The Saranac River offers a calm, winding river with views of the High Peaks, great for a half-day paddle meandering along Route 3 towards Bloomingdale. It flows along the western and northern borders of the McKenzie Mountain Wilderness.
Put-ins are located at the Saranac River Hand Launch or the Pine Street Hand Launch in Saranac Lake. A second car can be parked at the Moose Pond trail head on Route 3 near Bloomingdale. » Continue Reading.
In late summer 1955, after two months of surveying and studying uranium deposits in Saratoga County, Robert Zullo and his partners, George McDonnell and Lewis Lavery, saw their claims publicly dismissed in print by a business rival, who told the Leader-Herald there were “no major deposits of uranium in the Sacandaga region.” Geologist John Bird of Schenectady had been hired by a Wyoming uranium-mining company to survey the area, and after thirty days, he had found uraninite only in “ridiculously small” quantities. » Continue Reading.
A public meeting addressing the contamination related to the NYSEG – Plattsburg Saranac Street MGP Site #510007 along the Saranac River in Plattsburgh has been set for March 14th, 2018 at 7 pm, at the Plattsburgh City Hall, 41 City Hall Place, Plattsburgh.
In addition to the meeting, New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) is accepting public comments about the proposal through March 30, 2018. » Continue Reading.
Lake Placid Land Conservancy (LPLC) will be hosting a Community Conservation Workshop at the Saranac Lake Free Library on Wednesday, September 7, 2016, from 5:30 to 7 pm.
The workshop is intended for landowners and community members who are interested in discussing conservation and stewardship of private lands in the Saranac Lake region.
Through a recent mapping initiative, LPLC identified important land use characteristics and attributes (including important ecological, political and economic characteristics) on almost 100,000 acres of private lands in the region. LPLC staff will provide an overview of its mapping initiative and conduct interactive mapping exercises for its Saranac Lake focus area. » Continue Reading.
The US National Fly Fishing Championships begins Wednesday, June 1st, when some of the best anglers in the country check-in at the Lake Placid Olympic Training Center at 7 pm. There will be three days of competition for spots on the National Fly Fishing Team.
According to event organizer Ken Crane, this is the first year the nationals have come to the area. Two regional qualifiers were held in the area last June. “We have 55 anglers: 11 teams of five guys, at five venues: three rivers and two lakes,” says Crane. “The competitors each get a beat, a section of the river or lake and have a three-hour catch and release session.” » Continue Reading.
The nation’s best fly anglers will be returning to Lake Placid, Wilmington, Saranac Lake, Redford and Malone, June 1–4, 2016 for the U.S. National Fly Fishing Championships, and organizers are looking for volunteers to assist anglers over the three-day catch-and-release competition.
“The event relies on volunteers to record the size and species of every fish caught, and is a great opportunity for avid fishermen to learn from these top anglers and share local ‘intel’, too,” said Ken Crane, event and volunteer organizer. “Anglers will be fishing on the Ausable, Saranac and Salmon Rivers while wading, and Mirror Lake and Lake Colby from boats. No experience is required.” » Continue Reading.
A Franklin County angler died after his utility-task-vehicle broke through the ice on Union Falls Pond, according to state police.
Gregory N. Manchester, 59, of Franklin drove his vehicle onto the ice on Sunday to go fishing. He was reported missing the following morning.
A state police helicopter flew over the area and spotted his UTV partially submerged. State forest rangers followed footprints to a seasonal cabin and found Manchester lying on the floor, suffering from severe hypothermia. He was unresponsive.
The 3rd week of August artists assemble in Saranac Lake for the Adirondack Plein Air Festival. This year, from August 18 to 22, fifty painters from all over the east coast and Canada are taking part. Registration opened online March 1 and filled in less than 48 hours, as both new and repeat artists were eager to attend. In order to keep the annual Show & Sale at manageable numbers, it was decided to limit participation to 50. » Continue Reading.
