• Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to secondary sidebar

New York Almanack

History, Natural History & the Arts

  • Email
  • RSS
  • Adirondacks & NNY
  • Capital-Saratoga
  • Mohawk Valley
  • Hudson Valley & Catskills
  • NYC & Long Island
  • Western NY
  • History
  • Nature & Environment
  • Arts & Culture
  • Outdoor Recreation
  • Food & Farms
  • Subscribe
  • Support
  • Submit
  • About
  • New Books
  • Events
  • Podcasts

trees

The Peculiar Acorn Pip Gall Wasp

September 30, 2023 by Guest Contributor Leave a Comment

Pip Gall WaspIn Northern New York, acorns ripen in late summer and normally drop from oak trees from September through October. They may fall earlier, however, for a host of reasons, from eager squirrels getting a head start on gathering nuts for the winter to environmental stress, including excessively hot or rainy weather.

Prematurely dropped acorns are green, whereas ripe acorns are brown. Other reasons acorns may drop early include poor pollination and tree infestation by insects or diseases. The most peculiar cause of premature acorn drop that I have encountered is the acorn pip gall wasp. [Read more…] about The Peculiar Acorn Pip Gall Wasp

Filed Under: Nature Tagged With: Forestry, insects, oaks, trees, Urban Forestry, wasps, Wildlife

Lichens & Air Quality

September 19, 2023 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

lichen on a rock (DEC photo)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

Filed Under: Nature Tagged With: algae, clean air, Clean Air Act of 1970, lichen, New York City, pollution, trees, Wildlife

Tree Sign Language: Early Fall Color Spells Trouble

August 26, 2023 by Paul Hetzler 2 Comments

Fall foliage in the Adirondacks courtesy Wikimedia user DigbyDaltonEach fall deciduous trees, ice-cream stands, and marinas close for the same reason: as daylight dwindles and cold creeps in, they become less profitable. When income dips down to equal the cost of doing business, a wise proprietor will turn off the lights and lock the doors until spring.

Some enterprising holdouts stay solvent longer than others who are in the same business. Perhaps they have less competition or a better location. Conversely, a few businesses close their shops at the first whiff of autumn. Those are the ones that just barely scrape by at the height of summer. [Read more…] about Tree Sign Language: Early Fall Color Spells Trouble

Filed Under: Nature Tagged With: fall, Forestry, gardening, Science, trees

Invasive Beech Tree Killer Found Near Lake George

August 9, 2023 by Anthony F. Hall Leave a Comment

a beech tree leaf exhibiting signs of BLD (courtesy APIPP)Beech Leaf Disease, detected at the western edge of the Adirondack Park in 2022, has spread to the Lake George watershed. Forest Health technicians from the Department of Environmental Conservation discovered a Beech Leaf Disease infestation along a trail on Bolton’s Edgecomb Pond property in late July, Bolton Supervisor Ron Conover said. The technicians were surveying the Cat and Thomas Mountains section of the Adirondack Forest Preserve, a DEC official told Conover. [Read more…] about Invasive Beech Tree Killer Found Near Lake George

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, Nature Tagged With: Adirondack Park Invasive Plant Program, Adirondacks, Beech Trees, Bolton, DEC, Forestry, Invasive Species, Lake George, trees, Warren County, Washington County

Elm Zigzag Sawfly: A New Exotic Pest in NY

July 16, 2023 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

Elm Zigzag Sawfly photo by Gyorgy Csoka, Hungary Forest Research Institute, Bugwood-orgThe elm zigzag sawfly (Aproceros leucopoda) is an insect that only eats elm leaves and can cause severe defoliation (leaf loss) that threatens tree health. [Read more…] about Elm Zigzag Sawfly: A New Exotic Pest in NY

Filed Under: Nature Tagged With: Forestry, insects, Invasive Species, trees, Wildlife

White Pines: Physically & Culturally Colossal

July 15, 2023 by Paul Hetzler 1 Comment

1a Twitchell White PineThe eastern white pine (Pinus strobus) isn’t really a crop-bearing tree, but it has borne priceless fruit for American democracy. Physically as well as culturally massive, there are many accounts from the early 1800s of white pines over 200 feet tall being harvested. One credible report pegs a white pine at 247 feet, and unverified accounts have claimed that 300-foot-tall leviathans were cut back then. [Read more…] about White Pines: Physically & Culturally Colossal

Filed Under: Nature Tagged With: Adirondacks, Cayuga Nation, Cultural History, Forestry, Haudenosaunee, Indigenous History, Iroquois, Oneida Indian Nation, Onondaga Nation, Paul Smith's College, Political History, Seneca Nation, trees, Tuscarora, White Pine, Women's Rights NHP, womens history

