Wake To It
Quicksilver lives, like glistening waves,
Unrelentingly forming, cresting, diminishing, receding,
Like notes on an ever-moving scale,
On ever-turning pages, speeding faster than light,
Billowing above the beckoning forest canopy,
To the lacrimal sounds of searching loons.
The 9th Annual Fire Tower Lighting event is scheduled for Saturday, September 3 from 9 to 9:30 p.m. and will include several fire towers in the Adirondacks and Catskills. On the evening of the event, volunteers will light fire tower cabs with high-powered lights, and invite people to visit locations where they could look up, see the light on the horizon, and pay homage to fire observers who would stand watch in the towers, protecting the community and surrounding forest.
Established in 2014, this statewide event is the brain child of Doug Hamilton of the Red Hill Fire Tower Committee, and is meant to showcase the history of fire towers around the state. They were erected in the early 20th century, as fires ravaged hundreds of thousands of square miles of wild forest.
Lake Placid, NY — Earlier this month, New York State Senator Dan Stec presented ADK (Adirondack Mountain Club) with a legislative resolution recognizing ADK’s 100 years of teaching people how to explore and protect New York’s public lands and waters. The resolution acknowledges the many ways in which ADK has achieved this over the last century, including through educational outreach, stewardship programs, and trail work.
The resolution was sponsored by Senator Dan Stec in the Senate, Assembly member Matt Simpson in the Assembly, and co-sponsored by Assembly members Jones, Ashby, Byrne, Salka, Mikulin, DeStefano, Hawley, Manktelow, Cusick, McDonald, Smullen, McMahon, and Walsh. A physical copy was given to ADK Deputy Executive Director Julia Goren during an event at the Adirondack History Museum.
Loon enthusiasts are encouraged to join retired NYS DEC Forest Ranger, and avid naturalist, birder, and photographer, Gary Lee, as he shares stories during an informational session about banding loons in the Adirondacks.
The presentation will take place on Friday, July 1 at 7 p.m. in the meeting room of Inlet Town Hall located at 160 State Route 28. The program is free and open to the public. For more information about this event, call (315) 357-5501.
Gary lives with his wife, Karen, at Eight Acre Wood in Inlet where he was the Forest Ranger for 35 years, working in the Moose River Wild Forest Recreation Area and West Canada Lakes Wilderness Area. Now retired, Gary works summers for the Adirondack Center for Loon Conservation, observing, catching and banding loons.
The author of a column Daybreak to Twilight in local papers from 1986 to 2019, he now writes his Outdoor Adventures in a weekly blog, which can be seen on The Adirondack Almanack and View Arts Center websites. In 2008, Gary coauthored a book with John M.C. “Mike” Peterson, “Adirondack Birding- 60 Great Places to Find Birds.”
Photo at top: Gary Lee with loon. (Town of Inlet website photo.)
The Adirondack 46ers have increased their support of critical stewardship programs in the High Peaks Wilderness after another busy year in the Adirondacks. Last week they announced a $41,000 commitment to the ADK’s (The Adirondack Mountain Club’s) professional trail crew. This pledge was the second from the 46ers, announced shortly after a pledge of $75,000 to be distributed over three years from 46ers, effectively doubling down on their efforts to support the ADK Mountain Club’s stewardship program. The Stewardship Program is managed in partnership with the NYS DEC, and the Adirondack Chapter of the Nature Conservancy.
Over the last 20 years, the 46ers have donated nearly $350,000 to the ADK’s trails program, $298,000 of which in the last 8 years alone, when visitor use has reached its peak.
A new campaign called Buy Local or Bye-Bye Local seeks to help North Country businesses.
The SUNY Canton Small Business Development Center (SBDC) and regional partners are reminding community members to shop at local, independent businesses this holiday season to
help them survive as they operate under continuing COVID restrictions.
The SBDC is partnering with business organizations across seven Counties – including Ticonderoga Area Chamber of Commerce, Franklin County IDA/LDC, Saranac Lake Area Chamber of Commerce, The Saint Lawrence County Chamber, and the Essex County IDA in a united effort to keep small businesses afloat.
