Forest rangers honor fallen soldiers
By Mike Lynch
The following are forest ranger actions for the period of April 22-29. The information was provided by the state Department of Environmental Conservation.
Stories
An open door for invaders on Lake George?
By Mike Lynch
Some of Lake George’s top defenders worry that two boat launches on northern Lake George could become portals to invasives that they have so diligently tried to keep out.
Study makes economic case for Adirondack protections
Protect the Adirondacks reviewed 40 years of U.S. Census Bureau and other data that show park towns and their 130,000 inhabitants mirror national trends in some economic categories while outperforming most small communities in others.
New ADK map updates High Peaks Wilderness
By Phil Brown
The High Peaks Wilderness has grown to 274,000 acres, absorbing the Dix Mountain Wilderness, Boreas Ponds, and other adjacent lands. A new map reflects those additions.
Unprepared hikers rescued on Colden
By Mike Lynch
Forest rangers and state police rescued four unprepared 17-year-old hikers atop Mount Colden Tuesday evening.Conditions in the Adirondack lower elevations have been spring-like recently, but there is still a significant amount of snow atop the High Peaks, where temperatures are much colder.
DEC and BETA advise mountain bikers to avoid trails during mud season
Trailside vegetation and trail surfaces are especially vulnerable to degradation and erosion during this time of year. Biking on muddy trails damages tree roots, erodes slopes, and widens trails, making them difficult for riding. DEC asks bikers to help protect the trails, natural resources, and surrounding habitats by checking trail conditions and advisories and avoiding all wet, muddy trails.
DEC issues 28 ATV tickets during SNIRT run
Forest rangers issued 28 total tickets for illegal all-terrain-type vehicle operation on state lands during the 16th annual SNIRT run in Jefferson and Lewis counties.
Garden parking lot to close Monday
The Garden parking lot at the Garden Trailhead will be closed to public motor vehicles and pedestrians starting Monday and will remain closed until bridge construction is complete, according to the town of Keene.
Lake George could model water solutions, author says
Sandra Postel—author, most recently, of “Replenish: The Virtuous Cycle of Water and Prosperity”—has never underestimated the challenges of restoring water quality.
Warming threatens to upend ecology on Adirondack lakes
This winter, when the National Weather Service reported that Champlain finally froze all the way across to Vermont on March 8, it was like hearing that a steamboat had crossed the lake: typical in the 19th century, improbable in the 21st. The lake ice officially “closed” in almost every year of the 1800s and the first half of the 1900s, but has done so only 11 times since 1990.