The only independent, nonprofit news organization solely dedicated to reporting on the Adirondack Park.
I was surprised by a comment by Colin Beier, an ecologist at the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry in “Future of open space.” Professor Beier thinks there’s no longer a development threat to the Adirondacks because, as he points out, the Adirondack Park is losing population. It’s true that the year-round Adirondack population…
In regard to “The future of open space” [July/August, 2012]: In the 1920s and 1930s, the discussion was that there should be approximately a 50-50 split between state ownership and private ownership. Now, according to the Department of Environmental Conservation, the state owns 2,790,000 acres and an additional 758,000 acres of land are under conservation…
The bobcat, an elusive and beautiful Adirondack neighbor, has managed to do what the wolf and the cougar could not. It has held its own against the trophy hunters, fur traders, and those who through fear or misplaced sense of sport take aim at the wild predator. In the Adirondack Park and other regions of…
Recently the Adirondack Explorer reported on the decline of Lake George, pointing to shoreline and upland development and the lack of adequate land-use controls by the Lake George Park Commission. The water is still clean, pure, drinkable, and rated as AA Special. The lake is still one of the cleanest and clearest in the state,…
I just read an article in the Adirondack Explorer [May/June 2012] about a proposal to extend the trapping of bobcats. I wholeheartedly oppose any trapping of this animal. As a resident of New Jersey, but a frequent visitor to the Adirondacks, I see no purpose in this trapping which causes so much suffering to the…
Lou Curth’s concern that children are no longer interested in nature is cause for enormous worry [“Rangers do more than search,” May/June 2012]. It’s yet another indication that personal computers are threatening to take over and we humans are becoming subservient. Habitat for Humanity has a thrift shop here in Pittsboro, North Carolina. I asked…
The article “Unwinding on the Kunjamuk,” in your May/June issue was excellent. While it was mentioned that the lands on both sides of the Kunjamuk River, nearly twenty-four thousand acres, are owned by the Lyme Timber Company, it is important to note that these lands are permanently conserved via the acquisition of perpetual working-forest conservation…
As I plan for my annual canoeing week in the Adirondacks, I realize I haven’t seen any debate in the Explorer about relocated campsites in the St. Regis Canoe Area. Frankly, all of the new sites that I checked out last year in the Canoe Area were terrible, particularly on St. Regis Pond, where we…
From Asian clams to Eurasian watermilfoil, from zebra mussels to water chestnut, invaders threaten Adirondack waterways. Aquatic invasives can foul boats, clog water systems, and choke once-clear waters, spoiling both the natural character and recreational opportunities of the Park’s lakes. If we are to defend the wild waters that are at the heart of the…
Here I sit in Iowa, too busy to make my annual pilgrimage to Saranac Lake. I have vacationed in the Adirondacks almost every summer since 1931, and now I have to take solace in that thought of a recent letter writer, Gary Randorf: “I need to know they are there.” There are so many treasured…