SARANAC LAKE, NY — The Northern Forest Canoe Trail (NFCT) has completed critical restoration of the historic Indian Carry portage connecting Stony Creek Ponds and Upper Saranac Lake, enhancing safety for users and protecting against environmental degradation.
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Posts Tagged ‘Upper Saranac Lake’
Northern Forest Canoe Trail Volunteers Upgrade Historic Portage and Campsites
Upper Saranac Monitoring Platform reports daily from the lake
The Paul Smith’s College Adirondack Watershed Institute (AWI) has launched a new interactive website to display near real-time data on water quality and weather conditions on Upper Saranac Lake.
Lesson from Wetland Hydrology 101
Many, many years ago I entered graduate school at the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies in New Haven, CT. My graduate interests lay primarily in water resources, so I searched that first semester for a lead professor/advisor in that vast field – and, due to recent retirements, found none.
As luck would have it, a Ph.D. candidate hosted a course in basic wetland hydrology 101 that fall. He was young, energetic, no nonsense kind of person, a stickler for getting out in the field and measuring things like water flow, water inputs, outputs and what was going on underneath our feet and the wet soils he was interested in. He took us to interesting places called bogs, fens, and cedar swamps requiring hip boots. We saw great swamp trees, like tupelos or black gum. We brought back funny looking, stained sketches of bogs and fens, with arrows showing what we thought was the direction of water flow pointing in various directions. I learned that a fen was a kind of boggy wetland where surface and/or ground water flowed through, introducing minerals and oxygenated conditions and thus making a fen somewhat less mineral impoverished than a bog lacking such through flow.
Was the Adirondack Park Agency (APA) Duped?
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.
Upper Saranac coalition: APA ruling endangers wetlands
In an unprecedented reversal of its prior position, the APA is amending a long-standing 1987 permit to allow a large private residential septic system to endanger to a rare bog and degrade Upper Saranac Lake water quality. The APA has ignored their own 1987 permit requirements.
A coalition of conservationists, engineers, a wetland ecologist, and neighbors of a proposed development within the Class 1 wetlands on Upper Saranac Lake said today that the Adirondack Park Agency (APA) had, over the strong objections of environmentalists, engineers and local landowners, approved an amendment to an existing APA permit. The amendment eases the restrictions normally required for wetlands, and for only the last lot of the Deerwood Subdivision. This amendment allows for an on-site septic system 100 feet from a stream that empties into the Upper Saranac Lake and from the rare Category 1 wetlands boundary.
Seeking public input on the direction of the Upper Saranac Watershed Management Plan
The second of three public meetings for the Upper Saranac watershed management planning effort is scheduled for Thursday, May 6 from 7pm-8:30pm.
The meeting is hosted by the Upper Saranac Foundation (USF) and the Paul Smith’s College Adirondack Watershed Institute (AWI). The groups will present preliminary goals for the watershed plan and will facilitate discussions about the recommendations and the future of the watershed. The groups administered a public survey in the summer of 2020 and held the first public meeting in February of 2021.
Eagle Island Welcoming Overnight Campers
Eagle Island, Inc.has announced that registration is open for Girls’ Overnight Camp on its private 30-acre island on Upper Saranac Lake. This program is for girls entering 5th through 9th grades. Programs are built on the mission to inspire and empower girls and young women to be confident, collaborative, and courageous. » Continue Reading.
Upper Saranac Shoreline Protected Along Canoe Route
The Adirondack Land Trust purchased five acres of forest along the shore of Upper Saranac Lake to ensure that a mile-long stretch of shoreline between Indian Carry and Indian Point remains forever wild.
The tract features 570 feet of rugged lakeshore edged by boulders and northern white cedars. The Adirondack Land Trust is expected to work with the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) to transfer the land to the state to close a gap in the Saranac Lakes Wild Forest, which is protected under the “forever wild” clause of New York’s constitution as part of the Adirondack Forest Preserve. » Continue Reading.
