HOME – a film everyone should see

I watched a movie from Netflix last night called HOME. In vivid photographic imagery and poetic verse, it described the geologic history of Earth. It explained the evolution of plants and animals and described the interconnectedness of land, water and air. It described the evolution of humans and our impact on Earth (our home), especially in the blink of geologic time – the last 50 years. If you have Netflix, please rent and view HOME. Or click here to view it on YouTube. It’s especially important for anyone who:
-has children or grandchildren
-who thinks “Drill Baby Drill” is a valid slogan

-who has noticed that reefs are dying, birds and fish are disappearing
-who is Catholic and by default empowers a religion which has contributed to the world’s overpopulation with their policies against birth control and women’s reproductive rights
-who is contemplating voting for a Republication in the next election
-who thinks they have a right to use any resources at their disposal
-everyone

Adirondack bird, the spruce grouse, nears end

Spruce Grouse

An iconic but little-known Adirondack bird is dipping toward extinction in the state and likely can only be saved by bringing birds from Canada or other states to strengthen breeding.

That is the conclusion of a new study on spruce grouse, a bird common in Canada but much less so in New York and the Northeast. After decades of decline, there are now just 100 or fewer specimens in three Adirondack counties.

Seldom seen by hikers, birders or hunters,  are a fowl, similar to a chicken, that live in bogs and wetlands within evergreen forests of spruce, tamarack and balsam fir.

At the turn of the century, the bird occupied as many as seven Adirondack counties. As recently as the 1970s, there were an estimated 300 birds, but numbers have steadily dwindled as its habitat has shrunk. The bird is now on the state endangered species list. “We need to do something real soon, in the next few years,” said John Ozard, head of wildlife diversity for the state Department of Environmental Conservation..

Otherwise, odds now are 1-in-3 that spruce grouse will disappear from the Adirondacks by 2020, according to a DEC study released Friday. Those odds jump to 9-in-10 by the end of the century.

The birds also are becoming genetically vulnerable to being wiped out by illness because of inbreeding, so new blood is necessary for its survival, Ozard said.

He said Adirondack grouse appear to be closest genetically to those in the Canadian province of Ontario, so that would be the best place to supply new birds for the Adirondacks.

In 2008, Vermont wildlife officials brought in spruce grouse from Maine and Quebec to supplement that state’s declining population, now limited to the northeastern border with Canada. Ozard said the effectiveness of that effort is still being studied.

DEC’s tentative plan also calls for managing areas where spruce grouse can still live by cutting back trees. To thrive, the birds need a relatively young forest, with trees about 40 years of age, and with fewer large trees that create a canopy over the forest floor.

Surveys have found there are 15 sites in St. Lawrence, Franklin and Essex counties where birds remain, down from 23 places in 1987. Eleven sites are on private property, with the rest on state property in the forever-wild Forest Preserve. “The Forest Preserve cannot be cut, but private landowners can do this. So private property works in the bird’s favor,” said Ozard. “Private landowners will play a major role in this.”

DEC is taking public comments through March 1 on the plan, which can be found online at ftp://ftp.dec.state.ny.us/dfwmr/wildlife/spgr/
Make comments on fwwildlf@gw.dec.state.ny.us (include “spruce grouse plan” in the subject line) or to NYS DEC Division of Fish, Wildlife and Marine Resources, Bureau of Wildlife, Spruce Grouse Management Plan, 625 Broadway, Albany, NY 12233-4754.

Grouse facts
Dark in color, the birds are about 15 to 17 inches long. The male has a distinctive red comb over each eye. During the summer, the birds feed almost exclusively on conifer needles, and in the summer, can also add berries, seed, mushrooms, leaves and some insects to its diet.

SOURCE: State Department of Environmental Conservation via timesunion.com, link to original post

Help fund a Northern Forest Canoe Trail through-paddler film through Kickstarter

Help fund a Northern Forest Canoe Trail through-paddler film through Kickstarter – click here for details.

Erie Canalway Trail completion would cost $35 million

by Leo Roth, Democrat & Chronicle, link to original post

The value of the historic Erie Canalway Trail is indisputable.

Whether the 365-mile multi-use path linking Albany and Buffalo will ever be totally completed is an ongoing question. As always, money stands in the way of completing the final 25 percent of the trail.

