On the whole, processes that contribute to the accelerated climate change we are currently experiencing are a threat to the Adirondack Park, our national security, and the world’s human security.
Here are a few stories about the impacts Climate Change is having on the Adirondack Park.
Heavy rain has led to historic flooding in parts of the Adirondacks. Waters are receding, but the clean up and repairs will continue for some time as Adirondackers return to flooded homes and camps. Some will return to flooded outbuildings, destroyed docks and shoreline changes.
Building owners with flooded basements should check for sheens or odors from gasoline, oil or substances that may have leaked from fuel oil storage tanks, furnaces or motorized equipment before pumping out water. » Continue Reading.
New York State Department of Environmental Conservation Forest Rangers respond to search and rescue incidents in the Adirondacks. Working with other state agencies, local emergency response organizations and volunteer search and rescue groups, Forest Rangers locate and extract lost, injured or distressed people from the Adirondack backcountry.
What follows is a report, prepared by DEC, of recent missions carried out by Forest Rangers in the Adirondacks. » Continue Reading.
Heavy rain has led to historic flooding in parts of the Adirondacks. Lakes and ponds are brimming and rivers and streams swollen with cold and fast water. The most affected areas include Hamilton, Herkimer, Warren and Essex counties, including the western slopes of the Champlain and Lake George Valleys.
At least one person lost their life driving into a flooded roadway and flooding continues to occur in some lowland areas, including along the Schroon River. State Roads are closed in several places, and numerous secondary roads remain closed. Some buildings and other structures have been destroyed, and many more are flooded. You can find the latest road closure information for Routes 30 and 8 at 511ny.org » Continue Reading.
DEC is advising the public to avoid backcountry trails and summits throughout the Adirondack region for the duration of the weekend. Heavy rain and high winds have caused major flooding in the region, which has closed many major roadways throughout the Adirondacks. You can read about that here. » Continue Reading.
Heavy rain overnight on Halloween has led to historic flooding in parts of the Adirondacks Friday, Nov. 1, 2019.
There has been widespread flooding and numerous roads have been closed across Hamilton, Herkimer, Warren and Essex counties, including the western slopes of the Champlain and Lake George Valleys. » Continue Reading.
As a teenager, my son had a saying, whether original or borrowed I don’t know (the saying, that is), which went something like “All things in moderation. Especially moderation.” It would seem Mother Nature took that to heart, and dispensed with moderate rainfall and snow melt this spring. If not her, then maybe it was Creepy Uncle Climate Change. At any rate, the resultant flooding has been heartbreaking to observe.
While I am of course sensitive to the anguish of those people affected by the record-high waters, as an arborist I cannot help but think about the suffering trees as well. » Continue Reading.
Visiting a forest along one of our major rivers, such as the Connecticut River, in late spring, is like entering a special world. Big silver maples tower overhead, with arching branches and roots reaching deep underground. Cottonwoods up to five feet in diameter and vase-shaped American elms are scattered about. Scars on the upstream side of some tree trunks bear testament to the chunks of ice that crash through when the river floods every spring. Silt stains on the trunks and dead leaves, trash, and other debris caught in crotches of trees show the height of the floodwaters. Many trees cannot withstand flooding, but the species in this forest are flood-tolerant and thrive in the nutrient-rich sediments brought by floods. » Continue Reading.
The following Adirondack trails as well as many creeks are flooding or at flood stage:
Ward Brook Trail/Sewards flooded
South end of Avalanche Lake flooded to Lake Colden register
Indian Falls not passable – water waist deep
Indian Pass Brook toward Street & Nye flooded
Water crossing at Ore Bed Lean-To Not Passable
Bushnell Falls crossing to John Brooks Valley is not passable
MAJOR RISE ON SARANAC RIVER: The water at Lake Flower is 22” above the dam and dam will be lowered by 8” tomorrow to relieve the pressure. People are encouraged to stay off the Saranac River.
A few years ago, Paul Smith’s College scientist Curt Stager came across a rare find that he says helps tell the story of climate change in the Adirondacks: the journal of Bob Simon, a retired engineer and longtime resident of Cranberry Lake.
Simon, who died in 1991, kept a meticulous journal with entries for temperature, wind direction, barometric pressure, water level, ice cover, when loons arrived, and when thunderstorms occurred. He made entries twice a day, morning and night, for the last thirty-two years of his life. Stager received the journal from someone who found it in Simon’s former home, years after the man died. » Continue Reading.
A new kind of culvert is being installed on an Ausable River tributary in Wilmington. The project is part of a initiative led by the Ausable River Association (AsRA) and the Adirondack Chapter of The Nature Conservancy (the Conservancy) to improve stream connectivity, fish habitat, and community flood resilience in the Ausable watershed by replacing road-stream crossings with designs engineered to allow for natural stream pattern and flow. » Continue Reading.
The Ausable River Association is concerned that an enormous pile of ice below the Wilmington Dam could exacerbate spring flooding and may have hurt the trout population.
The ice pile on the West Branch of the AuSable River was created in recent weeks by construction crews working to replace the Wilmington Bridge, built in 1934 and located just upstream. The crews broke up ice and moved it below the dam in order to create open water so they could work off river barges. » Continue Reading.
On Thursday January 8, 2015, the Warren County Soil and Water Conservation District (SWCD) and the Warren County Office of Emergency Services (OES) will present a program on Hazard Mitigation from 6 to 7 pm in the Christine L. McDonald Community Room at the Crandall Public Library in Glens Falls.
In Warren County significant natural events impact communities and residents including flooding from severe rains, and beaver dam failures, land slides and high winds. » Continue Reading.
Several nonprofits from across the Adirondack region have partnered to raise funds to rebuild the historic and iconic Wanakena Footbridge in the Clifton-Fine community. The suspension bridge was destroyed in January, 2014 when an ice jam on the Oswegatchie River broke and slammed into its side.
Built in 1902 by the Rich Lumber Company, the footbridge provided pedestrian access to residential and commercial areas of Wanakena. It was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1999. Estimates put the full cost of construction at $250,000.
The Wanakena Historical Association has already raised nearly $38,000, but to extend the campaign’s, reach the Adirondack North Country Association (ANCA) has partnered with other local nonprofits to establish an online Adirondack Gives crowdfunding effort. The Wanakena Footbridge campaign can be found on the Adirondack Gives website. » Continue Reading.
I attended a recent forum in Albany, Facing the Storm: Preparing for Increased Extreme Weather in Upstate New York, and wanted to pass along some of what I heard, or thought I heard. The event was sponsored by the Nelson A. Rockefeller Institute of Government.
For a forum concerning the impacts of a changing climate the audience was unusually diverse in terms of backgrounds and professions. As a staff member for Adirondack Wild, I was sitting next to a firefighter from a village in Montgomery County. At the next table were other firefighters and emergency personnel in uniform. Across from me were several members of the League of Women Voters. Initially we all wondered if we were in the right meeting. I think by the end we realized what we all have in common. » Continue Reading.
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