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By Mike Lynch
Exhibit Features Rare Adirondack Artifacts and “Blue Line” Maps of Adirondack and Catskills Parks New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) Commissioner Basil Seggos recently unveiled a new exhibit featuring rare Adirondack and Catskills artifacts, including historic maps, antique survey equipment, field notebooks, and photographs that tell the story of creation of the Adirondack…
By Mike Lynch
The state Department of Environmental Conservation has been grappling with how to deal with the increasing number of hikers in the High Peaks in recent years. I wrote a series of articles about the subject last year, and we will continue to report on the issue again this summer. Above are some photos that illustrate…
By Mike Lynch
In May, I met up with Dave LaMountain at the Flume on the West Branch of the Ausable River in Wilmington. LaMountain demonstrated how he uses drones to showcase the beauty of the Adirondack Park. He is a believer that drones can co-exist with the Adirondack Park if their usage is limited to noisy frontcountry…
By Mike Lynch
Scientists are trying to understand how salmon are impacted by alewives, an invasive species that has become a main source of food for salmon, a keystone predator that eats smaller fish.
Environmental groups are alarmed by a conceptual proposal floated by the Cuomo administration to establish lodging facilities near Boreas Ponds—in an area they believe should be classified as “untrammeled” Wilderness.
By Mike Lynch
Bear encounters in the backcountry and in residential areas were much more common than usual during the summer of 2016 in the Adirondack Park.
Protect the Adirondacks lawsuit could clarify state constitution’s mandate against destroying trees in the Forest Preserve. By PHIL BROWN A rose is a rose is a rose, Gertrude Stein said. Defining a tree is not so simple. That question—what is a tree?—has emerged as a central issue in a long-running dispute over the construction of…
By Mike Lynch
Observers say more money is needed to repair and maintain an antiquated network of hiking routes. By MIKE LYNCH When many of the High Peaks’ trails were cut more than a century ago, the work was done by guides and hired hands. Keene Valley’s Orson “Old Mountain” Phelps created the first trail up Mount Marcy in 1861; Verplanck Colvin’s survey workers cut routes up…
By Tom Woodman A little over eight years ago, Margaret Hawthorn spotted the cabin of her dreams. Set on a small island in the Saranac River beneath a canopy of evergreens and with a view across a marsh to Adirondack peaks, the home spoke to her. “I was helping on the Ninety-Miler [canoe race], and I came through, took one look,…
Environmental groups claim DEC’s management plan for new state lands violates State Land Master Plan and other regulations. By Phil Brown Two of the Adirondack Park’s major environmental groups are suing the state over the management plan for the Essex Chain Lakes region—a large tract of forest, ponds, and streams that the state acquired from the…