrimination in all aspects of our lives, including housing, employment, medical care and insurance coverage. We’ve see repeated civil rights violations of our immigrant and native neighbors. » Continue Reading.
The New York State Olympic Regional Development Authority (ORDA) opened the combined bobsled, luge and skeleton track at the Olympic Sports Complex for U.S. national team training on Monday, October 15th.
Workers chilled the concrete and laid ice on the 20-curve, mile-long chute on Mt. Van Hoevenberg, just five miles east from the two-time Winter Olympic village. Athletes from USA Luge as well as USA Bobsled and Skeleton will hit the ice to begin preparations for their World Cup campaigns. » Continue Reading.
New York State Department of Environmental Conservation Forest Rangers respond to search and rescue incidents in the Adirondacks. Working with other state agencies, local emergency response organizations and volunteer search and rescue groups, Forest Rangers locate and extract lost, injured or distressed people from the Adirondack backcountry.
What follows is a report, prepared by DEC, of recent missions carried out by Forest Rangers in the Adirondacks.
» Continue Reading.
When my kids were toddlers, they discovered, quite happily, a toad in a damp corner of their sandbox, tucked into the shade beneath the small, triangular piece of wood that served as a seat. The toad seemed to spend most days there, probably waiting until dark to emerge and hunt bugs and slugs.
Thankfully, back then, we had a more mature dog who was wise in the ways of the world – not the goofy pup we have now, who I’m sure will learn the hard way not to eat toads. Many a clueless canine has clamped its mouth around an American toad – the species found most commonly in our region – only to be introduced to bufotoxins, a toad’s best defense against being eaten. » Continue Reading.
The Plattsburgh Gospel Choir is set to perform an evening concert, followed by a workshop for all singers, on Saturday, October 27th at the Saranac Lake First United Methodist Church.
The workshop with 2 master classes offered by the choir, runs from 9:30 am to 4:30 pm. All singers are invited – and no music reading is needed. This class is free and open to the public, attendees are encouraged to bring a dish for the potluck dinner. » Continue Reading.
The Lake Placid Land Conservancy (LPLC) has announced the promotion of Kerry Crowningshield to Executive Director. Crowningshield joined LPLC in 2016 as the Outreach Coordinator.
In a statement to the press, Ms. Crowningshield said: “Growing up in the area gives me a unique understanding of the communities LPLC serves and their relationship to the Adirondacks. I choose to live and work here because I developed a connection to the lakes, rivers, and forests as a child, and want to ensure future generations and visitors have this same opportunity.” » Continue Reading.
There’s nothing quite like autumn in the Adirondacks — the brilliant reds, vibrant oranges and pulsating yellows. And that’s just the construction barrels, road cones and flashing signs warning people to find someplace other than the shoulder of Rt. 73 in Keene Valley to park their Subarus.
Welcome to the wilderness — not to be confused with the Scranton/Wilkes Barre stretch of Interstate 81. » Continue Reading.
On a walk in the woods in early fall, you may see a cluster of waxy, white stems with tiny, scale-like leaves rising out of the leaf litter or pine needles. At the end of each translucent stem is an odd, bell-shaped flower. This is Indian pipe, named for its resemblance to the clay pipes once smoked by Native Americans and early settlers.
Indian pipe, also known as corpse plant and ghost flower, has an unusual strategy for survival. It lacks the green pigment chlorophyll, and therefore cannot make its own food through photosynthesis as most plants do. Indian pipe and its relatives were formerly believed to live off decaying organic matter and were called saprophytes. However, more recent research has revealed that the plant is a parasite, sucking up nutrients from mycorrhizal fungi in the soil. Trees and mycorrhizal fungi have a symbiotic relationship: the fungi absorb nutrients from the trees; the trees benefit by increasing the surface area of their root systems, allowing them to drink in more water and minerals. Indian pipe interjects itself into this relationship, absorbing nutrients from the mycorrhizal fungi but giving nothing back. » Continue Reading.
Adirondack Architectural Heritage (AARCH), the region’s private, nonprofit historic preservation organization, will present its annual Preservation Awards on Friday, November 2nd, to several recipients that exemplify the extraordinary stewardship of individual historic properties and ongoing preservation work in communities across the Adirondacks. » Continue Reading.
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