History, Natural History & the Arts
While hiking in the woods, you may have noticed lichen on trees and rocks. Often mistaken as a plant or moss, lichen is a complex symbiotic relationship between fungi and algae.
Lichen receives its nutrients from photosynthesis, relying on the atmosphere to survive. They cannot filter what they absorb because they lack roots and protective surfaces. [Read more…] about Lichens & Air Quality
New York State’s Adirondack Road Salt Reduction Task Force, established by the Randy Preston Road Salt Reduction Act in 2020, has been released. The Task Force was charged with conducting a comprehensive review of road salt contamination and roadway, parking lot, driveway, and sidewalk management best practices within the Adirondack Park, and making recommendations for enhancements. [Read more…] about Adirondack Road Salt Report Issued: Some Data & Recommendations
Air quality affects our health in a number of ways. From eye irritation to lung disease, it’s important to take precautions to avoid unhealthy air. Air quality affects animals, including our pets, as well. When considering how to protect yourself from poor air quality, it’s important to plan for your pets too. [Read more…] about Cats & Dogs: The Pawful Effects of Poor Air Quality
Cyanobacteria blooms have closed beaches regularly this summer across New York State. While it may feel like a nuisance to not be able to cool off at your local beach, these blooms force swimming areas to close because they can be dangerous. To protect yourself, your loved ones, and pets, it is important that you understand how to recognize them and what you should do if a bloom is present at a beach you visit. [Read more…] about Beach Closures: Cyanobacteria and Phosphorus in New York’s Lakes
AdkAction’s Clean Water, Safe Roads Network for road salt reduction is expanding, and a related public outreach campaign will be launched this fall, thanks to $123,000 in recently awarded funding. [Read more…] about AdkAction Receives $123k for Regional Road Salt Reduction Program
New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) is seeking hunters to participate in a multi-year study of non-lead ammunition impacts on the State’s eagle conservation efforts. DEC is partnering with the New York Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit at Cornell University, U.S. Geological Survey, and Conservation Science Global on the study to determine the reduction in bald eagle and golden eagle deaths that can be achieved from increased use of non-lead ammunition for deer hunting. [Read more…] about Lead Research Hopes to Improve Bald Eagle, Golden Eagle Conservation Efforts
It has been two weeks since flooding devastated many communities in the Lake Champlain watershed and throughout the states of New York and Vermont. The heavy rains lasted for days and sent rivers and streams over their banks, pouring into homes and businesses and carrying a swill of debris, nutrients, sediment, untreated wastewater, chemicals, and more into Lake Champlain.
If you live in an area not directly affected it may be hard to understand the monumental impact. [Read more…] about Wake of the Flood: A Lake Champlain Report
Road salt pollution in Adirondacks lakes has been well documented over the last three decades and spotlighted for political action over the last decade. Contamination of residential and small business drinking water wells in lands downslope of heavily salted roads have also been documented, and in some communities is on the rise. [Read more…] about NYS Road Salt Plan Still Stalled While DOT Plans Another Season of Polluting Adirondack Waters
Earlier this month, plumes of smoke from hundreds of Canadian wildfires blew into the Northeast and along the eastern seaboard. The result was hazy, orange skies, the smell of smoke, and poor Air Quality Index levels. NYS issued several Air Quality Health Advisories in June 2023 due to the smoke. [Read more…] about Smokey Skies and High AQIs
On his tour of America Charles Dickens was disgusted by the “odious practices of chewing and expectorating” tobacco, a “filthy custom” that he had observed in both streets and public buildings. From courts of law to hospitals, spittoons could be seen where men were permitted to “spit incessantly” (American Notes, chapter VIII). [Read more…] about A Short History of Spitting: TB, Influenza, Covid and Public Policy in New York City