Tabla de contenidos para March/April 2019 en Adirondack Explorer

Last fall, a Lyme Timber executive proposed to environmentalists establishing an Adirondack forum where they, timber companies and landowners would try to establish common goals and practices for both environmentally sustainable and economically viable forestry. “At the time I would say there was general support or at least very little opposition from all sides for the details,” said Sean Ross, Lyme director of forestry operations. “The concern from the environmental groups was losing the public review process.” Two months later, state legislation was reintroduced, at the behest of the conservation advocates, to require Adirondack Park Agency permits for any logging clearcuts of five acres or more. The current permit threshold is 25 acres. The Empire State Forest Products Association, which represents landowners, loggers and other businesses, has opposed the legislation…

Even as thousands more hikers and campers poured into the Adirondack backcountry patrolled by forest rangers over the past decade, state data show ticket writing has dropped by the hundreds. Visitors are still littering and using the public lands illegally. But the ranger numbers haven’t kept up with the wave, and some say the stretched corps has to spend more of its patrol time keeping recreationists safe and informed. The numbers of tickets dropped by almost a third over a 10-year period, before a slight rebound last year. Read through tickets issued last July and August “The number of tickets the last few years, it’s way, way down,” ranger and union representative Scott van Laer said. “I’d attribute that to staffing issues—that we’re not getting into the woods as much, we’re…

The electric bike revolution has begun, whether the Adirondacks are ready or not. In 2017, some 34 million e-bikes were sold around the world, mostly in Asia and Europe. The newfangled contraptions account for half of the bike sales in China and for 20 percent of the sales in Germany. The United States has been slower to adopt e-bikes, but that is changing. In 2017, more than 260,000 e-bikes were imported into the country—a 25 percent rise from the prior year. “The United States is 10 years behind Europe, but we are now mimicking Europe in terms of sales growth,” said Ed Benjamin of eCycle Electric, a consulting firm that follows e-bike trends. New York is behind some other states in coming to grips with the new technology. Even though…

Deep in the Adirondacks, a longtime institution recently underwent a quiet transition. Donna and Tom Amoroso of the Leather Artisan on Route 3 in Childwold, between Cranberry Lake and Tupper Lake, had been making and selling leather purses, wallets, and other products for over 40 years when they inadvertently landed into a succession plan for the business. It started about three years ago, when Tom Amoroso was joking with a customer about selling his business. Employee Broyce Guerette overheard and later approached him about buying. After a series of discussions, a transition plan was put into place, with Broyce and his wife, Allison, learning the ins and outs of making the products and running the shop. As part of the transition, the Amorosos leased the business to their successors, and…

The best scene in Wind in the Willows is when Toad of Toad Hall is nearly run over by a motorcar. He is so mesmerized by the speeding contraption that all he can do is sit there in the ditch vacantly murmuring the “poop-poop” of the vehicle’s horn. In a similar vein, I was emerging from a winter hike up Mount Van Hoevenberg, when a backcountry skier lightly glided by on the Marcy Dam truck road. He seemed to float down the incline, leaving me behind, staring discontentedly at my ponderous snowshoes. Like Toad, at that very second I decided that this unfamiliar (there’s not much cross-country skiing in my old stomping grounds down south) mode of transport was for me. So it was maybe a month later that I…

The ermine is one of six species of the weasel family (mustelids) that live in the Adirondacks. Starting with the largest, the mustelids include the river otter, fisher, mink, marten, long-tailed weasel and short-tailed weasel, also known as the ermine. The latter two species dwell low on the food chain and evolved to change their coats from brown to white in winter to blend with their surroundings and minimize vulnerability to predation by larger mustelids, foxes, cats and hawks. In less snowy climes, their fur stays brown or turns only partly white. Ermines’ gorgeous white winter pelts still are considered among the most valuable of commercial furs, and in earlier times in England, laws restricted its wearing to the royal family. Ermines are common and widely distributed across North America…

Comprehensive guidebooks to the Adirondacks have been circulating for a long time. (I say “comprehensive” to distinguish them from those that limit themselves to trails or paddle routes or waterfalls.) Going back to the late 1800s, we have famous names like Seneca Ray Stoddard and E.R. Wallace, who explained in detail what to see and do and how to get there in the first legitimate (as opposed to earlier hyperbolic) entries in the genre. We can now add to that list several collaborators on “Explorer’s Guide: Adirondacks.” (This is not the Explorer you’re holding in your hands, but a book series put out by The Countryman Press of Woodstock, Vt.) All are associated with Adirondack Life magazine. Principal authors Annie Stoltie, Lisa Bramen and Niki Kourofsky are magazine staffers, and…

