Thursday, August 5, 2021

Follow the discussion on Lake George

lake georgeRecently, the Explorer’s Gwendolyn Craig reported that the Lake George Park Commission had assembled a committee to consider the effects of septic systems on the lake’s water, and to discuss whether or how to regulate them. At its meeting today, the commission announced that Essex and Washington counties had joined Warren County on the committee, providing representation for all lands around the lake.

This question of septics and other possible sources of nutrient pollution in the “Queen of American Lakes” is a topic in which the Explorer has invested a considerable amount of reporting, as wastewater pollution is emerging as a top priority in the Adirondacks. We’ll continue following it and explaining how it may affect homeowners, vacationers and the environment. In the meantime, this new committee will meet today, Aug. 5, and you can find information for following that discussion online by clicking this link.

Lake George photo from the Almanack archive

This first appeared in the Explorer’s weekly “Water Line” newsletter. Click here to subscribe.


Wednesday, August 4, 2021

Creative Adirondacks: Gary Smith of the Lake Placid Film Festival

Gary SmithThis fall, Lake Placid Film Festival will return to a live event, and shepherding it to fruition is Gary Smith, the current Chair of the Board of Adirondack Film Society.  Schooled by his more than 40 years in the hospitality industry, Gary sees the festival as an opportunity to display the attractions of the Lake Placid area, as well as to bring filmmakers and their audiences together for the lively and thoughtful sharing of ideas.

» Continue Reading.


Wednesday, August 4, 2021

2nd Annual Great Brant Lake Canoe Race

Horicon, NY – The North Warren Chamber of Commerce is happy to announce the second annual Great Brant Lake Canoe Race. Paddlers will begin at the north end of the lake and paddle 5.5 miles into the outlet, finishing just above the Mill Pond dam in the Hamlet of Horicon. The race begins near the bridge at the north end of Brant Lake at 9:30 AM. The finishes at The Hub’s dock upstream from the Mill Pond bridge. There will be an award ceremony at 12:30 after the finish at The Hub. There will also be a special prize for the best paddler costume.
The race originally began in the 1970s and was run by local community volunteers. We are excited to continue the tradition in 2021, taking this opportunity to showcase Brant Lake as a resource for paddling recreation. Proceeds will benefit the North Warren Chamber of Commerce and the Bob and Gert Newtown Campership Fund at Camp Read. For more information visit www.northwarrencanoe.com, or contact Matt Strickland


Wednesday, August 4, 2021

Rangers conduct back-to-back rescues on Colden’s trap dike, Van Ho trail

forest ranger reportsRecent NYS DEC Forest Ranger actions:

Town of North Hudson
Essex County
Wilderness Rescue: On July 27 at 2:15 p.m., Forest Rangers Quinn and Sabo responded to the Lillian Brook trail near Elk Lake in the Dix Mountain Wilderness Area for a report of a 64-year-old hiker from Southampton with a dislocated shoulder. According to the caller, he received a GPS text message from his parents’ Garmin InReach Emergency Beacon requesting assistance. He stated that his parents were descending South Dix when his father slipped and grabbed a tree to stop his fall resulting in the injury. He also indicated that his parents were continuing to hike out to the trailhead. At 3:30 p.m. Rangers Quinn and Sabo, along with DEC Wildlife Technician Geyer, located the couple approximately two miles from the Elk Lake trailhead. Rangers stabilized the injury and gave the couple an ATV ride to the trailhead. They said they would seek medical attention on their own. All units were clear at 4:30 p.m.

» Continue Reading.


Wednesday, August 4, 2021

Harmful algal blooms are here

harmful algal bloomsIt’s harmful algal bloom season, and Lake George had its first reported one of the season last week.

Getting information about it was messy. The Lake George Association first reported the suspicious bloom, found during a routine Citizens Statewide Lake Assessment Program survey, to the state Department of Environmental Conservation. DEC staff confirmed it was a harmful algal bloom and posted that information on its notifications page. I saw that report and requested information from both LGA staff and the DEC. What then ensued was a back-and-forth between DEC and LGA, via email and phone. It was clear that though the bloom was documented a couple of days before, no one was on the same page about how to get information out about it. There was even discrepancy over whether to call it a harmful algal bloom.

» Continue Reading.


Tuesday, August 3, 2021

12 Ways Indian Lake Supervisor Brian Wells Gets Historic Forever Wild Decision Wrong

connector trail

In an op-ed run in the Albany Times Union on August 1, 2021 and in the Adirondack Almanack, Town of Indian Lake Supervisor Brian Wells got many things wrong about the recent historic forever wild court decision. He makes serious accusations, yet he twists, bends, and distorts reality to fit his narrative. The one thing that he got right was that “Class II Community Connector Snowmobile Trails” were struck down by New York’s highest court because they violated Article 14, Section 1, of the State Constitution, the forever wild clause.

Here are a dozen ways that Brian Wells plays fast and loose with the truth.

