The only independent, nonprofit news organization solely dedicated to reporting on the Adirondack Park.
Mike Lynch has been the Explorer's climate reporter since January 2025 and has worked for the publication since 2014. In addition to writing about climate change, he covers issues related to wildlife. Mike has also worked as a licensed outdoor guide and thru-paddled the 740-mile Northern Forest Canoe Trail. He is the author of 12 Short Hikes on Preserves near Lake George. He can be reached at [email protected].
By Mike Lynch
The state, local towns, and individuals are taking steps to adapt to life in a warming world. By MIKE LYNCH The Adirondack Park is already experiencing the impacts of climate change. Lakes and ponds are covered with ice for fewer days than they were a century ago; spring is starting earlier in the lower elevations; and storms are becoming more intense and frequent.…
By Mike Lynch
Climate change is expected to bring heavy rains, more floods, and more damage to communities. By Mike Lynch 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…
By Mike Lynch
Warmer climate bodes ill for Adirondack businesses that rely on winter tourism. By Mike Lynch The most profitable months for the tourism-based businesses in the Adirondacks are without question July and August. This is when families take their summer vacations, the weather is warm, and the bugs are tolerable. But while summer is crucial for small businesses,…
By Mike Lynch
Warming temperatures could bring disturbing changes in cold-water lakes and in boreal bogs, threatening such seminal Adirondack species as the brook trout, lake trout, and common loon. By Mike Lynch Sitting beside a small stream in the southwestern Adirondacks, Spencer Bruce clipped a tiny brook-trout fin and placed it in a small container. The fin is…
By Mike Lynch
Will Madison retraced the 1883 paddle of his great-great-great grandfather George W. Sears. By Mike Lynch The nineteenth-century writings of George W. Sears—best known as Nessmuk—have inspired countless Adirondack paddlers. Among the most recent is his great-great-great-grandson Will Madison. In September, the twenty-two-year-old St. Lawrence University graduate retraced much of Nessmuk’s 1883 canoe trip from…
By Mike Lynch
Climate change poses a threat to moose and other life forms—plants and animals—at the southern edge of their range in the Adirondacks. By Mike Lynch On a warm day in June, state wildlife biologist Ben Tabor knelt in a dark forest in the northern Adirondacks, peering through his binoculars at a dark shape a few…
By Mike Lynch
Scientists say that climate change is disrupting the biological cycles of plants and animals. By Mike Lynch Scientist Curt Stager walks along the edge of the woods, his flashlight shining into the shallow water of a leafy, roadside pool on a dark night in Paul Smiths. It’s late April, and he’s out looking for spotted…
By Mike Lynch
Scientists question whether the Adirondack Park has enough habitat and prey for a wild cat adapted to boreal climes. By Mike Lynch A fellow carnivore scientist once showed Cristina Eisenberg the skeleton of an animal and asked her to identify it. Looking at the large hindquarters and feet, she guessed snowshoe hare. Told she guessed…
By Mike Lynch
Rangers and state police fight fierce winds and dangerous cold to find woman and her young sons. By Mike Lynch Forest rangers and state police rescued a mother and her two preteen sons near the summit of Mount Marcy in mid- March after undertaking, in brutally cold conditions, one of the largest search operations of recent years. “As far as our…
By Mike Lynch
DEC stocks tens of thousands of exotic fish in Adirondack waters each year, a practice that some observers believe diminishes populations of native brook trout. By Mike Lynch When people think of invasive species in the Adirondack Park, they think of Eurasian watermilfoil, zebra mussels, Asian clams, or any number of other exotic plants and animals that have made the headlines. People don’t…