Bad News For Bears
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.
dec
All Stories
On the law’s cutting edge
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…
Trails showing their age
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…
At home on the river
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,…
Essex Chain lawsuit
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…
Oil in them thar hills
Iowa Pacific’s plan to store empty tanker cars on tracks near the High Peaks alarms environmentalists and sets state lawyers to scrambling. By Phil Brown The Iowa-Pacific rail company took state officials and environmental activists by surprise in July when it unveiled a plan to store hundreds of drained oil-tanker cars on its tracks near…
The wolf at our door
By Mike Lynch
Wildlife advocates believe wolves could come back to the Adirondacks someday and want the state to facilitate their return. By Mike Lynch Standing in a snowy meadow in Wilmington, a wolf lifts its head and howls, breaking the near silence on a cold winter day. Just a few feet away Steve Hall watches the scene,…
State mulls rail decision
Public remains split over the best use of 80-mile corridor running through wild lands. By Phil Brown After four public meetings on the future of the eighty-mile rail corridor between Big Moose and Lake Placid, the public seems as divided as ever, and the state now must make a decision sure to leave many people…
Will cougars return?
By Mike Lynch
Wildlife advocates say the state should prepare the public now for the possibility that mountain lions will be back in the future. By Mike Lynch Darcy Wiltse, a veterinarian, was driving on Route 458 near Meacham Lake one night early last winter when she saw a large animal crossing the road. She’s convinced it was…
Help for a rare bird
By Mike Lynch
DEC bolsters the Adirondacks’ shrinking population of spruce grouse by bringing in specimens from Maine and Canada. By Mike Lynch Once abundant in the Adirondacks, the spruce grouse has struggled for much of the past century, but now scientists are trying to bolster the dwindling population by importing birds from out of state. The state Department of Environmental Conservation released three spruce grouse…