Temporary Parking Closures, Parking Permits, Shuttles & Trail Closures Acceptable to Users
Two leading conservation organizations, The Adirondack Council, The Adirondack Mountain Club, and the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry (SUNY ESF) released the preliminary results of a two month hiker survey for the High Peaks Wilderness Area, showing most hikers preferred solitude and wildness, and would welcome limits on visitation in order to prevent damage to the “forever wild” forest preserve.
The survey, “Recreational User Experience and Perspectives: Adirondack Park” is undergoing its initial analysis, but the institutions involved look forward to releasing the final results in a few months.
North Country Live, a series of live webinars created over the summer in order to offer insight into topics such as wellness, personal finance, and Adirondack history, will be returning this fall with a focus on Indigenous Voices of the Adirondacks. Through three online programs, the North Country Live Fall Series will bring to light the history and traditions of the Mohawk Tribe at Akwesasne, and the challenges they have faced amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The programs are free, but require participants to register in advance at this link to receive an invitation to the session.
As small, local businesses continue to look for new ways to reach customers, more e-commerce opportunities are coming to fruition. Keep engaged in your community with the #ClickLocal effort and check out the following endeavors, provided by Adirondack North Country Association:
Adirondack Buyer Days: ANCA is sharing a catalog of handmade gifts from its annual Buyer Days show (which didn’t take place this year due to COVID-19). The catalogue features artisans from around the region (such as Adirondack Peach, shown here), making a range of products such as jewelry, cards, soap, candles and chocolate. Browse the online catalogue here and support regional artists.
The Hub Online Market: The Hub on the Hill’s new online ordering system offers local food and products with the added convenience of home delivery, within 100 miles of its location in Essex. (Place orders by Monday and then choose a delivery day.) The project was made in collaboration with ANCA and received support from the Adirondack Foundation’s Generous Acts fund, and Well Fed Essex. If you are a food producer located in the Champlain Valley/Adirondacks, you are welcome to apply.
Shop Where I Live St. Lawrence County: Check out the St. Lawrence Chamber of Commerce’s new online platform which allows you to purchase directly from St. Lawrence County businesses.
In the Adirondacks we are fortunate to have a growing number of small local farms to supply us with fresh, safe, and healthy food.
It is more important then ever during the COVID-19 crises to support the growing number of small farms that rely on the community to remain viable.
If you wish to join the Adirondack Council’s Essex Farm Institute in continuing to help local farmers, below are some suggestions of how you can give your support:
On June 26, 1776, John Adams wrote to Abigail words appropriate for our present circumstances:
“Our Misfortunes in Canada, are enough to melt a Heart of Stone. The Small Pox is ten times more terrible than Britons, Canadians and Indians together. This was the Cause of our precipitate Retreat from Quebec, this the Cause of our Disgraces at the Cedars.-I dont mean that this was all. There has been Want, approaching to Famine, as well as Pestilence. And these Discouragements seem to have so disheartened our Officers, that none of them seem to Act with Prudence and Firmness.
But these Reverses of Fortune dont discourage me. It was natural to expect them, and We ought to be prepared in our Minds for greater Changes, and more melancholly Scenes still. It is an animating Cause, and brave Spirits are not subdued with Difficulties.”
Beth L Hill, President & CEO of Fort Ticonderoga, is taking inspiration from this letter. The Fort is unveiling an online initiative to “Fortify Yourself” through digital educational programs, videos, and social media engagement. As well as access to an extensive virtual vault of rare museum collections. Visit their Center of Digital History to explore.
Blow Adirondack Wind is a new song based on an old rhyme. About 14 years ago Dan Berggren came across a bit of doggerel about winter, a few lines with no attribution. He jotted it down in his notebook then forgot about it – until three winters ago. While reviewing his notes for songwriting ideas, Berggren decided to write a song based on this theme. It was a retelling of sorts of the old story in song he heard as a kid and often sings, The Frozen Logger, which James Stephens wrote in 1929 and The Weavers recorded in 1951. » Continue Reading.
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