History, Natural History & the Arts
John Dillon Park, the Adirondacks‘ only completely accessible campground for people with disabilities, will not open for the summer 2026 season while required improvements to the park’s potable water system are undertaken.
The park has been plagued by closures over the years, reports North Country Public Radio (NCPR). [Read more…] about Accessible Adirondack Campground Plagued With Closures
In one of the largest private land return initiatives in what is now New York State, a forested 600-acre property is returning to Indigenous care.
With assistance and funding from The Nature Conservancy, the Six Nations Iroquois Cultural Center (6NICC) purchased the land from Paul Smith’s College for $1.1 million. [Read more…] about 600 Adirondack Acres Returning to Indigenous Stewardship
What a winter it’s been for skiing in the Adirondack woods. With all this snow, it seems as though you can earn your turns just about anywhere. I took advantage of the conditions recently to check out the Jenkins Mountain Open Woods Ski Zone at the Paul Smith’s Visitor Interpretive Center on land owned by Paul Smith’s College.
A few years ago, I had visited the area in autumn, before snowfall, and found that the ski trails blended so well with the surrounding forest that they were difficult to discern. That’s all well and good, but how do they ski? [Read more…] about Phil Brown Visits Jenkins Mountain Open Woods Ski Zone
The Wild Center will host “Earth to Sky: Sharing Our Adirondack Climate Story,” a free, two-day, in-person workshop focused on strengthening climate communication across the Adirondack region.
The program will take place March 5–6, 2026, with an additional virtual webinar on February 25. [Read more…] about Earth to Sky: Sharing The Adirondack Climate Story
Two upcoming Adirondack conferences are scheduled which hope to address ongoing threats to water quality and some of the region’s other most significant environmental and social issues.
Organized by the Adirondack Research Consortium and its partners, these events – which include the 30th Annual Conference on the Adirondacks – are planned for February and April in Paul Smiths and Lake Placid and will bring together dozens of Adirondack researchers, scientists, environmental experts. [Read more…] about Adirondack Conferences Set For February, April
The brook trout is New York’s state fish and an iconic symbol of the Adirondacks, but about 90% of brook trout pond habitat has been lost due to poor management.
Now, for the first time in 46 years, New York State has a new plan that identifies the current risks for lacustrine (lake and pond living) brook trout and it hopes will guide the State’s management actions at Adirondack brook trout ponds for the next 15 years. [Read more…] about After A 90% Habitat Loss, A New Plan for Adirondack Brook Trout Ponds
The Nature Conservancy in New York has awarded $500,000 through its 2025 Climate Resilience Grant Program to support 12 projects that will protect more than 1,200 acres and strengthen climate resilience across the state.
Now in its fifth year, the Climate Resilience Grant Program funds land trusts, local governments, Tribal Nations and nonprofit organizations working to conserve resilient lands, protect floodplains and shorelines, and build local capacity to adapt to climate change. [Read more…] about Nature Conservancy Awards Climate Change Resilience Grants
In Field Notes from the Northern Forest (North Country Books 2025), Curt Stager draws on scientific literature and on his own observations to share his curiosity about the natural world alongside illustrations by Lake Placid naturalist Anne E. Lacy
With the same humor and personable ease that characterizes the popular weekly nature program that he co-produces on North Country Public Radio (NCPR), these 20 natural science essays take readers to ground level to explore the lives of animals, plants, and fungi commonly encountered in the conifer, hardwood, and mixed wood forests of northeastern North America. [Read more…] about Curt Stager’s ‘Field Notes from the Northern Forest’ Published
Fire in the Adirondacks — it has happened before, but could it happen again? As wildfire threats intensify across the Northeast, The Wild Center in Tupper Lake, NY, is hosting a one-day conference to explore this timely and essential question.
On Thursday, August 7, 2025, from 1 to 6 p.m., join leading voices in ecology, Indigenous knowledge, land management, journalism, and public policy for Fire in the Adirondacks, a collaborative event presented by The Wild Center in partnership with the Adirondack Chapter of The Nature Conservancy and Paul Smith’s College. [Read more…] about Fire in the Adirondacks: Wildfire Risk and Resilience Conference
As heir to a log cabin in the Adirondacks, I have caught myself imagining the mile-high glacier that carved out its lake and melted to fill it with crystal pure water. The scrape marks on outcrops of stone here and there in the forest remain as testimony to that primeval event.