New York authorities in February maintained their guidance that there are recreational canoeing rights through navigable streams on private land, weeks after a state judge ruled that uninvited paddlers have no right to canoe the 1.8-mile Mud Pond Waterway in privately owned Brandreth Park in a remote stretch of the northwestern Adirondacks. “If a waterway satisfies all the criteria for being navigable-in-fact, it is open to public navigation for any purpose, whether commercial or recreational,” according to the Department of Environmental Conservation’s general counsel. That program policy, posted online, also advises how to handle landowner complaints. “Officers shall take enforcement action for Environmental Conservation Law trespass or Penal Law trespass in situations involving persons navigating on waterways only if there is clear evidence or a court decision that the waterway…

John Miller buzzed his Ski-Doo across the Long Lake ice, ready for a lunch stop after riding lake-to-lake for 85 miles from snowy Tug Hill into the heart of the Adirondack Park. The 58-year-old from Goshen, Conn., has toured the park by snowmobile since the 1970s, drawn to the North Country by snow and the hundreds of miles of forested trails—and by a camaraderie with other riders like the dozen or so who had parked their sleds beside the Adirondack Hotel before him to visit its café and taproom. “You meet so many great people,” Miller said while packing away his helmet. “Nobody’s out here to trash the wilderness.” They carry a bundle of dollars into otherwise snowbound and secluded crevices of the park. But they also trail noise and…

Tom Romeo drove an hour from Massena on a snowy Sunday to cross-country ski at the Paul Smith’s College Visitor Interpretive Center. An avid outdoorsman, he had spent the previous day breaking his own trail elsewhere. That, he said, “was quite a slog.” So it was a pleasant change to glide along a quiet groomed path in the woods, and to picnic at a VIC lean-to. “It’s a nice little trail system,” he said. More about the VIC Craig Arquette of Akwesasne also appreciates the VIC’s smooth skiing enough to drive about an hour south. He comes for the area’s better snow and groomed classic skiing. “At home it’s just snowmobile trails,” he said. They were happy to pay the $10 day pass to ski their pick of the 25…

As we pedal up another long hill, I realize I’m the oldest in my small group of five bicyclists by close to 20 years. I think of the fact that I have outlived my dad, who died at 50, by 20 years. Is it because I selected a career as a wilderness education instructor and guide, keeping me physically active most of my life? Who knows? What I do know is that I’m grateful today that I’m on an e-bike as I approach the 20-mile mark of our 25-mile sojourn over logging roads with over 2,000 feet in elevation change. I have used the bike’s pedal assist sparingly, but it has made all the difference as to whether I would have taken today’s trip. I had all but given up…

When the ice and snow of a long Adirondack winter begin to melt, life stirs in the water and in the soil. Yes, birds begin to return and early butterflies such as the mourning cloak flutter, and these catch the lion’s share of our attention. But it’s small things at our feet and underwater that make up the greater portion of the awakening biomass, a portion that includes a lively array of annelids. For our purposes, an annelid is one of two things. It’s either a leech or an earthworm. Annelids are so named because they have rings, or annuli, circling their elongated squishy bodies. Not all the creatures informally called “worms” are ringed, but earthworms are. So are those dreaded but interesting citizens of Adirondack lakes, ponds and rivers…

We met at the Poke-O-Moonshine trailhead less than a week after a major January storm had dumped close to 2 feet of snow. But conditions had changed. Since the storm, it had rained, dropped well below zero, and then snowed several inches. A sheet of ice covered the parking lot. The snowpack in the woods was deep but fairly dense. Adirondack guide Elizabeth Lee surmised the extreme temperatures likely wouldn’t be good for tracking, which was our agenda for the day. Lee was leading a workshop for the Friends of Poke-O-Moonshine, a group dedicated to the preservation of the mountain, its trails and fire tower, along with the Champlain Area Trails group. Lee said she expected the recent extreme weather likely would have made many animals dormant as they tried…

What’s the secret to a long and happy marriage? For Barbara Delaney and Russell Dunn it’s writing books together. The couple have, so far, published three books as dual authors and 33 others with one of their names on the cover and the other name prominent in the acknowledgements. Delaney and Dunn married in 1991, the second marriage for both of them, and bought a summerhouse on Great Sacandaga Lake. They both love hiking, exploring and historical research, and that led to writing articles about their new locale for regional newspapers and magazines. Soon Russell found a publisher for his waterfall guidebooks (he’s written eight so far) and in 2006 they published their first book together, Trails with Tales. They also studied and passed the tests necessary to become licensed…