Upper Saranac Lake Management Planning Underway
The Upper Saranac Foundation (USF) is expected to develop and implement a new Lake Management Plan (LMP) thanks to a $68,000 grant from the state Department of Environmental Conservation’s Invasive Species Grant Program.
The grant is one of 42 projects statewide to receive funding to reduce the negative impacts of invasive species. A total of five North Country organizations were awarded grants this year, and eight programs across the state received nearly $234,000 for lake management planning. » Continue Reading.
Historic 1930s Girl Scout Camp Reopens to Campers
After a decade of disuse, the 116-year-old National Historic Landmark on Eagle Island will again be a children’s summer camp. Eagle Island Camp is starting small and with two one-week sessions of day camp for 4th, 5th, or 6th graders.
Eagle Island Camp is a Great Camp designed by architect William Coulter that contains some of his most notable rustic work. The 30-acre island is located below Upper Saranac Lake’s narrows east of Gilpin Bay. The camp was built in 1903 for Levi P. Morton, U.S. Vice President under Benjamin Harrison and later Governor of New York. » Continue Reading.
Betty Pettitt Nicholas: ‘A House in the Adirondacks and an Airplane, Too!’
In June 1982, Betty Pettitt Nicholas was awarded the Nicholas Trophy by the Indianapolis Aero Club as the previous year’s “most deserving woman pilot of the year.” It was the second time she was chosen for the honor, and as happened on the first occasion back in 1952, unusual circumstances surrounded the award. The trophy given 30 years earlier was named in honor of Dee Nicholas, who had been the wife of Ted Nicholas, a pilot and TV executive. A year after winning the award, Betty Pettitt married Ted, a union that ended 15 years later, in 1968, when he died of a heart attack.
Since that time, the Dee Nicholas Trophy had been retired, and was replaced by the Ted Nicholas Trophy. Which means Betty Pettitt Nicholas won a trophy named after her husband’s first wife, and another trophy named after him. To mark the occasion, a photograph of the honoree with seven of her good friends, all previous winners, appeared in the 99s newsletter. The Seymour Daily Tribune noted that the award was given “to the most deserving licensed woman pilot for her outstanding achievement and service in the field of aviation.” No doubt she was a good fit on both occasions. » Continue Reading.
Eagle Island Group Camping, Restoration Project Underway
The Town Board of Santa Clara has voted unanimously to amend the local Land Use Code to reestablish group camping on Eagle Island, located on Upper Saranac Lake.
Friends of Eagle Island (FEI) has been in discussions with the Town of Santa Clara to reestablish group camping on Eagle Island through a petition to amend the Land Use Code thereby enabling the camp to re-open. This multi-step process has involved; preparing and filing a petition for an Amendment with the Town Board, review of the Amendment by the Planning Board, a Public Hearing and the vote by the Town Board. » Continue Reading.
Upper Saranac Lake Boat Launch Upgrades Planned
The Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) has announced that $475,000 in upgrades will be made to the Upper Saranac Lake Boat Launch.
The boat launch, located at the intersection of County Route 46 and Back Bay Road, is one of two public boat launches that provide access to Upper Saranac Lake.
The planned improvements include: » Continue Reading.
2 New Maps From St. Regis Canoe Outfitters
St. Regis Canoe Outfitters has published two new waterproof maps for paddlers, one covering the three Saranac Lakes, the other covering the St. Regis Canoe Area.
The color maps cover some of the same territory as the Adirondack Paddler’s Map, also published by St. Regis Canoe Outfitters, but the new maps are more detailed and, being smaller, easier to handle.
They’re also less expensive: $9.95 versus $19.95 for the Adirondack Paddler’s Map (which is four times as large).
“Many first-time visitors are going to grab a $10 map before they grab a $20 map,” said Dave Cilley, owner of St. Regis Canoe Outfitters, which has stores in Saranac Lake and Floodwood. » Continue Reading.
The Place I Live: Upper Saranac Lake
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