Big Moose’s Twitchell Lake became host to a native population of brook trout that sportsmen in the 1860s and following decades measured by the pound rather than the inch. But my summers in the 1950s bring up a very different image, water unfit to drink or even swim in, laced with dangerous e. Coli bacteria and a dumping ground for used-up appliances. This essay will tell the story of “troubled waters” and one lake community’s painstaking quest for good water quality. [Read more…] about Twitchell’s Troubled Waters: Adirondack Water Quality History
The University at Albany’s Atmospheric Sciences Research Center has announced it’s Summer 2025 Raymond Falconer Natural History Lecture Series. The Falconer Lecture Series topics range from renewable energy, climate change and extreme weather, to ecological restoration, electric bicycles and more. [Read more…] about Falconer Natural History Lecture Series Announced
The NYS Legislature and Gov. Kathy Hochul have approved a state budget that boosts the Environmental Protection Fund by $25 million to a record level of $425 million, while also providing $500 million for municipal clean water projects/septic system replacement, funding for a comprehensive study of climate impacts on Adirondack lake ecosystems, and a new recreation carrying-capacity study for the popular Saranac Chain of Lakes. Adirondack history and diversity efforts have also been given a boost. [Read more…] about Adirondack History, Diversity, Environment Efforts Funded by State Budget
Dr. Brendan Wiltse will be leaving Paul Smith’s College Adirondack Watershed Institute (AWI) to assume the role of Executive Director at the Lake George Association (LGA).
He succeeds Eric Siy, who resigned in 2023, and Leigh Youngblood, who LGA hired earlier this year to serve as interim executive director. [Read more…] about Brendan Wiltse Leaving Adirondack Watershed Institute to Lead Lake George Association
Paul Smith’s College has announced the launch of the Summit Scholars program, a scholarship initiative aimed at supporting high school graduates within the Adirondack Park.
Beginning in fall 2025, fifty Summit Scholars scholarships will be available to deserving students. Through donations to Paul Smith’s College, the Summit Scholars program is hoped to increase access to higher education for Adirondack residents who aspire to earn a four-year degree. [Read more…] about Paul Smith’s College Launches Scholarship Program for Adirondack Students
The 3,000-acre Paul Smith’s College Visitors Interpretive Center (VIC), in Paul Smiths (in the Adirondacks about 12 miles from Saranac Lake), has 25 miles of trails for three-season walking, strolling, and nature watching (through November).
There are also six miles of interpretive trails that showcase the natural beauty of the Adirondack Mountains and provide unparalleled opportunities to view, hear, photograph, and enjoy nature. [Read more…] about Watchable Wildlife: Paul Smith’s College Visitors Interpretive Center
Paul Smith’s College, in partnership with The Wild Center, Adirondack Research Consortium, and community partners are launching a series of public listening sessions to address the growing impacts of climate change in the Adirondacks and Northern New York. [Read more…] about North Country Climate Resilience Roadmap Listening Sessions
AdkAction’s Adirondack Pollinator Project has announced the return of the Adirondack Pollinator Festival and Native Plant Sale. This event will be held on Saturday, June 1st, from 9 am to 3 pm, at the picturesque Uihlein Farm Greenhouse in Lake Placid, located at 281 Bear Cub Road. [Read more…] about Adirondack Pollinator Festival Returns to Lake Placid June 1st
In December, the global climate conference in Dubai was gaveled to a close with a commitment to “transition away from fossil fuels in energy systems, in a just, orderly and equitable manner.”
That “just, orderly and equitable” transition will require political fortitude not only from the world’s powers but from governments such as New York State’s and its citizens – us, in other words. [Read more…] about The Adirondacks and ‘The Just Transition’ to a Fossil-Free Future
New York State and The Nature Conservancy have reached an agreement to protect more than 14,600 acres of ecologically rare and culturally significant natural resources in the Adirondacks through two conservation easements and a research consortium. The collaboration is expected to provide new public recreational access in the Raquette River corridor and establish a first-of-its-kind freshwater research preserve. [Read more…] about State, Nature Conservancy Reach Agreement On Follensby Pond Plans
Paul Smiths Visitor Interpretive Center (VIC), Adirondack Wilderness Advocates (AWA), Adirondack Wild: Friends of the Forest Preserve, and the Adirondack Powder Skier Association have announced that the Jenkins Mountain Open Woods Ski Area in the Adirondack town of Brighton, Franklin County, NY, will be open to the public for backcountry skiing for a second full season, beginning in January 2024. [Read more…] about Jenkins Mountain Open Woods Ski Area Opening For Second Year
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