History, Natural History & the Arts
WINTER CONDITIONS: Plan ahead, check the weather to know what winter conditions to expect. Snowshoes, crampons, or microspikes may be needed in addition to insulated boots. DEC’s website has tips for safe winter hiking.
The following reports of recent searches and rescues carried out by Forest Rangers and other first responders around New York State were prepared by DEC: [Read more…] about Forest Rangers Recover Hunter’s Body, Make Hiker Rescues
The New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation (State Parks) has completed restoration work and installed new interpretive signage at the Dickinson Hill Fire Tower in Grafton Lakes State Park. The fire tower is the last remaining in Rensselaer County.
There are currently 34 fire towers remaining in New York State, with 20 located on state land. At one time, there were 124 fire towers across the state, 57 of which were in the Adirondacks. Many of these have been restored and are open for public use. [Read more…] about Last Remaining Fire Tower in Rensselaer County Gets Restored
A new report from State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli found the frequency of severe weather in the state is growing, taking a toll on New York’s residents, property and economy.
“Extreme weather events are happening more and more often and inflicting financial and emotional stress on New Yorkers from loss of life to property destruction,” DiNapoli said. [Read more…] about NY Severe Weather Events Increasing, Costs Soaring
As a budding naturalist growing up in the concrete-heavy environs of Boston, I would regularly thumb through my family’s collection of nature books and daydream about the creatures within. One species I was particularly drawn to was the eastern box turtle.
These charismatic terrestrial turtles have high-domed shells festooned with colorful yellow or orange markings, and stout legs built for walking. Notwithstanding their similarities to tortoises, box turtles are part of the “water turtle” family Emydidae, which includes species like the eastern painted turtle and spotted turtle [Read more…] about Eastern Box Turtles: Life in a Shell
Winter lingers long on the Rensselaer Plateau. The snow piles deep, muffling the landscape in an icy hush, and the trees stand still in their frozen slumber. But as the days lengthen and the sun begins its slow work of softening the land, the transformation begins.
The snow melts, trickling down into the forest floor, pooling in low spots, carving out secret, glistening pockets of water between the trees. These pools, often small and shallow, are the first sign of life returning to the woods. [Read more…] about Vernal Pools on the Rensselaer Plateau
Few of us think back to the troubled times when the farmers of Rensselaer, Columbia and Albany counties were involved in sometimes violent demonstrations against rents collected by the Manor of Rensselaerswijck and the feudal conditions imposed by the land leases of the semi-feudal patroon.
It can be said to have started in the 1790s when Stephen Van Rensselaer III encouraged the development of his land holdings stretching from the Helderbergs in Western Albany County east to the Rensselaer Plateau in Eastern Rensselaer County, which dated back to the original Dutch grants in 1629 made to Kiliaen van Rensselaer (1586-1643). [Read more…] about Rensselaer County Rises for the Anti-Rent War
The permanent protection of the new Cowee State Forest, 3,700 acres of forestland, will protect wetlands and wildlife habitat, provide recreation opportunities, and help local timber economy has been affected on the Rensselaer Plateau in the towns of Berlin, Grafton, Poestenkill, and Sand Lake, in Rensselaer County, NY. The new State Forest encompasses the headwaters of the Poesten Kill.
[Read more…] about New Cowee State Forest Announced in Rensselaer County
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