Federal authorities arrested 2,197 people across New York last month during what they have derisively named “Operation Rotten Apple,” the highest monthly immigration arrest total since the Trump administration’s round-ups began in New York State. [Read more…] about With ‘Operation Rotten Apple’ Upstate Police Round-Ups Surge
Saranac Lake
Historic Saranac Lake Opens Expanded Museum Campus
Members of Historic Saranac Lake (HSL) and contributors to the museum’s recent expansion project were at a ribbon cutting on August 15 at the newly refurbished the Trudeau Building.
Honorary Chair of the campaign, Doonesbury cartoonist Garry Trudeau was the guest of honor. Trudeau’s great-grandfather, grandfather, and father all practiced medicine in the new museum building at 118 Main Street in Saranac Lake. [Read more…] about Historic Saranac Lake Opens Expanded Museum Campus
Pendragon Theatre’s $11 Million New Home
Governor Kathy Hochul recently announced that the Pendragon Theatre in Saranac Lake will receive an additional $750,000 state investment to close the final funding gap for the venue.
Earlier this year, the Governor announced the opening of Pendragon Theatre’s new downtown facility in Saranac Lake, with a value at more than $11 million. [Read more…] about Pendragon Theatre’s $11 Million New Home
First Adirondack Rail Trail User Survey Getting Underway
The Adirondack Rail Trail Association (ARTA) is asking trail users to participate in a visitor survey designed to measure the trail’s economic impact and identify how community members are using the trail.
Starting July 30 and continuing throughout the coming year, ARTA staff and volunteers will conduct surveys at trailheads and other locations along the 34-mile Adirondack Rail Trail. [Read more…] about First Adirondack Rail Trail User Survey Getting Underway
New Adirondack Rail Trail App Launched
A new Adirondack Rail Trail App has been launched, a free mobile resource designed to enhance the visitor experience and encourage exploration of the region’s communities, businesses, and attractions.
Developed by the Regional Office of Sustainable Tourism (ROOST) in partnership with local technology company UpNCoding, the app features interactive maps, trip-planning tools, and important trail information. [Read more…] about New Adirondack Rail Trail App Launched
Rare and Fragile Floating Bogs and Fens
New York State is home to several rare and fragile floating bogs and fens. These unique ecosystems feature mats of sphagnum moss and vegetation that actually float over water.
Bogs and fens are both peatlands (wetlands that build up deposits of dead plant matter called peat). The primary difference is their water source: bogs are largely by nutrient-poor rainwater, making them highly acidic. Fens are fed by mineral-rich groundwater, making them alkaline or neutral. [Read more…] about Rare and Fragile Floating Bogs and Fens
Court Temporarily Halts Adirondack Marina’s Dock Installations
On March 18, 2026 the New York Supreme Court Appellate Division, Third Department, in Albany has granted a motion by Adirondack Park advocates for a preliminary injunction preventing LS Marina, LLC (LSM) from installing new docks and dock covers at its two marina sites located on Lower Saranac Lake. The injunction will remain in effect pending resolution of the appeal. [Read more…] about Court Temporarily Halts Adirondack Marina’s Dock Installations
Adirondack Park Agency Relocation Comes Down to the Wire
Ready or not, the 2026 elections have arrived. Villages across New York State will elect local leaders on March 18th. In the Adirondack Village of Saranac Lake, the election is hinging in part on plans by New York’s Adirondack Park Agency to relocate it’s headquarters.
Nearly four years ago, Park Agency staff approached Saranac Lake’s newly-elected mayor, Jimmy Williams, with a request to explore leasing and refurbishing a village-owned office building and erecting an accompanying structure on the same property for a new agency headquarters. [Read more…] about Adirondack Park Agency Relocation Comes Down to the Wire
Historic Saranac Lake Launches New Wiki Website
Historic Saranac Lake has moved their wiki website of local history to a new platform that is more reliable and easier to use.
Historic Saranac Lake Archivist/Curator Chessie Monks-Kelly led the project to move the wiki to a new host to ensure the over 8,000 pages of local history would continue to be available to the public. [Read more…] about Historic Saranac Lake Launches New Wiki Website
Edward Livingston Trudeau and the Saranac Laboratory
In the late 19th century, when tuberculosis was the deadliest disease in America, a gravely ill physician arrived in the Adirondacks seeking relief — and helped change medical history.
