Financial struggles forced Paul Smith’s to cut back five years ago. The college laid off 11 people and left 12 other position’s open—a 12 percent staff reduction at that time. Conditions appeared to stabilize that fall, as enrollment climbed by 60 students, to 892. Enrollment has declined since, though.
Tupper-Placid rail trail construction could start in spring
State officials hope this travel-corridor management plan — which is similar to past plans, but tidies up some objections raised in the courts — is the final word in a long and contentious battle over a state-owned rail line running 119 miles from Lake Placid south and west to Remsen.
Study finds Adirondack emergency calls up 54 percent per ranger
With more users and more acreage incorporated into the park over the decade, the increase is understandable. But services haven’t kept pace.
A mountain shaped by fire
In total, about 90 acres of woods were consumed by the fire, and bordering the burn site are acres and acres of what you would expect: spruce, fir, white pine, maple, birch—but no aspen.
A will to build adventures
Go ahead, tell Sam Eddy something can’t be done—hardening 800 feet of trail in one day; taking apart a bridge, moving and rebuilding it in one day; hiking from Wanakena to Wolf Pond after dark—and the challenge is on. Just about every story Eddy tells begins with someone saying the task he’s proposing is impossible. He thrives on proving it isn’t.
Wild Center’s Youth Climate Summit encourages students to bring plans home to their schools and communities
While most of the schools represented at the summit are in the Adirondacks, students also traveled from other places including Brooklyn, Troy, Utica and Canton.
Adirondack advocates and officials seek a plan for high-use trails
“I can’t go through another day like this past Saturday,” Keene Town Supervisor Joe Pete Wilson said in October. “It’s beyond the capacity of a town of 1,100 to deal with. It’s just beyond our capacity.”
State opens assistance centers for flood victims
Each Disaster Assistance Service Center has representatives from the state Department of Financial Services, Office of Children and Family Services, Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance, Department of Labor, Office of Mental Health, Department of Health, Office of People with Developmental Disabilities, and the Office for Aging.
Surplus of “middle-aged” forests afflicts Northeastern songbirds
Started in Vermont in partnership with the Tree Farm forestry certification program and other agencies, the warbler effort aims to knock some of the Northeast’s dense forests back into an earlier succession that favors certain birds and the insects they eat.
DEC launches initiative to tackle High Peaks issues
A new task force has been formed to take on issues related to high use in the High Peaks region, the state Department of Environmental Conservation announced Thursday.