If you’ve spent any time on trails, particularly on rocky mountain tops or in desert-like environments, you’ve likely come across a cairn.
Cairns are officially-created rock piles that mark a trail. They are often used in areas where there is little vegetation to attach traditional trail markers or paint blazes.
In the Adirondacks, cairns are found most often at higher elevations above tree line. They are extremely important for helping hikers navigate trails and to protect sensitive alpine vegetation by guiding hikers to the most durable surfaces. [Read more…] about Conservation Minute: Caring About Cairns
What could be more symbolic of British imperial domination, immorality, and unfettered disrespect for human life than the murder of Jane McCrea at the hands of British-allied Indians near Fort Edward, NY, on July 26, 1777?
There was a sucking sound as my rubber boot sank into the deep black muck. Naturalist Jon Binhammer and I were standing in the middle of a hardwood swamp in central Vermont.
On July 23, 1885, at 8:08 am, Ulysses S. Grant lost his final battle, dying from cancer of the throat and tongue. He died on Mt. McGregor in Saratoga County, in Drexel’s Cottage (now known as Grant Cottage) where Grant and his family spent the last 5½ weeks.
As you swat away blackflies this summer, look closely; it may be that not all those flies are flies. Some of them might be tiny sweat bees, members of the Halictidae family, which gets its common name because some species will lick sweat from human skin. 
We were touring the neighborhood backroads one summer evening when the kids noticed a sleek movement through a small pond.
The Saratoga County Agricultural Society and Fair dates back to 1841 when the organization was formed under an act of the State Legislature of that year. However, before the Agricultural Society was founded, earlier fairs were held from 1819 to 1825 at the Courthouse and an adjacent lot in Ballston Spa.
Large fishing 
Abraham (1789-1871) and Harriet Best moved from Claverack, Columbia County, NY to Vischer Ferry in the Town of Clifton Park (Saratoga County) in 1815 and built a fine brick federal style home that still stands on Vischer Ferry Road. My late wife Martha and I purchased this home in 1987 and so I live in the “Best House.”
Each fall, thousands of broad-winged hawks soar across Northeastern skies in flocks known as kettles, on their way to wintering grounds in South and Central America.