History, Natural History & the Arts
On September 23, NYS Department of Environmental Conservation Forest Rangers located 15 large marijuana plants being grown on Swift Hill State Forest in the town of Centerville, Allegany County, NY.
Swift Hill State Forest covers a total of 1,569 acres and contains a mixture of native hardwood species and planted conifers. The area was settled in the early 1800s when much of the land was cleared for agriculture. [Read more…] about Marijuana Plants Found On State Land
Rev. Calvin Cornelius Fairbank was born November 3, 1816 in Pike, Wyoming County, NY. He began his academic studies at a seminary in Lima, Livingston County, NY, and became a licensed preacher in 1840. In 1842 he was ordained an elder in the Methodist Episcopal Church, and he graduated Oberlin College in Ohio two years later. At Oberlin he met John Mifflin Brown (1817-1893), a bishop in the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church and an Underground Railroad activist.
Fairbank was a radical abolitionist who not only spoke out against slavery, but actively worked to free as many enslaved people as he could. [Read more…] about Calvin Fairbank: Imprisoned 17 Years For Helping Enslaved People to Freedom
Draft Access and Public Use Plans for Hanging Bog and Canadaway Creek Wildlife Management Areas (WMAs) are complete and available for public comment. The draft Access and Public Use Plans’ objectives include maintaining existing features, such as roads, kiosks, parking areas, and gates. The draft plans are located on each property’s webpage. [Read more…] about DEC Releases Draft Plans for Hanging Bog, Canadaway Creek Wildlife Areas
The Robert David Lion Gardiner Foundation has awarded SUNY distinguished professor of history Michael Leroy Oberg, the SUNY Geneseo Center for Local and Municipal History, and a consortium of six other colleges and universities, a three-year grant of more than $300K for American War of Independence Semiquincentennial student fellowships.
Several of the institutions in the fellowship program have committed $150K of matching funds for the project, bringing the total to over $450K. [Read more…] about America’s 250th Student Fellowships Funded In Western NY
The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) has announced the acquisition of more than 1,200 acres in two Western New York counties that led to the creation of the new Genesee River and Poverty Hill Wildlife Management Areas (WMAs).
The parcels in Cattaraugus and Allegany counties preserve natural habitat essential for wildlife populations and provide new wildlife-related public recreation such as fishing, hunting, trapping, and wildlife viewing. [Read more…] about Two New Wildlife Management Areas in Western NY