Thursday, September 29, 2022

Adirondack Council thanks NYS Black, Puerto Rican, Hispanic and Asian Legislative Caucus for successful session

adirondack council new logoLAKE PLACID, N.Y. – Adirondack Council today thanked the members of the NYS Black, Puerto Rican, Hispanic and Asian Legislative Caucus for again holding its fall retreat inside the Adirondack Park and for the amazing list of accomplishments achieved in partnership with the Adirondack Council and other conservation organizations over the past year.

The caucus held its fall retreat in Lake Placid in 2021, which was the first time it held its annual retreat outside of Albany.  The Council held a reception this year at Smoke Signals restaurant to honor caucus achievements with friends and supporters on the eve of their return to the Adirondacks.

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Thursday, September 29, 2022

Fall foliage: Rain seems to have boosted the color change

foliage report wk 3

This is the third 2022 I LOVE NY Fall Foliage Report for New York State. Reports are obtained from volunteer field observers and reflect expected color conditions for the coming weekend. Reports are issued every Wednesday afternoon.  

In the Adirondacks, Franklin County foliage spotters in Tupper Lake and Mt. Arab expect 55-60% color change this weekend with muted to average fall colors of carmine, beet, cranberry, marmalade, marigold, apricot, daffodil, pineapple, banana, amber, and auburn. Recent precipitation seems to have invigorated leaf transition, which is expected to be at midpoint of change. Foliage should also be at midpoint of change in Saranac Lake, with around 50% leaf transition and a good mix of fall colors including pops of red, orange, and shades of purple. In the northern portion of the county, spotters in Malone predict 30% leaf change with red, orange, and yellow leaves of average brilliance.

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Wednesday, September 28, 2022

Fire in The Adirondacks

The burning of the Straight House Hotel in North Creek also set the adjoining Methodist Parsonage on fire. (courtesy Johnsburg Historical Society)

Out west the summer of 2022 will long be remembered as the year of fire, but the Adirondacks also has a history of fire.

The years 1903 and 1908 were two great fire years in the Adirondacks. An article titled “Years of Fire” in the March/April 1981 Adirondack Life notes that “During both years the northeast suffered from drought. Due to sloppy logging, the woods were filled with piles of slash, the discarded tops, and limbs of trees. The railroads, which crossed the Adirondacks in the 1890s, failed to equip their wood and coal burning locomotives with spark arrestors. Although mandated by state law the penalties for violating the equipment law were so insignificant the railroads ignored them, and fires started all up and down the rail lines.”

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Wednesday, September 28, 2022

Paul Smith’s VIC to host fall lecture series in October

The fall lecture series will be held at the Paul Smith’s College VIC again this October.

The series was designed to initiate important discussions relevant to the Adirondacks, allowing students at Paul Smith’s College and North Country Community College to interact with leaders in environmental science, policy and social issues. Lectures are open to all and the diversity in the audience has been important to the discussion and success of the series. Lectures were well attended last year and generated significant campus and community involvement and support. Lectures are archived for viewing on the Paul Smith’s College VIC YouTube channel.

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Wednesday, September 28, 2022

View to host Quilts Unlimited Exhibition opening reception on Sept. 30

The annual Quilts Unlimited Exhibition will be unveiling the extravagant works of fiber arts, created by some of the most preeminent quilters in the country at View, the arts center in Old Forge, on Saturday, October 1. The exhibition will run through December 3.

The nearly 70 quilts on display demonstrate a wide variety of techniques and approaches to the medium—from the traditional to the contemporary. Each artist takes the idea of quilting in very unique directions with an extremely sophisticated level of commitment to design, personal creativity, and craft.  The end results are a mix of Art Quilts, Bed Quilts, Wall Art, and even quilts made from non-recyclable materials.

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Wednesday, September 28, 2022

Lost hikers stuck in swamp conditions in Oneida County; unprepared Allen Mountain hikers

forest ranger report

Town of Lake Pleasant
Hamilton County
Wilderness Rescue: On Sept. 23 at 11:15 a.m., Forest Ranger Lieutenant Kerr and Rangers Temple and Thompson responded to an emergency beacon activation in the West Canada Lake Wilderness area. When Ranger Temple reached the Moose River Plains trailhead, a hiker came out of the woods and reported that a hiker in their group had hurt her knee and was slowly making her way back to the trailhead.

The friend was retrieving the injured hiker’s backpack to make the trip easier. Ranger Temple hiked in, found the injured hiker, and determined the 62-year-old from Staten Island had a swollen, but stable, knee. Ranger Temple bandaged the knee for compression purposes and helped the hiker to the trailhead by 2:30 p.m. The subject said she would seek medical treatment on her own.

 

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Tuesday, September 27, 2022

Hair ice on Humphrey Mountain

hair ice

By Kent Stanton

I have to credit my brother for bringing “hair ice” into my vocabulary. We had hiked up to the long-abandoned garnet mine site on Humphrey Mountain and were on our way down when he pointed out some odd looking white stuff on a log near the trail. 

A first guess was that this was some kind of fungus but a closer look revealed what appeared to be tiny filaments of ice clumped together forming silky, swirling patterns. Neither of us had seen or heard of anything like this and ice didn’t really make sense. It was November, but the prior week had been unusually mild and we had not seen snow or ice anywhere on the mountain. It was a cool day, with the temperature hovering right at freezing, but the only unusual thing about the weather was that it was noticeably humid. 

