History, Natural History & the Arts
In summer 2025, DEC and Cornell University’s New York State Hemlock Initiative (NYSHI) confirmed the first establishment of Leucotaraxis argenticollis, a type of silver fly, in New York State.
These silver flies were released to help control hemlock woolly adelgid (HWA), an invasive insect that attacks and kills hemlock trees. The silver fly population was confirmed in the own of Bath, in Steuben County, NY. [Read more…] about Silver Fly Combating Invasive Hemlock Woolly Adelgid
Hemlocks are an important part of New York’s forests providing unique environmental conditions under cool, dense canopies that protect wildlife, fishery habitat, water quality, and prevent soil erosion. An HWA infestation can kill a healthy tree within 10 years. [Read more…] about Invasive Hemlock Woolly Adelgid Found at Lake Champlain, Great Sacandaga Lake
The Adirondack Park Invasive Plant Program (APIPP) has released its 2024 annual report.
The report celebrates the accomplishments of APIPP staff, volunteers, and partners while also providing updates on the presence of invasive species in the Adirondack region, special initiatives, ongoing research, and more. [Read more…] about Adirondack Park Invasive Species Report Issued
The new year ushered in an arctic blast that has only recently let up. This extreme plunge in temperature is referred to as a Polar Vortex. While it may seem that this is a new term, it has been in use since the 1800s. These periods of intense cold can impact the survival of many native and invasive species, including plants and pests. [Read more…] about Surviving the Cold in a Polar Vortex
What is now New York State saw multitudes of American settlers moving inland from the Atlantic seaboard, especially those “locusts of the east” from New England. Traveling long distances overland before the 20th century was however, difficult to say the least.
In the 1600s their movement was constrained by topography, and settlements were limited to areas in the Hudson and Mohawk valleys previously inhabited or improved by Indigenous People. Some Indigenous portage trails were described by the earliest settlers as wide paths that a capable ox team and wagon could manage. [Read more…] about Early Upstate New York Roads: Some History
In January of 1851, Mamakating, NY, resident William Palmer announced to two friends, James Larkin and Albert Squires, that he intended to kill his brother. The Sullivan County siblings had been at odds for quite a long time, but the declaration marked an escalation in the feud, and proved to be prophetic. [Read more…] about An 1851 Fratricide Over Hemlock Trees
When I think about winter survival, my mind first goes to wildlife: field mice curling up in nests, chickadees flocking to bird feeders, and amphibians burrowing into the mud. Rarely do I think about the adaptations of our northern species that can’t grow thicker fur, fluff up their feathers, or go underground.
Trees, for instance, face the same freezing temperatures, wet weather, and harsh winds – all with the added challenge of not being able to move. One way trees endure winter is through adaptations in their bark. [Read more…] about How Bark Helps Trees Weather Winter
My family’s first Christmas tree in the Adirondacks was a hemlock. I know this for a fact because my father wrote about it in one of his first essays as a country editor, something he became when he and my mother moved us from Manhattan to Lewis, New York in 1956.
In his essay, he quotes a favorite author, John Burroughs, who remarked somewhere that “the hemlock is a clean, healthy, handsome tree” and a new neighbor, a tree farmer who told him that “trees seem to do better where there are people around.” [Read more…] about The Hemlock: The Adirondack Park’s Family Tree
Forests in New York cover 18.6 million acres of land making the State 61% forested. Whether it’s hiking, hunting, camping, or birdwatching, these forest lands provide recreational opportunities for millions of residents and others. [Read more…] about New York Forest Health Highlights Summary
My yard is full of eastern white pine trees, and every three years or so, it is full of pine cones. This is one of those years. Pine cones have fallen all over the yard, the sidewalk, the driveway.
The neighborhood wildlife seem pleased by this bounty. A resident gray squirrel has made a fallen log in my yard its snack site. Pine cone fragments are neatly arranged in a circle around the squirrel’s perch. [Read more…] about Pine Cones: The Complicated Lives of Conifer Seeds
Dome Island is that rarest of things, an undisturbed piece of wilderness in the middle of Lake George, protected for the past seventy years by the Nature Conservancy and a committee of local volunteers and, in recent decades, by the Lake George Land Conservancy.
