Posts Tagged ‘Adirondack Wildlife Refuge’

Friday, October 14, 2022

If You Could Save Time In A Bottle

Wendy and Screech Owl

At 47, I have yet to meet or know a person who hasn’t known the sting of death.  Whether it be a friend or family member, loss can be life altering and if given the chance, we would surely turn back the clock and have them back in our lives once more.  Tomorrow is not promised and today seems so short.  Maybe we forget from time to time, but it becomes overwhelmingly obvious that life could never be long enough to save a broken heart from crumbling.  What would you do if you could save time with the ones, you love the most?  I think Jim Croce nailed it with the lyrics of his song, Time in a Bottle, words flowing from the heart from someone who knows what it feels like to have cherished a being we were Blessed to have in our lives. 

» Continue Reading.


Thursday, January 20, 2022

We’ll Always Remember Her This Way

Wendy Hall

On January 16, 2022, the heavens opened and welcomed home an angel, her name is Wendy Hall.

She blessed this Earth for 70 years, touching lives where ever she went.  Wendy was so many things, to us a mentor and beloved friend.  How fortunate we are to have spent time and space with her, having known her made us better people.  There weren’t many days that Wendy didn’t drive up to us on the Refuge in her little grey car to say Hello, and share her dreams of what she wanted to implement for the betterment of this World.

Her days were filled with thoughts and ways of how to touch people and compel others to care for God’s amazing creations.  We were birds of feather and we surely flocked together.  Wendy’s love for nature compelled us to use every skill we had for the good of creatures great and small and some of the accomplishments we are most proud of were because Wendy encouraged us along the way.  She had an amazing way of making us feel like geniuses and idiots all at the same time.  God only knows she knew so much more than we did but she never made us feel insignificant in her presence.

» Continue Reading.


Tuesday, January 18, 2022

Remembering Wendy Hall

ken rimany

Wendy Hall, founder of the Adirondack Wildlife Refuge, which she ran alongside her husband Stephen Hall (who also is a long-time Almanack contributor), passed away on Sunday.

Ken Rimany, a partner with Adirondack Wild, shared this recollection:

Incomparable champions of all wildlife, big and small, Wendy and Steve Hall have always been, and always will be to me. Wendy’s legacy of her passion and limitless love for taking care of and rehabilitating so many of God’s creatures over the past twenty years at the Adirondack Wildlife Refuge & Rehabilitation Center – continues to still shine bright.

» Continue Reading.


Sunday, May 9, 2021

Friends Who Fly Into Your Heart

canada goose

Have you ever heard the saying, “A dog is a man’s best friend”?  For many of us who have had a dog for a pet, this saying rings true.  Our dog, Mickey, has proven to be a loving, forgiving and tolerant friend and own’s a place in our hearts eternally.  But have dogs cornered the market on building friendships with humans?  There are thousands of accounts and videos from people around the world who testify, dogs are only one of our potential non-human friends.

My husband and I spend a great deal of time on the Adirondack Wildlife Refuge.  It’s there that we witnessed for ourselves, friends come in many shapes, sizes and species.  Some have scales, some have fur and some have feathers among other sordid wild attributes.  Friendships aren’t limited to humans or domesticated animals, they exist where ever we choose to express our love and appreciation.  Little did we know one day we would have friends with feathers who would fly into our hearts.  Each of these winged pals are responsible for countless hours of joy in our lives and a true blessing from the natural world.

» Continue Reading.


Wednesday, April 28, 2021

When the rescuers become the rescued

eagle pastelBy Wendy Hall

The Adirondack Wildlife Refuge LLC has always worked tirelessly to help preserve wildlife through direct public outreach. A mission right from our hearts we share with all of you and with hard work and perseverance we will continue to perform well into the future. We do however have some hills to climb to ensure that we can continue to provide you with a wholesome and safe place to bring your entire family and admire the incredible “ambassador” animals that we share the planet with. We do this in the form of non-releasable species who are given a lifesaving forever home and happy stimulating environment while we share their story with all of you.

