The only independent, nonprofit news organization solely dedicated to reporting on the Adirondack Park.
By Phil Brown
The wild cougar that journeyed some 1,800 miles from South Dakota to Connecticut passed through the Adirondacks in 2010, according to the state Department of Environmental Conservation. Cindy Eggleston spotted a cougar in her backyard in the town of Lake George on December 16. The next day, her husband, David Eggleston, who is a retired…
By Phil Brown
You may have read about the cougar that was killed when struck by a car in Milford, Connecticut, in June. There was a lot of speculation about where it came from. Was it a wild cougar? Was it an escaped or released pet? The Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection announced today that a…
Mountain lions have permanent populations in a majority of the land area of California—pretty much anywhere there are scrub or trees and deer. The Santa Monica Mountains, which are in large part in Los Angeles, have a population of twenty-plus lions and growing. Conflicts with humans are very rare. These lions are not transients. They live…
By Phil Brown Several years ago, the Defenders of Wildlife abandoned a campaign to reintroduce gray wolves to the Adirondacks after a study suggested that the region’s original canid was the red wolf, not the gray. Now a new study of canid genetics—billed as the most thorough of its kind—suggests that…
By Phil Brown
Every spring, the state Department of Environmental Conservation closes routes on popular rock-climbing cliffs where peregrine falcons are known to nest. Once it’s determined exactly where the falcons are nesting, some routes are reopened. Recently, DEC biologist Joe Racette said it has been confirmed that falcons are nesting on the Nose on Poke-o-Moonshine Mountain. As…
Scientists see wild corridors as essential for the long-term health of wildlife and plants. By Erika Schielke Once extirpated from the region, moose began trickling back to the Adirondacks in the 1980s and now number around eight hundred. It’s thought that they migrated here from Vermont or Ontario. “They did come in from somewhere. Where…
By Phil Brown
It’s official: the eastern cougar is extinct. And what about all those sightings of cougars in the Adirondacks and elsewhere over the years? If they were cougars, they were probably released or escaped pets. That’s the word from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which issued a report today calling for the removal of the…
The guy who brought eagles back to the Adirondacks reflects on his career as a state bioligist. By Paul Grondahl PETE NYE is best known as the guy who brought the bald eagle back to New York State. The majestic raptor had stopped producing eaglets because the eggs were collapsing during incubation due to a…
Contrary to hunters’ complaints, the whitetail population is on the rise, state biologist says. By George Earl Dan Ladd wrote the book on Adirondack deer hunting (or one of them, anyway), and he runs a website called ADKHunter that receives comments from hundreds of hunters. The consensus among Ladd, his hunting pals, and his correspondents…
By Phil Brown
White-nose syndrome, the disease decimating bat populations in the Northeast and beyond, is believed to have spread to all known bat caves in New York, according to the state Department of Environmental Conservation. The fungal disease has reduced the populations of some bat species in the state by 90 percent since it was first documented…