Rehabilitation Work Will Begin September 18 and Will Close the Upper LocksOn Tuesday, September 5, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) announced the $1.6 million rehabilitation project for the Upper Locks on the Saranac Chain of Lakes in the Adirondacks. The project is funded by NY Works and will include necessary maintenance and repairs.
The September/October issue of our magazine is out, and in it you can read about unit management plans. It is difficult to make any sentence sound exciting with the phrase “unit management plans” in it, but here’s why they are important. “UMP’s,” as they’re often called, are inventories of physical and natural resources in an area of the park. They also include a list of projects the state Department of Environmental Conservation wishes to accomplish. No UMP? No project. This includes hiking trails, campsites, water body studies, ski trails, parking lots—any variety of recreation or natural resource protection projects.
We found that hundreds of thousands of acres in the Adirondack Park are without UMPs. That includes Lake George Wild Forest, one of the most accessible places in the park. That means the eroded trail up Prospect Mountain cannot be rerouted. A designated trail up Rogers Rock cannot be made. The William C. Whitney Wilderness, dubbed by the state the “crown jewel of the Adirondacks,” is without a UMP, too. The state is relying on a stewardship management plan from the ‘90s, which some say isn’t protective enough.
If you aren’t already subscriber, you can sign up for our bimonthly magazine here: https://www.adirondackexplorer.org/subscribe. The article includes the map below, provided by the DEC, which shows the status of these plans across the park.
This first appeared in Gwen’s weekly “Adirondack Report” newsletter. Click here to sign up.
Navy Band Northeast will bring its public concert series to Plattsburgh, New York on Thursday, September 7, at the Strand Center Theater at 7:30 p.m. This concert is free and open to the public. Led by its Director, Lieutenant David Harbuziuk, the Pops Ensemble performs traditional concert band repertoire while raising public awareness of the Navy and the importance of naval service. The Pops Ensemble regularly features vocalists who perform patriotic classics and jazz standards. The ensemble seeks to delight and unite audiences of children, students, adults, and especially U.S. Military Veterans.
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:
The Hudson River-Black River Regulating District has announced repairs to an aging stone dam that holds back the massive waters of Indian Lake, an impoundment that spans more than 4,000 acres.
The Explorer’s Gwendolyn Craig reports the cost is $11 million, with repairs to the leaking, “high hazard” dam to begin in October and take about two years to complete.
A high-hazard dam is one in which, according to the state, “failure may result in widespread or serious damage to home(s); damage to main highways, industrial or commercial buildings, railroads, and/or important utilities, including water supply, sewage treatment, fuel, power, cable or telephone infrastructure; or substantial environmental damage; such that the loss of human life or widespread substantial economic loss is likely.”
The Adirondack Canoe Classic — more commonly known as the 90-Miler — will celebrate its 40th anniversary Sept. 8-10, with over 250 boats and more than 700 paddlers.
The race is hosted by the Northern Forest Canoe Trail (NFCT) with support from the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, dozens of businesses, nonprofits and communities, as well as countless volunteers. It takes paddlers on a three-day journey from Old Forge to Saranac Lake — the first 90 miles of the 740-mile Northern Forest Canoe Trail.
This event includes a full contingent of solo, tandem, four-person, and eight-person canoes as well as solo and tandem kayaks, one- and two-person guideboats, and stand-up paddle boards.
Lake Placid, NY – Adirondack Film is proud to announce this year’s recipients of the Lake Placid Film Festival Student Summit Scholarship. College students and recent graduates from across the United States and Canada applied for entry to the 2023 Inaugural program.
As part of the scholarship, recipients will attend the 2023 Lake Placid Film Festival (October 26-29) in a highly specialized program of educational panels and exclusive film screenings. Recipients will also receive complimentary room, board, and festival passes courtesy of Adirondack Film and its sponsors. » Continue Reading.
Vast and Varied
The Adirondack Park is the largest wilderness east of the Mississippi River. At more than 6-million acres, it’s the size of Yosemite, Yellowstone, Grand Canyon, Glacier, and Great Smoky Mountains National Parks combined. Within the Park’s boundary (commonly referred to as the ‘blue line’), are more than 3,000 lakes, 30,000 miles of rivers and streams, hundreds of mountain summits (two that exceed 5000 feet (1,500 m) in height (Mount Marcy and Algonquin Peak), and an exceptional variety of eastern hardwood and boreal forest habitats, including rare, old growth forests and freshwater wetlands (marshes, peatlands (bogs and fens), swamps, and open river corridors).
Whitehall, NY – Every year, a special festival gathers in the Washington County village of Whitehall. More than 2,000 people come to town for a chance to call and talk about the folklore-favorite Sasquatch. This month, they’ll do it again. Whitehall’s annual Sasquatch Festival & Calling Contest returns to town from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturday, September 30. The calling contest is split into kids’ and adult categories, with pre-registration open now. In addition to competing for the title of “Best Sasquatch Caller,” visitors can expect an array of vendors, Sasquatch-centric authors, games, food, and a full beer garden. » Continue Reading.
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.
On Saturday, September 9 at 2 p.m., the John Brown Farm State Historic Site will present a living history performance based on the life of Harriet Tubman. This program offers a close look into the life and achievements of Harriet Tubman (known also as General Moses), whose life was a monument to courage and determination that continues to stand out in American history. This event is free and open to the public, and will take place outdoors under the tent in the picnic area.
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/
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Small Earth Catalog
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.
» Continue Reading.