We are currently raising funds to build a “required” 1,500-foot parameter fence to ensure regulatory compliance, by June 1 (a matter of weeks from now). This mandated and difficult project is over $100k to complete. It’s a tough hill for us to climb but with all of your support, I know we can and must achieve this to keep our bears and wolves and many other animals home!

» Continue Reading.


Thursday, April 15, 2021

Labors of Love taking Place on The Adirondack Wildlife Refuge

adirondack wildlife refuge dome“A foundation is only as sturdy as its mitochondria.”   — Wendy B Hall, Adirondack Wildlife Refuge co-founder

Birds of a Feather Flock together and that’s definitely the case on The Adirondack Wildlife Refuge.

This year started with a time of strategy, dedication and labors of love, beginning with the renovation of the Wolf Dome in honor of Debbie MacKenzie.

Debbie was a devoted and dedicated friend of the Refuge whose love for wildlife exuded from the inside out.  She had a special spiritual bond with every wild animal she came into contact with and a particular fondness for song birds.  Debbie and her husband, Kevin, assisted in the recovery of wild creatures in need of rescuing and rehabilitation.  This duo touched the hearts of like-minded people and developed a close friendship with Steve and Wendy Hall, owners of the Wildlife Refuge in Wilmington.  You can imagine the pain and sorrow when Debbie passed away.  In a time of reflection and remembrance, the plan to renovate the Wolf Dome came about.

» Continue Reading.


Thursday, September 3, 2020

Adirondack Wildlife Refuge hosts event this Sunday

Kayla Hanczyk was a beautiful and accomplished young woman, a graduate of SUNY ESF, a wolf lover and an outdoor girl with a love for nature, whose life was struck short by a debilitating cancer. Her grieving family raised the money and built a Memorial to their daughter, the new Kayla Hanczyk Memorial Education Center at the Adirondack Wildlife Refuge. This Sunday, Sept. 6, come learn about wolves, bears, moose, bees, butterflies and pollinators, and help us celebrate Kayla’s short but fruitful life.

» Continue Reading.


Friday, June 19, 2020

Operation Pollinator Rescue 

Pollinators are vital to creating and maintaining the habitats and ecosystems many animals rely on for food and shelter. 

Over half of the diets of fats and oils come from crops pollinated worldwide by pollinators alone and facilitate the reproduction in 90 percent of the world’s flowering plants.  Pollinators are needed in the production of over 130 different human food crops and are responsible for 1 out of every 3 bites of food we eat and beverages we drink. 

A world without pollinators would be devastating.  As nature lovers and educators, the Adirondack Wildlife Refuge (in Wilmington) and SkyLyfeADK are collaborating to implement an extensive pollinator project named Operation Pollinator Rescue. 

» Continue Reading.


Friday, June 5, 2020

The resiliency of white-tailed deer

Editor’s note: This is part two of a two-part series.

Deer appear in paleolithic cave paintings at Altamira, on the north coast of Spain, going back 36,000 years.

The white tailed deer has been in North America for about 4 million years, making the white tail one of the real veterans of nearly all varying habitats in North America, ranging from Nova Scotia west to southern Alberta, sweeping south into Central America, with gaps west of the Rockies.

To put that in perspective, modern moose have only been in North America about 15,000 years, having migrated through Berengia about the same time the ancestors of native Americans began to trickle across. 

» Continue Reading.


Thursday, June 4, 2020

Bucks, does and fawns: All about deer

Editor’s note: This is part one of a two-part series.

Following Bergman’s Rule, white tails in colder climates will be larger on average than deer in warmer climates, as larger deer in colder climates are more likely to survive cold winters, thus surviving to breed and pass along their genes for superior size. Adirondack bucks average about 200 lbs, with mature females at about 160 lbs.

While deer flourish in widely varying habitat, ideal habitat tends to be woodlands, river valleys, forest edge, swamp, meadow and farmlands. The Adirondacks, with its rough mountainous terrain, is not good habitat, and most of the hunters who hunt in the Adirondacks are here as much for the beauty and splendor of an Adirondack autumn, and would more likely find more deer in their back yards or local forest, than they will up here. 

