Cuomo backs salt study
By Ry Rivard
December 3, 2020
The governor signed a law aimed at reining in the 300 million pounds of salt dumped each year in the Adirondack Park to clear roads for fast-moving vehicles.
Ry Rivard
Ry covers water for the Explorer. Before coming to New York, he reported on water and energy for Voice of San Diego.
He can be reached at ry@adirondackexplorer.org.
Rewilding a run
By Ry Rivard
November 29, 2020
Efforts to restore salmon to the Boquet have had victories and setbacks in recent years.
Netting salmon to save them
By Ry Rivard
November 24, 2020
The Fish and Wildlife Service wants to track about 60 salmon as they move through the Boquet to figure out how good they are at getting upstream and spawning.
Lake George algal bloom: harmful but not too toxic
By Ry Rivard
November 17, 2020
Lake watchdogs have warned for years that rising pollution levels in the lake — fueled in part by leaking lakeside septics — would help cause such a bloom.
Plattsburgh dam stands in the way of salmon progress
By Ry Rivard
November 11, 2020
Within the next five years, state and federal officials would like to see salmon breeding in the Saranac River for the first time in two centuries. But an unsound and largely unused obstacle stands in their way, the Imperial Dam
Lake George, Mirror Lake suffer algal blooms
By Ry Rivard
November 10, 2020
The confirmation of a harmful algal bloom atop Lake George brings to the surface worries that researchers, watchdogs and residents have had for years.
Barriers to renewal
By Ry Rivard
November 8, 2020
Nearly 200 years later, New York officials are still trying to get salmon back into the Saranac River. The biggest obstacle: Dams.
Are fish ladders the answer?
By Ry Rivard
November 7, 2020
When it was last relicensed, the owners of Treadwell Mills dam on the Saranac River put in a fish ladder so salmon could get through. The ladder, which looks like a wet wheelchair ramp for fish to swim up, has never been used, though, because salmon still can’t get past Imperial Mills. The Lake Champlain…
Saranac Lake airport listed as hazardous site
By Ry Rivard
October 23, 2020
Like hundreds of other airports across the country, Adirondack Regional over the years sprayed firefighting foam that contains chemicals now known to cause cancer and other health problems.
Dams and lakes
By Ry Rivard
October 20, 2020
Over the past several months, I’ve begun to explore the role that dams play in the Adirondacks. There are about 750 in the North Country. About 30 are a hazard with known safety problems. That’s the worrying part about dams. But, at the moment I write this, about 21 percent of the state’s power is coming from some…