History, Natural History & the Arts
Stropharia semiglobata
I awoke to see
pupils floating
in balls of light
In that shade
enchanted by
the music of
Time missed,
they hovered
in the darkness.
Like a guru
meditating.
Strange creatures
haunting every room
of my brain. Oval and
mushroom shaped.
Like the red and white
knapsack of a dwarf, so
mischievous and charming.
As quaint and extraterrestrial
as an English fairy tale.
This week on The Historians Podcast, how the Adirondack forest preserve was motorized, snowmobiling, and more. The guest is John Warren, founder and editor of New York Almanack. [Read more…] about John Warren Talks Adirondacks On The Historians Podcast
The institution of a permit system at the Ausable Club’s Adirondack Mountain Reserve surprised and confused some hikers and would-be hikers. Many didn’t realize that third most popular High Peaks Wilderness Area access point, through the Club’s lands in the Upper Ausable Valley, was privately owned.
A similar situation holds at the Johns Brook Valley, another popular access point just northwest. That area is owned by the Adirondack Mountain Club (ADK), it faces similar parking challenges and is just as susceptible to a future permit system. [Read more…] about Adirondack Park Permits: Could Johns Brook Valley Be Next? Some History
The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) is urging hikers to postpone hikes on trails above 2,500 feet until high elevation trails have dried and hardened. As snow and ice continue to melt at high elevations, steep trails can pose a danger to hikers due to thick ice and deep, rotten snow. Thin soils are susceptible to erosion and sensitive alpine vegetation can be easily damaged. [Read more…] about DEC Issues Adirondack Mud Season Trails Advisory
New York State Department of Environmental Conservation Forest Rangers respond to search and rescue incidents in the Adirondacks. 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 Rangers Respond To Numerous Rescues
The summer of 1776 was among the most perilous periods of the Revolutionary War, and almost all the action took place in New York. The young nation tottered on the edge of destruction that summer.
With an army of 20,000 men, George Washington could not hold New York City against an enemy force twice as large. The British drove him out of the city and across New Jersey into Pennsylvania. By December, he had 3,000 men left and was admitting to his brother, “I think the game is pretty near up.” [Read more…] about Valcour Island: Keeping The Cause of Liberty Alive
The Samuel de Champlain History Center has been awarded a grant to fund the continued digitization, cataloguing and preservation of the History Center’s 2009 Quadricentennial documents and artifacts related to the Champlain Valley’s celebrations in New York and Vermont, including books, programs, brochures and newspaper articles. [Read more…] about Samuel de Champlain History Center Digitizing Quadricentennial Materials
The Kelly Adirondack Center has announced “Conversations Around Social Justice in the Adirondacks,” a Zoom webinar series set for April 15th, April 29th, and May 13th. [Read more…] about Adirondack Social Justice Issues Subject of Virtual Series
The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) and the Ausable Club have announced a pilot reservation system to access the Club’s private lands, the Adirondack Mountain Reserve (AMR). Since 1978 the State has held a conservation easement on Club/Reserve lands which allows limited access to some of the more popular places in the Adirondack Park’s High Peaks Wilderness Area.
A press release from DEC cited “reliable access” and public safety along Route 73 among the reasons for the change. The pilot program is slated to run for three years according to DEC. [Read more…] about DEC, Private Club Piloting High Peaks Hiker Reservation System
Northern Forest Canoe Trail (NFCT) is set to continue their Virtual Speakers Series on Thursday, April 1st with a conversation about paddling the NFCT downstream with thru-paddlers Mack Truax and Maggie Gremore. [Read more…] about Paddling the Northern Forest Canoe Trail Virtual Program