More than 60% of its forest canopy is composed of hemlocks, and every year since 2020, when hemlock woolly adelgid (HWA) was first discovered among the evergreens’ needles and branches, the Nature Conservancy has treated the invasive pest with insecticides. [Read more…] about Saving Lake George’s Dome Island Hemlocks
Native to Asia, the hemlock woolly adelgid, or HWA, is an invasive, aphid-like insect that attacks North American hemlocks. Juvenile HWA, known as crawlers, search for suitable sites on the host tree, usually at the base of the needles. [Read more…] about Winter Cold Snaps Help Control Hemlock Wooly Adelgid
’Tis the season for balsam fir, the fragrant evergreen that adorns our homes through the winter holidays. Its scent and long lasting needle retention make this the most popular Christmas tree and wreath species. Balsam fir is also an important timber species used for lumber. Native to North America, balsam fir (Abies balsamea) grows throughout the more northern latitudes and highest elevations of the country, including in the Northeast.
However, researchers predict a northward shift of balsam fir in an increasingly warming climate. Warmer temperatures are also contributing to a rise in populations of an exotic invasive pest – balsam woolly adelgid (Adelges piceae) – which feeds on fir trees, affecting their health and viability as lumber and Christmas trees. [Read more…] about Balsam Woolly Adelgid: A Foe to Firs
Hemlock trees are being threatened by an invasive insect called the hemlock woolly adelgid (HWA). Only the size of a sesame seed, this tiny aphid-like insect has the ability to take down an entire forest by feeding on and weakening hemlock trees – causing mortality within 5-7 years if left untreated.
As a foundation species, hemlocks are an important component of forests and provide many beneficial ecological services, like filtering water, shading streams, and providing food and habitat for wildlife. [Read more…] about Beetles, Silver Flies Being Used Against Hemlock Woolly Adelgid Infestations
My uncle Frank Sherry taught my brother Tom and I orienteering, using a map and compass to navigate through the woods and find a remote pond or other location. We were teenagers and it was an exciting way to spend a Saturday.
On one of these adventures we were in search of Silver Dollar Pond to the east of Twitchell Lake in Northern Herkimer County,when we stumbled on our first lumber camp. The telltale signs were pieces of metal hanging from a tree and protruding from the ground, with old bottles half-buried in the forest floor. We made note of the location on our map, a half-mile from Twitchell, and returned to explore it. It wasn’t long before we located the camp dump, from which we dug up the items pictured here.
These and other objects triggered an active discussion on the date of this old camp, with an imaginative re-creation of what life might have been like for a lumberjacks living and working there. [Read more…] about An Adirondack Lumber Camp at Twitchell Lake, 1860-80
In the 1820s the State of New York encouraged Adirondack exploration and settlement, benefiting from the land sales and taxes (when they were paid). Lewis County newspapers were abuzz with praise for the 1825 completion of the Erie Canal, and in less than a year, the Black River Gazette launched a discussion on “improving” the Black River as a connection between the canal and the St. Lawrence River, anticipating the economic benefit Adirondack timber would bring when this opened a commercial route to the rest of the world: [Read more…] about Up Every River: Logging The Adirondacks (1820-40)
From February 12th through March 12th, NY iMapInvasives and the NYS Hemlock Initiative are hosting NY’s first statewide hemlock woolly adelgid (HWA) Winter Mapping Challenge. [Read more…] about Join the Hemlock Woolly Adelgid Winter Mapping Challenge
The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation and SLELO PRISM have invited all hikers, cross-country skiers, and snowshoers in the Saint Lawrence/Eastern Lake Ontario (SLELO) Region to take a hike to protect the region’s hemlocks this winter through their Virtual Hike Challenge. [Read more…] about Virtual Hike Challenge in St Lawrence, Eastern Lake Ontario Region
The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) and partners are reporting that they have completed this year’s treatment to control and prevent the spread of Hemlock Woolly Adelgid (HWA) on New York State “Forever Wild” Forest Preserve lands at Lake George in Washington County, as part of an ongoing, multi-year effort.
DEC confirmed the HWA infestation in August. The affected hemlock trees were located in the Glen Island Campground on the shore of Lake George, along the shoreline of Shelving Rock Special Management Area, at the Buck Mountain Trailhead, and on Dome Island. [Read more…] about Lake George Invasive Species Infestation Update
An infestation of invasive Hemlock Woolly Adelgid (Adelges tsugae) has been confirmed on Lake George in the town of Dresden, Washington County.
The affected hemlock trees were located near a campsite within Glen Island Campground on the shore of Lake George. This is the second known infestation of Hemlock Woolly Adelgid (HWA) in the Adirondacks. The first was located at Prospect mountain near Lake George three years ago. [Read more…] about Another Hemlock Woolly Adelgid Infestation Found At Lake George
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