According to a progress report prepared by the volunteer Canalway Trails Association and Parks & Trails New York, it would take $35 million to close the five remaining major gaps in the Erie Canalway Trail representing approximately 75 miles.

The longest, about 30 miles, is just east of Rochester, extending from Lyons to Port Byron.

Along with lack of funding, challenges to closing the gaps, according to the report, include lack of a defined route in many places, physical obstacles like an active rail line or highway in the way, and general lack of local support.

There was no new trail work in 2011 but there are projects on the books for 2012, including a four-mile stretch between Newark and Lyons in Wayne County. Federal Transportation Enhancement funds will be used.

While the Erie Canalway Trail is already a great tourist and economic engine affecting 15 counties, the progress report estimates an increase of 500,000 annual users once the trail is finished, generating another $5 million in benefits. The trail drew an estimated 1.7 million users in 2011. To access the report, go to ptny.org.

Basic Map and Compass & Wilderness Survival classes in Verona NY (March – June)

Madison Oneida BOCES in Verona will be hold classes this spring on the following subjects:

BASIC MAP AND COMPASS   ( March & April Classes are offered)
WILDERNESS SURIVIAL  ( May & June  Classes are offered)

These are adult  education classes  cost is  $45 for the Map & Compass class  and  $60 for the Wilderness Survival class.
If anyone has any questions they can email Michael at  Mquinn315@aol.com  or call BOCES at 315-! 361-5800 1.

Michael Quinn, Outdoor Education Instructor

Hadley Mountain provides great views, requires great effort

by Ralph Ferrusi , Poughkeepsie Journal, link to original post with PHOTOS

Hike name: Hadley Mountain fire tower
Location: Southern Adirondacks, inside the Blue Line, near Lake Luzerne
Length: 3.6 miles round trip
Rating: According to “Views from on High,” the Fire Tower Challenge bible, a Difficulty Rating of 2; 1 being “Easy,” 4 being “Difficult.”
Dogs: Even though it’s only a 2, Fido, I’m glad you passed on this one.
Map(s): “Views from on High,” Page 70. New York State Atlas/Gazetteer was a big help navigating to this one.
Features: A good, brisk winter’s workout. Stupendous 360-degree mountains-everywhere view from the tower, way up to Marcy and Whiteface in the north, with the Great Sancandaga Reservoir gleaming to the south.
Watch out for: Bottom Line: we were six hours in the car, two hours on the mountain …

The “Views from on High” description of the trail ascending at a “moderate pitch” lulled me into a false sense of security. John P. Freeman must be some kind of mountain goat, because I would describe several of the pitches as pretty darn steep, and the climb to the ridge line as pretty much unrelenting. Not Breakneck unrelenting, but definitely “talking to myself” unrelenting.

On this frigid winter’s day, our Katoola MICROspikes sorta-crampons were the gear of choice.

We’d brought snowshoes, but a returning hiker in the parking lot said we wouldn’t need them on the heavily-packed-down trail.

Background: Here we go again. I’m goal-oriented, to put it mildly. You don’t walk from Georgia to Maine twice, bang out 114 Northeast 4,000-foot mountains, 46 Adirondack 4,000-footers and 35 Catskill high peaks and travel to 54 countries without some kind of numbers obsession.

I think goals are a good thing, and Kath suggested we look into a fire tower challenge she’d heard about. Online research uncovered the Fire Tower Challenge: Once upon a time there were 69 fire observation towers in the Catskills and Adirondacks, manned by observers diligently scanning for forest fires. Most of the towers dated to the early 1900s. For various reasons, including aircraft surveillance, they were gradually abandoned; the last observers left in 1990.

The towers decayed rapidly, and many were dismantled. Between 1993 and 1997, grass roots movements began lobbying to save some of the remaining towers.

Five Catskill towers have been restored: Balsam Lake, Hunter, Overlook, Red Hill and Tremper. All five have appeared in Hike of the Week columns. John P. Freeman’s 2001-vintage “Views from on High, Fire Tower Trails in the Adirondacks and Catskills” describes these towers, along with 23 remaining Adirondack towers. The EMS store on Route 9 had a copy. Don’t head to the ’daks without it.

