News and Views from the Empire State
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If you enjoy reading the stories about the history, nature, arts and culture of New York State which we publish every day, please make a contribution now online at our Rally.org page: https://rally.org/f/4LBVKo9zYjO [Read more…] about We Can’t Keep Publishing Without Your Support
The Adirondack Foundation has announced their annual summer party will be held online this year. “Toast the Adirondacks: An Online Celebration of Community and Philanthropy” will stream live on Friday, August 14th starting at 4:30 pm. [Read more…] about Adirondack Foundation to #ToastADK on August 14
The year was 1911, a new decade had just started. In spite of sharp social divisions and mass immigration, New York was bustling. The scientific revolution was making an impact, radically altering the nineteenth century vision of the world.
New technology changed the face of the metropolis. The Woolworth Building had been completed, making it the tallest building in town. Electric trains pulled out of the Grand Central Terminal; in the streets horse-drawn carriages were being replaced by automobiles.
It was a period of unbridled patriotism; a golden age for producers of flags and buntings (in April 1908 Emma Goldman had given her fiery San Francisco lecture on the ‘menace’ of patriotism).
New York was waking-up and starting to fulfill its potential. It was a place of new developments and initiatives. Modern was the buzzword. That year a group of artists came together aiming to organize a grand exhibition that would reflect this new confidence. [Read more…] about The Armory Show: An Arsenal of Creative Freedom
New York State Department of Environmental Conservation Forest Rangers respond to search and rescue incidents in the around New York State. Working with other state agencies, local emergency response organizations and volunteer search and rescue groups, Forest Rangers locate and extract lost, injured or distressed people.
What follows is a report, prepared by DEC, of recent missions carried out by Forest Rangers. [Read more…] about Airlifts, Swift Water, Bears, Ill and Lost: A Busy Week For NYS Forest Rangers
The Ballston Terminal Railroad in Saratoga County, NY, opened on August 6, 1898.
At 4:05 pm, the George West made its inaugural run from the Village of Ballston Spa to the Pioneer Mill in West Milton. This was a six mile trip. On the return trip to Ballston Spa, the trolley stopped at the Power House in Factory Village to allow the company to review the machinery. Then everyone boarded again to arrive back at Middlebrook Avenue at 5:10 pm. The total round trip took one hour and five minutes. [Read more…] about The Ballston Terminal Railroad: A Short History
New York State Hunting and trapping licenses and Deer Management Permits (DMPs) for the 2020-2021 season are now on sale.
With liberal bag limits and some of the longest seasons around, New Yorkers hunt continuously from September 1 (squirrel) into April (snow geese). [Read more…] about 2020-21 Hunting and Trapping Licenses On Sale
I first became acquainted with my neighborhood red-bellied woodpecker (Melanerpes carolinus) when it visited my bird feeders last winter. Sporting a black-and-white-striped back with a red nape, this medium-sized woodpecker certainly made a visual impression.
Its call was also memorable, a loud kwirr that sounded nothing like the other birds in my backyard. Over time, I’ve watched as it has become a regular feeder, as dependable as the black-capped chickadees and blue jays. [Read more…] about Red-Bellied Woodpeckers Move North
As autumn approaches, schools are thinking about ways to keep students safe by maximizing time outdoors. The concept of outside instruction is not new.
Leading up to the Second World War, open air schools were built in the United States and Europe to protect children from tuberculosis.
In Saranac Lake, in the heart of the Adirondacks, where temperatures in the winter tend to stay well below freezing, some children attended unheated, open air classrooms. [Read more…] about Fresh Air Schools: Teaching Outdoors For Public Health
The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) has announced that emerald ash borer (EAB) has been confirmed in Warren County.
While not unexpected given the EAB’s spread, this marks the first confirmed case of EAB within the Adirondack Park. The affected trees were identified by Department of Transportation personnel at the Warren County Canoe Launch on the Schroon River in the town of Chester. A sample has been sent to Cornell University Insect Diagnostic Lab for further review. [Read more…] about Invasive Emerald Ash Borer Found in Adirondack Park
On July 27th, the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) notified DEC’s Division of Law Enforcement and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Fisheries of a distressed humpback whale in Ambrose Channel, one of the busiest waterways in New York Harbor. [Read more…] about Distressed Humpback Whale Freed in NY Harbor
The term psithurism (sith-er-ism) doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue, but it’s not meant to. The word, from the Greek psithuros (whispering), indicates the melody that rolls off pine needles in a gentle wind. It also means the sound of “proper” leaves shaking in the treetops.
Obviously, we need another word, because these two things – whispering pines and rustling leaves – may both soothe us, but they sound quite different. [Read more…] about The Wind in The Trees, or Learning to Speak Pine