» Continue Reading.


Tuesday, August 3, 2021

Was the Adirondack Park Agency (APA) Duped?

upper saranac

APA mandate is to “ensure compliance with the laws the Agency administers” including the New York State Freshwater Wetlands Act. Instead, APA did the exact opposite with a recent decision permitting the virtual destruction of a Category 1 Wetland- the highest designation for a wetland – on Lot 9, Deerwood, Upper Saranac Lake (USL). For no apparent reason, other than convenience of the new landowner, APA issued an amended permit.

» Continue Reading.


Tuesday, August 3, 2021

“Staff should rely on this policy.” Really ?

essex chain stakeholders

Forest Preserve stakeholders meet with DEC staff to discuss management alternatives, Essex Chain Lakes, 2012. Photo by Dave Gibson

The NYS Court of Appeals ruled on May 4 of this year in favor of plaintiff Protect the Adirondacks and against the State of New York, deciding that Snowmobile Community Connector trails as planned, permitted, and constructed by the Department of Environmental Conservation during the first term of Governor Andrew Cuomo violated the “forever wild” clause, Section 1 of Article 14, NYS Constitution.

It took the DEC until June 30 to formally respond to the Court’s ruling, and that formal response came in the form of an internal DEC memorandum issued by DEC Commissioner Basil Seggos and handed out at a recent meeting of the DEC’s Forest Preserve Advisory Committee on which I serve as a representative of Adirondack Wild: Friends of the Forest Preserve.

In his first paragraph, Commissioner Seggos wrote that:

» Continue Reading.


Monday, August 2, 2021

Sabotaging Trail Deal Was No Way to Protect the Adirondacks 

snowmobile trail

By Brian Wells 

This is a story that should have had a happy ending. 

A story of five Adirondack towns working with state government and environmental non-profits on an agreement to expand the taxpayer-owned Forest Preserve, improve public recreation and bring new economic growth to the area. 

The Community Connector Trails agreement would have helped turn the page on decades of Adirondack Region job losses brought on by industry disinvestment and Forest Preserve expansion, and established a model for the type of common-sense, compromise solutions needed for many problems confronting the Adirondack Park. 

Instead, it’s a sad story of misplaced trust and lost opportunity, ending with the towns and the people who live there getting left out in the cold. 

» Continue Reading.


Monday, August 2, 2021

Adirondack Center for Loon Conservation launches tackle buy-back program

Loon

The Adirondack Center for Loon Conservation invites Adirondack anglers to participate in its “Lead Tackle Buy Back Program” to protect Common Loons from lead poisoning.

Anglers can trade in their lead sinkers and jigs this summer by bringing them to any of the 8 participating retailers around the Adirondack Park. The shops include Woods and Waters and Blue Line Sports in Saranac Lake; Tupper Lake Bait & Tackle; Hoss’s in Long Lake; Old Forge Hardware; Crossroads in Chestertown; Norm’s Bait & Tackle in Crown Point; and Fish307.com in Lake George.

» Continue Reading.


Monday, August 2, 2021

Upcoming Events at the Wild Center

wild center offers canoeing on the raquette river

Tupper Lake, NY – The Wild Center is offering a wide variety of events this summer. Here are a few of the many activities available:

» Continue Reading.


Sunday, August 1, 2021

Message In a Bottle

bottles on shelves

When I was a boy growing up in our house on 1 Stevenson Lane, my mom had an antique bottle collection that she kept on a shelf.  One of those bottles had a rustically intricate attached metal stopper. The engraved circular glass on the front read “ISAAC MERKEL & SON, BOSS LAGER, SARANAC LAKE.” That bottle always held a special fascination for me. I still have it.

It all began innocently enough, quite by accident really, about three summers ago as I quietly rowed my Zen boat canoe from South Creek into camp. As I crossed some shallows near the shore of an island as I entered the lake, something glistened blue, reflecting morning sunlight from the lake’s bottom.

» Continue Reading.


Sunday, August 1, 2021

August Harvest of the Month | Peppers

serrano peppers

Photo of serranos courtesy of https://peppergeek.com/serrano-peppers/

History and Facts

Peppers are the berry-fruits of plants in the genus capsaicin which are in the nightshade family, with tomatoes and eggplants. The spicy “chili peppers” and mild “sweet peppers” and “bell peppers” are all native to tropical parts of the Americas. Prehistoric remains of peppers have been found in Central and South America. 

» Continue Reading.


Sunday, August 1, 2021

Weekly news round up

A collection of interesting reads:

» Continue Reading.


Saturday, July 31, 2021

NFCT to Auction Two Birchbark Canoes

birchbark canoe built by craftspeople of the maniwaki reserve in quebec

WAITSFIELD, Vt. — The Northern Forest Canoe Trail (NFCT) will auction off two birchbark canoes this summer: one built by Henri Vaillancourt and the other by the craftspeople of the Maniwaki Reserve in Quebec.

» Continue Reading.



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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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