The only independent, nonprofit news organization solely dedicated to reporting on the Adirondack Park.
By Mike Lynch
Scientists question whether the Adirondack Park has enough habitat and prey for a wild cat adapted to boreal climes. By Mike Lynch A fellow carnivore scientist once showed Cristina Eisenberg the skeleton of an animal and asked her to identify it. Looking at the large hindquarters and feet, she guessed snowshoe hare. Told she guessed…
Are Californians braver, smarter, more mature, and more tolerant than Easterners? Apparently so, if you believe Peter Nye’s argument against bringing cougars back to the Adirondacks [“It’s Debatable,” January/February 2015]. As a Californian (since 1976) and an Adirondacker (a camp on Piseco Lake, and a family history in the Adirondacks from the 1700s), I have a unique perspective on this silly (and…
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,…
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…
For thirty-six years Bill Brown has been tramping over the mountains, foothills, and lowlands of the Lake George Wild Forest keeping tabs on old acquaintances and meeting new ones in out-of the way crevices, under rocks, or wandering the forest floor. Bill is a researcher who studies the Adirondack population of timber rattlesnakes, a threatened species in New York. In the…
I must take umbrage with your article “Keeping track of cougars” [March/April, 2014]. In it Rainer Brocke is quoted as saying the Adirondacks are a “pipsqueak park” with too few deer and too many roads for cougars to survive. The Champlain Valley is alive with deer. Just take a drive around the back roads and…
Department proposes to expand opportunities for hunting bruins in the North Country and other parts of the state. By Paul Post THE STATE DEPARTMENT of Environmental Conservation plans to expand bear hunting across New York to prevent conflicts with humans as the animal’s population spreads to new areas. At one time, the state’s bears were…
By Phil Brown
Rock climbers will have a few more routes to climb this weekend, according to Joe Racette, a biologist for the state Department of Environmental Conservation who monitors the nesting of peregrine falcons on cliffs. Racette said the Upper Washbowl cliffs near Chapel Pond are now open to climbers. DEC closes Upper Washbowl and Lower Washbowl…
By Phil Brown
A sure sign of spring is when the state Department of Environmental Conservation closes rock-climbing routes in the Adirondacks to protect the nesting sites of peregrine falcons. Each spring, DEC bans climbing on routes on Poke-o-Moonshine Mountain, Upper and Lower Washbowl Cliffs, and Moss Cliff. Once biologists ascertain where falcons are nesting, some routes are…
In his review of John Laundre’s book Phantoms of the Prairie [November/December 2012] Philip Terrie writes that, “In the grand scheme of things there’s nothing that makes a polar bear more significant than a garter snake, a Bengal tiger more worthy of our attention than a chickadee.” But over the last few decades a large body of…