This episode of the ADK Talks podcast features Amy Catania, Executive Director of Historic Saranac Lake, discussing Dr. Edward Livingston Trudeau and the founding of the Saranac Laboratory, the first U.S. lab devoted exclusively to tuberculosis research. [Read more…] about Edward Livingston Trudeau and the Saranac Laboratory
Philip Terrie’s ‘Wild Forest Lands’ Revisits Adirondack History & Culture
The Adirondack Forest Preserve is the largest publicly protected wilderness in the Eastern United States, with a state constitutional provision guaranteeing that it be “forever kept as wild forest lands.”
But just what does “wilderness” mean today? How has our understanding of that concept shifted, from the colonial implications of the term as first applied to the Adirondacks to a more inclusive usage, still contested, today? [Read more…] about Philip Terrie’s ‘Wild Forest Lands’ Revisits Adirondack History & Culture
Adirondack Park Advocates Win Free Speech Case
A ruling this week from Franklin County Supreme Court has awarded legal fees and costs to defendants Adirondack Wild: Friends of the Forest Preserve and Adirondack Explorer magazine after they successfully defended themselves against a Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation (SLAPP) during 2024. [Read more…] about Adirondack Park Advocates Win Free Speech Case
Rangers Make Rescues Across Northern New York
New York State Department of Environmental Conservation Forest Rangers respond to search and rescue incidents throughout New York State locating and extracting lost, injured or distressed people and policing state lands.
This report of recent missions carried out by Forest Rangers was prepared by DEC: [Read more…] about Rangers Make Rescues Across Northern New York
Founding Director Dr. Nina Schoch Departs Adirondack Center for Loon Conservation
The Adirondack Center for Loon Conservation has announced that former founding director Dr. Nina Schoch has left the organization as of July 1, 2025.
“We are appreciative of the contributions Dr. Schoch made to this organization and are deeply committed to continuing the important mission of research, education and studying loons as environmental sentinels in the Adirondack Park,” they Center told supporters in a brief announcement. [Read more…] about Founding Director Dr. Nina Schoch Departs Adirondack Center for Loon Conservation
Rangers Make A Dozen Rescues, Respond to Whiteface Mt Twice, Battle Camp Fire
New York State Department of Environmental Conservation Forest Rangers had a very busy Fourth of July holiday week and weekend, responding to at least a dozen search and rescue incidents around the state, including two separate incidents on Whiteface Mountain on the same day.
This report of recent missions carried out by Forest Rangers was prepared by DEC: [Read more…] about Rangers Make A Dozen Rescues, Respond to Whiteface Mt Twice, Battle Camp Fire
Historic Saranac Lake’s Trudeau Building Construction Complete
Historic Saranac Lake (HSL) is planning two events to celebrate the completion of construction at the Trudeau Building in downtown Saranac Lake. The events will mark the end of the first phase of HSL’s project to expand their Saranac Laboratory Museum to become a two-building museum campus. New exhibits are expected to open in the Trudeau Building in summer of 2026. [Read more…] about Historic Saranac Lake’s Trudeau Building Construction Complete
Adirondack History, Diversity, Environment Efforts Funded by State Budget
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
‘Everything Is Tuberculosis’ Relates TB Scientific and Social History
Tuberculosis has been entwined with humanity for millennia. Once romanticized as a malady of poets, today tuberculosis is seen as a disease of poverty that walks the trails of injustice and inequity we blazed for it.
Known as consumption in the nineteenth and early twentieth century, the term tuberculosis was introduced in 1834. TB became associated with industrialization which forced poorly nourished working class people to live in drafty and damp dwellings. [Read more…] about ‘Everything Is Tuberculosis’ Relates TB Scientific and Social History
Upper Saranac Foundation Appoints First Ever Executive Director
The Upper Saranac Foundation (USF) Board of Directors has announced the promotion of Guy Middleton to the role of executive director, effective January 1, 2025.
Middleton, who has served as USF’s lake manager since 2001, will now lead all aspects of the Foundation’s operations. This marks the introduction of the executive director role at USF, which largely an organization of wealthy landowners organized to protect Upper Saranac Lake on which they have homes and second homes. [Read more…] about Upper Saranac Foundation Appoints First Ever Executive Director
Northern Forest Canoe Trail Celebrating 25 Years
The Northern Forest Canoe Trail (NFCT) celebrates its 25th anniversary in 2025, an occasion that is expected to be marked with dozens of community events throughout the Northeast.
The NFCT is an inland water trail tracing 740 miles of Indigenous and historic travel routes across New York, Vermont, Québec, New Hampshire and Maine. The canoe trail starts in Old Forge, NY, and ends in Fort Kent, Maine, traversing 23 rivers and streams, 59 lakes and ponds, 45 communities and towns, and more than 65 portages. [Read more…] about Northern Forest Canoe Trail Celebrating 25 Years