Trout season opened on April 1st, so it seems like a good time to review a few interesting fish tales (and truths) from the North Country’s past. Just like tall tales are an Adirondack tradition, fish stories are told wherever anglers are found. The most common are about the big one that got away, which just about every dedicated fisherman has a version of that includes at least some truth. What follows here are interesting and unusual fish-related stories from the past 90 years. » Continue Reading.
I wanted to find an excursion in my solo canoe that provided solitude and where I’d feel challenged, but not in danger. A big order, as in 1993 I had no friends, or even any colleagues, in the Central New York area I could consult who had knowledge of remote areas of the Adirondacks. So I read guidebooks and studied Adirondack maps.
Descriptions of the headwaters of the Saranac River caught my interest, as my first canoe adventure had been through a Girl Scout trip on Upper Saranac Lake many years before. » Continue Reading.
Big changes are planned for the Imperial Dam on the Saranac River in Plattsburgh.
On Friday, the state Department of Conservation announced that it is taking comments on a plan to modify the dam, which is located a few miles upstream of Lake Champlain. The proposal calls for decreasing the height of the spillway by 8.5 feet and constructing a concrete fish ladder on the left bank, or northern side, of the dam, which the DEC owns. The other side is privately owned. » Continue Reading.
On Saturday, July 5, North Country residents will bear witness to the one-year anniversary of the deadly oil train derailment in Lac-Mégantic, Quebec that killed 47 people and to raise public awareness of crude-by-rail transport in the Lake Champlain region.
Participants will gather near the mouth of the Saranac River at 3 pm, walking out on a pedestrian bridge about 50 feet from the Canadian Pacific railroad bridge, and gathering in canoes and kayaks below the bridges.
The demonstration is part of a week-long action by citizens and groups across North America opposing the escalation of crude-by-rail shipping. The Plattsburgh event is being spearheaded by Center for Biological Diversity and People for Positive Action. » Continue Reading.
When Ed Kanze moved to the Adirondacks in 2000, he was moving to an area his ancestors had been connected to since 1797. It was like coming home, even though he had grown up in New York’s Westchester County and had traveled and worked all over the country and abroad.
In his new memoir, Adirondack: Life and Wildlife in the Wild, Wild East (SUNY Press, 2014), Kanze brings the unique history of this area to life by sharing stories about many of his ancestors, including an aunt treated for tuberculosis and a great-great-grandfather who owned tanneries, a lumber business and a hotel, and who also served as a judge and assemblyman.
A naturalist and licensed guide, Kanze got his love of the outdoors from his grandfather, who took him on long fishing trips when he was a kid. In addition to the history in Adirondack, he also provides a crash course in Adirondack geology, climate, flora, and fauna. » Continue Reading.
The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) is preparing to restart a management plan for nearly 60,000 acres of Forest Preserve and other state-managed lands in the Chazy Highlands Complex. The lands spread across 493 square miles in 34 separate parcels in the northeastern Adirondack Park and are located in the towns of Bellmont, Duane, and Franklin in Franklin County and the towns of Altona, Black Brook, Dannemora, Ellenburg, and Saranac in Clinton County.
Natural features in the Complex include Lyon Mountain, Haystack Knob, Norton Peak, and Ellenburg Mountain; Upper Chateaugay Lake and Chazy Lake; and Saranac River and Great Chazy River. The primary recreational uses are fishing and hunting; however the public also participates in hiking, camping, cross country skiing, snowshoeing, snowmobiling and bird/wildlife watching on these lands. Both the trail to the Fire Tower on the Lyon Mountain and the Lewis Preserve Wildlife Management Area are frequented often by the public. » Continue Reading.
This week we finish the tale started two weeks ago, the story of when the North Country saved the Republic. Like all great stories of war this one has its heroes. The naval exploits of one of them, Master Commandant Thomas Macdonough, are fairly well known, credited among students of war if not the general public.
The story of another, Brigadier General Alexander Macomb, is all but unknown. In this final installment I will introduce you to a third gentleman, a lesser player in the story to be sure, but one who happens to be one of the most iconic characters in Adirondack lore and who represents the gallantry of all the militia, the citizen-soldiers who helped turn the tide. » Continue Reading.
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