» Continue Reading.


Wednesday, May 27, 2020

Red Fox: Nature’s Rodent Control

A smaller member of the Canidae family, which includes wolves and coyotes, red foxes are found in multiple habitats throughout North America, Europe and Asia, their numbers increasing in areas where their larger canid cousins have been hunted, trapped or otherwise extirpated.

Just as wolves, limiting competition for smaller prey, hold down coyote numbers, both wolves and coyotes keep fox numbers in check. Red foxes were introduced into Southern Australia in the 19th century, and to parts of the southern United States in the 18th century, to provide sport for hunters, and, as you’d expect, with the loss of predators, they are a problem in some areas in their impact on older native species.

» Continue Reading.


Monday, April 27, 2020

Ravens, Crows and Wolves: A harmonious group

raven

Part 2 of 2 (click here for Part 1)

Wherever wolves hunt, ravens are present, scavenging prey, and sometimes leading upwind wolves to potential prey, or to carcasses too frozen or tough for even the ravens’ heavy, pick-like beaks to penetrate. 

Ravens not only scavenge wolf kills, but steal up to one third of a carcass, by continually carrying away chunks of meat, caching and hiding them both from the wolves and their fellow ravens. A fascinating study suggested that, since an adult wolf can, by itself, kill any prey smaller than a small moose, the real reason wolves hunt in packs, is to minimize the portion of a carcass lost to ravens! And while it may seem that wolves have the short end of this symbiotic relationship with ravens, idle wolves and ravens have been observed playing together, with ravens pulling on wolf tails, and wolf pups chasing after teasing ravens.

» Continue Reading.


Saturday, November 23, 2019

Adirondack Refuge: Where The Wild Things Go

Alex with Zeebie and Cree at Adirondack Wildlife RefugeIt’s no secret that throughout time, we’ve been seeking a human – animal bond. The American Veterinary Medical Association defines a  human – animal bond as a mutually beneficial and dynamic relationship between people and animals that is influenced by behaviors essential to the health and well-being of both.

Today we see this drive to understand and be part of this bond from anthrozoology to the average pet owner. The American Pet Products Association says that the number of U.S. households that own a pet is on the rise. They say about 68 percent of U.S. households have a pet, more than 90 million dogs and 94 million cats. People are also changing the way they view their relationships with animals, both in the home, and outside it. » Continue Reading.


Tuesday, August 28, 2018

Adirondack Habitat Awareness Day 2018

Black bear enclosure provided by Adirondack WildThe 11th Annual Adirondack Habitat Awareness Day is set to be celebrated at the Adirondack Wildlife Refuge at 977 Springfield Road in Wilmington, on Sunday September 2nd, from 10 am to 6 pm. The Theme this year will be the ongoing challenges Adirondack Wildlife face in a changing climate.

The following topics will be discussed at the wolf, coyote and bear enclosures throughout the day: » Continue Reading.


Wednesday, August 8, 2018

Wildlife Refuges Opening To Public Visits

Western Adirondacks Upper Mohawk Valley Eastern Lake Ontario WMAs - Region 6 Several typically restricted Wildlife Management Areas (WMAs) in Jefferson and St. Lawrence counties will be open to the public from Saturday, August 11, through Sunday, August 26, 2018.

Portions of these WMAs are marked as “Refuge” or “Wetlands Restricted Area” to allow waterfowl and other listed species to breed and raise young without interference from people. » Continue Reading.



Conditions
Conditions

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

We publish commentary and opinion pieces from voluntary contributors, as well as news updates and event notices from area organizations. Contributors include veteran local writers, historians, naturalists, and outdoor enthusiasts from around the Adirondack region. The information, views and opinions expressed by these various authors are not necessarily those of the Adirondack Almanack or its publisher, the Adirondack Explorer.

General inquiries about the Adirondack Almanack should be directed to editor Melissa Hart. To advertise on the Adirondack Almanack, or to receive information on rates and design, please click here.
Web Services & Search Engine Optimization By: Suloff Designs

Wait! Before you go:

Catch up on all your Adirondack
news, delivered weekly to your inbox