Flying Squirrels: Nocturnal Tree Dwellers

July 8, 2023 by Tom Kalinowski 1 Comment

flying squirrel courtesy DECIn the days prior to and immediately following a full moon, there is often enough light in the hours after sunset for a person to meander along a well established woodland trail without the aid of a flashlight. By walking slowly and quietly, one can occasionally detect a small gray squirrel rustling about the dead leaves on the forest floor, climbing up a large trunk, or moving along the limb of a tree. While most squirrels strongly prefer to be active during the light of day, the flying squirrel favors the darkness of night and is one of the most common nocturnal tree dwelling mammals in New York State. [Read more…] about Flying Squirrels: Nocturnal Tree Dwellers

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, Nature Tagged With: Beech Trees, Maple Trees, small mammals, squirrels, trees, Wildlife

Oaks Will Be Oakay

June 17, 2023 by Paul Hetzler 1 Comment

oak tree courtesy Wikimedia user Jürgen EissinkIf you’ve wondered what awful new malady has struck our oak trees this spring, resulting in shriveled, deformed and dead leaves, the answer is chilling. Literally; as in cold. A hard freeze on the night of May 17-18 happened at just the right – or wrong – time, catching oak foliage at a critically tender stage. Since trees can’t change their locations (to my knowledge, at least), I guess you could say that oaks were in the right place at the wrong time. [Read more…] about Oaks Will Be Oakay

Filed Under: Nature Tagged With: oaks, trees

Logging, Forestry, Wildfires & Forest Rangers: William Fox’s Legacy

May 23, 2023 by Guest Contributor 1 Comment

Col William F Fox Memorial Tree Nursery (courtesy DEC)Driving by the Saratoga Tree Nursery, just south of the Saratoga Performing Arts Center (SPAC), most barely notice the state tree nursery’s rustic entrance sign – and you need to squint to see that its full name is “Colonel William F. Fox Memorial Saratoga Tree Nursery.” The state Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC), which owns the nursery, considers William Fox the “father” of today’s DEC forest ranger program, as well at the guy who believed the state should raise young trees for later replanting.

Yet the story of the 19th century Ballston Spa native, who also served with valor in the Civil War, is little-known to the general public. [Read more…] about Logging, Forestry, Wildfires & Forest Rangers: William Fox’s Legacy

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, Capital-Saratoga, History, Hudson Valley - Catskills, Nature, Recreation Tagged With: Adirondacks, Article 14, Ballston Spa, Catskills, Civil War, Forest Preserve, Forest Rangers, Forestry, Logging, Political History, Saratoga County, Saratoga Springs, Saratoga Tree Nursery, trees, wildfires, William Fox

Inspect Your Trees for Beech Leaf Disease This Spring

May 20, 2023 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

beech leaf stripingTrees are blooming again in New York so now is the perfect time to keep your eyes peeled for beech tree leaf disease symptoms. [Read more…] about Inspect Your Trees for Beech Leaf Disease This Spring

Filed Under: Nature Tagged With: Beech Trees, Forestry, gardening, Invasive Species, trees

  • Go to page 1
  • Go to page 2
  • Go to page 3
  • Interim pages omitted …
  • Go to page 11
  • Go to Next Page »

Primary Sidebar

Help Support The Almanack

Subscribe to New York Almanack

Subscribe! Follow the New York Almanack each day via E-mail, RSS, Twitter or Facebook updates.

Recent Comments

  • Sue on Baron von Steuben’s Oneida County Estate
  • Editorial Staff on ‘I Hope You Are of Our Party’: Fidelity and Benedict Arnold’s Betrayal
  • Christina Kelly on ‘I Hope You Are of Our Party’: Fidelity and Benedict Arnold’s Betrayal
  • Eleanor wall on Debar Pond Lodge: History & Controversy
  • Eleanor wall on Debar Pond Lodge: History & Controversy
  • bob buchanan on Bath Fish Hatchery: Home to Wild Finger Lakes Strain Rainbow Trout
  • Bob Meyer on Debar Pond Lodge: History & Controversy
  • Brian O'Connor on The Canal Era in the Finger Lakes
  • Elye Grossman on Catskills Resort History: The Beginning of the End
  • Elye Grossman on Catskills Resort History: The Beginning of the End

Recent New York Books

Marty Glickman The Life of an American Jewish Sports Legend
Vermont for Vermonters
Flee North Thomas Smallwood Early Underground Railroad
Making Long Island
The Witch of New York
styles brook book lorraine duvall
James Wilson: The Anxious Founder
Flatiron Legacy National Football League History NFL
Henry David Thoreau Thinking Disobediently

Secondary Sidebar