Two years into Donald Trump’s presidency, Adirondack Park environmental advocates fear his administration has reversed critical protections and momentum for healing the park’s ecosystem. Foremost in their minds is the acid rain that sterilized Adirondack lakes before Clean Air Act amendments and regulations scrubbed coal-fired power plant emissions and gradually restored lakes and ponds for fish and wildlife. But they also complain of a federal government now more welcoming of other pollutants, including carbon dioxide, as the region’s forests and snowy winters are changing with a warmer climate. Trump himself has framed climate change as a hoax, and has used Twitter to tease believers during cold snaps, though average annual temperatures continue rising globally and, especially, in the North Country. On coal, air and other rules, his administration has frequently…

When was the last time that you went somewhere without your cell phone? In an era when we are constantly connected to technology, phones and apps are increasingly designed to meet our every need and want. For many of us, they offer a sense of security and the convenience of immediate answers to our questions. But for those who venture into the backcountry, phones can be less reliable due to limited cell service or battery life. Yet, many day hikers rely on phones in the backcountry and some even consider phones to be one of the “10 essentials” for day hikes. According to the National Park Service, the essentials are: navigation, sun protection, food, illumination, insulation, first-aid supplies, repair kit and tools, matches and fire starters, hydration and emergency shelter.…

As powerful Adirondack environmental groups were mobilizing a well-publicized campaign against snowmobiles on the Cedar River, a far smaller but no less anxious contingent was equally angry about the potential loss of a little boat launch on an eastern Adirondack lake that practically no one has heard of. But if they were angry with the loss of their boat launch, they were also angry about something deeper: They felt disenfranchised by the process, receiving no notice that meaningful changes were in the works and, consequently, shut out of the public information and comment periods where their voices might have been heard. “The (Department of Environmental Conservation) is making some sweeping changes that they seem to be trying to push through under the radar,” wrote the president of the Eagle Lake…

Everyone from poets to meteorologists declares April the cruelest month, and antsy hikers are no exception. They (along with others) have even given it its own moniker: Mud Season, which can begin in March in the lower elevations and extend past Memorial Day in the high country. It’s too warm for solid snow underfoot, too cold for the ground to have dried out. What’s a hiker to do? Don’t despair: There are ways around this frustration. I seek out trails that follow former logging roads or railroad beds, which were typically constructed of permeable soil (that is, water percolates through it rather than turning it to glop). They can also be mind-numbingly flat and straight. I’ve semi-jokingly called a couple of these “the most boring trail in the Adirondacks,” but…

Before Gov. Andrew Cuomo fills the expired terms on the Adirondack Park Agency board, he might first look back at the forming of the agency in 1971 as a reminder of the intent Gov. Nelson Rockefeller and the Temporary Commission on the Future of the Adirondacks had for the agency and the park. The commission and governor at that time recognized the need to maintain the wildness of the forest preserve. The commission’s report warned of a looming development crisis. The APA was to be the leader in developing long-range park policy and did, in fact, stop some massive developments from coming into the park in the ’70s and ’80s. A look back might also provide some guidance around the autonomy of the agency. It was formed to be independent…

Joe Kahn doesn’t do much sitting around. So a recent injury—a detached quadriceps that required an operation and ongoing physical therapy—meant some rearranging of his home in Au Sable Forks to relocate his art and music studio so he can continue painting, practicing guitar and harmonica inside without having to walk on the ice and snow. Skiing is definitely out this season, but the 77-year-old is doing special exercises and expects to be back on his mountain bike by spring. The recovery has gone well, helped by good physical fitness (he’s ridden a bike, walked or skied daily for 50 years). And the tai chi he practices doesn’t hurt, either. He feels so good, in fact, that when he walks downstairs to his makeshift studio, he grabs his crutch more…

Winter in the Adirondacks is a great time to capture animal tracks in the snow. Readers sent in some interesting images of tracks they found, ranging from wild turkeys to an otter slide next to a small waterway. These photographers will each receive a free one-year subscription to the Adirondack Explorer. The Reader’s Choice, which received the highest number of likes on our Facebook page, was a bird print by Mary Thill, who took the photo on Lower Saranac Lake. Our next Views of the Park theme is “Adironack Adventure” This theme should be a fun one. We encourage readers to take photos of something that represents their “Adirondack Adventure.” The image can be of a hiker atop a mountain, a kayaker in the river, a skier in the backcountry,…

Adirondack guide Joan Collins was driving on the state highway through Newcomb a couple of years ago when she noticed a black bear crossing the road. “It had patches of hair that were just hanging (off of it),” she recalled. A naturalist, Collins said the bear appeared to have mange, a skin disease that is caused by microscopic mites that dig into the skin and lay eggs—and that appears to be on the rise in the Northeast. Collins said she’s seen a few cases of mange in recent years after never seeing it before on bears. She said some of the animals have visited her property in Long Lake, and she finds the condition troubling. “Mange is an absolutely horrible condition,” she said. “It (causes) a slow death. Their hair…