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Tuesday, September 27, 2022

DEC: New fall foliage shuttle begins this weekend, October 1 & 2

fall foliage courtesy roostOctober Shuttle Promotes Public Safety by Providing Free, Convenient Access from North Hudson to Popular Adirondack High Peaks Trailheads

The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) reminds visitors to the Adirondacks of the new fall foliage shuttle program starting in October from Frontier Town Gateway in North Hudson to popular trailheads in the High Peaks region. To accommodate visitors seeking fall foliage hikes and views, no-cost shuttles will run the first two weekends in October from the Frontier Town Gateway to the Giant Mountain, Roaring Brook Falls, and Rooster Comb trailheads, as well as the Marcy Field Parking Area.

First announced in July, the new program is a partnership between DEC, Essex County, the Regional Office of Sustainable Tourism (ROOST), the towns of Keene and North Hudson, and the private owner of Frontier Town Gateway. The shuttle offers hikers the opportunity to experience fall foliage from its best vantage point – on the trail – without the hassle of driving to and parking at busy trailheads.

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Tuesday, September 27, 2022

Community Fund for the Gore Mountain Region grants $25,000 to 22 local organizations

NORTH CREEK — The Community Fund for the Gore Mountain Region (CFGMR) has awarded over $25,000 in grants to 22 organizations serving the towns of Chester, Horicon, Johnsburg, Minerva and Schroon.

 

A component fund of Adirondack Foundation, CFGMR was established in 2005 and awards grants annually to community organizations in the greater Gore Mountain region in support of community beautification, historic preservation, culture and the arts, education, recreation and programs for youth, seniors and veterans. The fund has awarded more than $235,000 in grants since inception.

 

“Our list of grant recipients this year shows the tremendous scope of organizations working to enhance the communities of the Gore Mountain region,” said Mindy Preuninger of the CFGMR committee. “From supporting programs for kids and youth to historic preservation and community revitalization, the Community Fund for the Gore Mountain Region is committed to supporting the people and organizations who work tirelessly to give back.”

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Tuesday, September 27, 2022

APA approved Clifton solar project, and a fall hike

hadley mountain fire tower

Last week the Adirondack Park Agency approved a 20-megawatt solar project on the former Benson Mines’s tailings pile in the Town of Clifton. It is the state’s first “build ready” solar project. There are still a handful of other permits the state needs to acquire before it can hold an auction and turn the project over to a solar developer. But, it looks like the Adirondacks is one step closer to hosting a large renewable energy project.

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Monday, September 26, 2022

NYSDEC Reverses Course, Now Calls The Cooperstown Wolf A Wolf

On September 21, 2022, after a second independent DNA study confirmed that the wolf killed outside of Cooperstown, New York, was really a wolf, the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) reversed course and announced that the wolf was indeed a wolf. DEC had been calling the Cooperstown wolf a coyote since it examined the dead animal in December 2021 and conducted a DNA study in early 2022. DEC publicly called the wolf a coyote in July in many news reports, after the release of an independent DNA study by Trent University in Canada, organized by the Northeast Ecological Recovery Society (NERS). The Trent University DNA analysis found that the Cooperstown wolf had 98% wolf genes.

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Monday, September 26, 2022

Adirondack Council urges state to drop plan to remove wolf from NYS endangered species list

 

ALBANY, N.Y. — Adirondack Council today called upon the NYS Dept. Environmental Conservation to drop a previously announced plan to remove the gray wolf from New York’s endangered species list.

Species listed as endangered are granted special protections from hunting and habitat loss.  The state had announced a plan to remove the wolf from the endangered list because the state considered the animal extinct in New York (a.k.a. extirpated).

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Monday, September 26, 2022

ANCA and Foodshed Capital Announce First Small Farm SOIL Loan

SARANAC LAKE, N.Y. — The Adirondack North Country Association (ANCA) and Foodshed Capital have announced the first loan provided through their new revolving loan fund for small-scale food producers.
Julian Mangano of Della Terra will use his SOIL Loan to develop a commercial composting operation that will divert organic waste from landfills, build soil health on his Castorland, N.Y. farm, and provide high-quality compost for local farmers and gardeners.

With a goal of supporting farms and food businesses who have difficulty accessing loans through conventional programs, ANCA, a regional economic development nonprofit serving businesses and communities in northern New York, partnered with Foodshed Capital, a certified Community Development Financial Institution that centers mission-driven lending and customized business support for underserved farmers, to develop the SOIL Loan Fund.

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Monday, September 26, 2022

MAKE IT: Bella’s Biscuits

Meet my hiking buddy, Bella (short for Belladonna). Bella is an entledoodle, or the offspring of an Entlebucher Mountain Dog and a mini-poodle. If you had not previously heard of the Entlebucher Mountain Dog, you are not alone! They are in the same family as Bernese Mountain Dogs, but are the smallest of the breeds within that family. When crossed with the hypoallergenic mini-poodle, what are produced are adorable, intelligent, compact, herding/hunting, mountain-scrambling, active, non-shedding, fun-and-cuddle-loving, loyal puppies.

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Sunday, September 25, 2022

Tree Slime – Who You Gonna Call?

Cast members of the new Ghostbusters film aren’t the only ones getting slimed – trees sometimes get slathered in slime flux as well. Many kinds of trees are subject to sludge assaults, with elms, apples, oaks, maples, and walnuts being among the more vulnerable species. Tree-goo, unlike the Psychomagnotheric Slime in Ghostbusters, is basically harmless. In fact, it can be beneficial. Also known as bacterial wetwood, slime flux is pretty much what it sounds like: wet nastiness that oozes from a bark crack, V-shaped trunk union, or pruning wound like an eternal fountain of fetid foam.

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The Adirondack Almanack

The Adirondack Almanack is a public forum dedicated to promoting and discussing current events, history, arts, nature and outdoor recreation and other topics of interest to the Adirondacks and its communities

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