The only independent, nonprofit news organization solely dedicated to reporting on the Adirondack Park.
By Phil Brown
A state judge has dismissed a lawsuit challenging the Department of Environmental Conservation’s construction of “community connector” snowmobile trails in the Forest Preserve. Protect the Adirondacks argued that the trails—up to twelve feet wide on curves and graded smooth—violated Article 14 of the state constitution, which declares that the Preserve “shall be forever kept as…
A Paul Smith’s College student finds tranquility while hiking the Ladies’ Mile in the Adirondack Mountain Reserve. By Autumn Rock I’ve never hiked in the Adirondacks.” This is something no North Country native would want to admit, but it was true of me until this past August, when I was assigned to do a story…
By Phil Brown
Last week’s Forest Ranger Report from the Department of Environmental Conservation noted that a ranger had to rescue two hikers overtaken by darkness on Thomas Mountain. In this week’s Ranger Report, three of the five incidents involved searches for people benighted in the woods. In all four of these incidents, the people rescued failed to bring…
Two things can be said for Adirondack architecture. It’s eclectic, to put it mildly. And there is no distinctly Adirondack style. Oh, we talk about rustic, but that’s as much a décor and an invention of modern real-estate agents, curators, and retailers. Those are some of the conclusions that can be drawn from two new…
By Phil Brown
On the day before Thanksgiving, Rosemary Billquist, 43, was walking dogs in a field in the evening when she was shot by a hunter who evidently mistook her for a deer. The Department of Environmental Conservation announced that the hunter has been indicted on a charge of second-degree manslaughter, which carries a prison term of…
By Phil Brown
Ellen Rocco has been at North Country Public Radio since 1980 and its station manager since 1985. That’s to say, she has been in public radio nearly as long as Garrison Keillor. She doesn’t know Garrison Keillor well. She spent the better part of an evening with him when he broadcast an episode of The…
By Phil Brown
In October I hiked up Thomas Mountain and Cat Mountain overlooking Lake George. I went up Thomas first, via old logging roads. Near the summit is a cabin built before the state bought the property in 2013. Inside the cabin were a sofa, table, lantern, a few foodstuffs, even some music speakers. Cabins are not…
By Phil Brown
When I wake up in the morning, the first thing I do is turn on North Country Public Radio. I leave it on as I eat breakfast and get ready for work. And so I’ve become quite familiar with The Writer’s Almanac, which had aired daily. In light of Wednesday’s news about Garrison Keillor, the show’s creator,…
By Phil Brown
How things changed in a day for backcountry skiers. On Monday, I enjoyed a cruise through fresh powder on the Bloomingdale Bog Trail. It was nice and cold. On Tuesday, it warmed considerably, so I figured I’d try the trail to Moose Pond, another early-season favorite. Because it’s in the woods, I hoped the trail…
By Phil Brown
As the Adirondack Explorer has noted in stories, billionaire Warren Buffett’s company owns all or many of the empty tank cars stored on a rail line in the central Adirondacks. We have reached out several times to Marc D. Hamburg, a spokesman for Buffett’s company, for comment, but he has not returned any of our calls. Now…