About Chloe Bennett

Chloe Bennett is a climate change reporter based in Lake Placid, NY. Originally from North Texas, Chloe has always been drawn to the natural world. In 2022, she graduated from the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY where she focused on environmental reporting and audio production. She grew a deep appreciation for the Adirondack Park while interning for the Explorer in the summer of 2022.

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  1. Boreas says

    Another thing going for the Adirondack Park is a wide range of forest types, terrain, open areas, and water features. Severe burns may occur, but tend to be more spotty and limited. In areas where wildfires burn enormous tracts, the forests often tend to be more uniform in species and terrain. When these huge areas become dry, there is little to break up the progress of a severe fire.

    Fingers crossed. The “PROBLEM” with the Park is the number of people essentially living in the forest who obviously are at risk with even smaller, local fires. This certainly creates complications when fighting our fires.

  2. Adk Camper says

    Good to hear that TNC is looking into prescribed burns for the Clintonville Pine Barrens. They greatly encourage forest growth as displayed by their own signage on the property.
    The Pine Bush in Albany heavily relies on prescribed burns to increase it’s chances for success.

  3. Jeannine Swinyer says

    This is important what you are working. I hope people heed the call for action. If I still lived there I would have loved to be involved. I may know a few people who would be great for The National Fire Protection Association’s Firewise program.

  4. louis curth says

    Are Adirondack forests at risk of burning? The short answer is yes!
    But the more important question to ask is; will we be ready when it happens?

    On April 28, 1962, sparks from a welding torch ignited a fire in West Glens Falls. Before it was over, the fire spread over many hundreds of acres, burned fourteen homes, and even jumped the newly constructed “Northway” at one location.

    This fire was a rude wake-up call to many political leaders of that era about the need to be better prepared for fires like this that are impossible predict. Among the quickest to respond was New York’s governor; Nelson Rockefeller.

    In the months that followed, strong leadership from Gov. Rockefeller led to a rapid buildup of New York State’s fire response capabilities – most importantly to include a major expansion and modernization of the forest ranger force – New York State’s wildland fire response agency.

    To make a long story short (137 years to be exact) the appropriations which were approved after that 1962 fire in Glens Falls, enabled wider use of Smokey Bear and other fire prevention efforts. Fire detection upgrades were made to our system of fire towers, and air support operations were expanded. Additional supplies and equipment were acquired to be ready for fire suppression on a larger scale. These improvements enabled a whole generation of forest rangers (including me) to respond to the huge increase in fires, large and small, that we handled successfully during the drought years of the 1960s. Those crucial preparations made our success possible.

    Today, more and more people are choosing to build new homes and live surrounded by Adirondack forests. Recreational visits to the Adirondacks are more popular than ever. At the same time fire danger risks seem to be increasing for many reasons, even for smaller fires, as Boreas so rightly points out.

    Now is the time to get ready for our future fires in a drier Adirondack region. When that time comes, if there are sufficient rangers with adequate resources, they will get the job done.

  5. John Meyers says

    Climate change notwithstanding, prescribed burns would be a good idea. Else, when a forest fire happens, it will be worse than it needs to be.

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