Hike description: It was 4-above-0 when we left Stormville, and still bitter cold when we reached the trailhead at noontime. The trail was hard-packed and blue ice in spots, and we MICROspiked round-trip. It was steep enough to have me counting “one/two/three/four” to myself in several places.

It was a relief to reach the ridgeline and turn right, toward the summit dome.

Views opened up on the dome, and all of a sudden, there was the tower. Views were stupendous, but the icy wind soon had us hustling back down to the Hyundai. Eight down (we’ve done Saint Regis and Rondaxe), 20 to go …

How to get there: Thruway or Taconic north to Northway Exit 16. Follow signs to Corinth, jump on 9N north to Lake Luzerne, cross the Hudson to Hadley, then right (north—signs for the tower!!!) on Stony Creek Road. Left just after crossing railroad tracks onto Hadley Hill Road, 4.5 miles turn right on Tower Road, 1.5 miles to large trailhead parking lot on left.

Elmira gets early start on canoe/kayak portage past the Chase-Hibbard Dam

by Ray Finger, StarGazette, link to original post

Because of unseasonably mild weather, work has begun earlier than anticipated on construction of the Don Hall Portage on Elmira’s Southside.

Work that was scheduled to begin in the spring was already under way this week, City Manager John Burin said. “I’m real happy to hear about that,” Jim Pfiffer, director of the Friends of the Chemung River Watershed, said upon learning that work has started. “It’s great to see it get going,” he said.

“Paddling season, of course, depends on the weather, and if we have a mild winter and a mild spring, people could start paddling in March or April, so the sooner they get it done, the better it will be for everyone.”

A culvert pipe was being extended to eliminate a wooden footbridge, said Andy Avery, director of public works for the city and Chemung County.

The new portage will allow canoes and kayaks to be carried on land past the Chase-Hibbard Dam and then be returned to the river. It is to be located 300 feet upstream of the dam along the river’s south bank near Katy Leary Park.

The portage is being named for the paddler who inspired it. Hall, an Elmira resident and River Friends board member, approached city officials six years ago about the project, Pfiffer said.

However, the project kept running into roadblocks, such as financing and obtaining permits from the state Department of Environmental Conservation, he said.

Manners Matter in Cross Country Skiing!

While out doing a bit of nordic skiing, I spoke a while with a man walking his dog. He commented on how I was doing the “old style” (classic) rather than skating, then went on to tell about several experiences he has had with skaters using the whole trail and forcing him off. Wouldn’t this be a good time to double pole past a walker? Here is a list of basic manners:
1) Pass others on the trail without forcing them off.
2) Don’t skate, walk, or snowshoe on existing tracks.
3) If you are in the track going up a hill, look forward and get out of the way to anyone coming downhill. In general yield to anyone coming downhill.
4) Don’t be watching your ski tips; it makes for bad skiing and you don’t know who you are coming to or who is coming at you.
5) Don’t stop in the track or block a trail; move to one side.
6) Of course, don’t litter (maybe even pick up a bit of litter!)
7) Keep your dog in control, if he does not have a dead reliable recall (and is in your sight at all times!), he belongs on a leash. (I define dead reliable as “he stops dead in his tracks when chasing a squirrel and comes back to you”).

source: Rochester Nordic Ski Club newsletter: Feb 2012 newsletter vol 38 issue 4e

New Catskill Hiking Guide ‘The Catskill 67’ Focuses on Lesser Known Peaks

The Adirondack Mountain Club (ADK) has published its newest title, “The Catskill 67: A Hiker’s Guide to the Catskill 100 Highest Peaks under 3500’.” Written by veteran hiker Alan Via and edited by Times Union journalist and hiker Fred LeBrun, the guide focuses on a previously overlooked group of mountains: the 67 Catskill peaks within the treasured “100 Highest” that are under 3,500 feet in elevation.

The new guide describes routes to the summits — trails, woods roads or bushwhacks — of each of these lesser known peaks, includes numerous four-color images, and provides GPS coordinates for trailheads and difficult road intersections. Peaks are rated for view, interest and difficulty.

The guide also includes nine regional maps and a separate large-format map of the Catskill 100 Highest. The latter, printed in full color, shows how the regional maps appear together and offers a broader, more detailed overview of the Catskills. “The Catskill 67” is also a perfect companion to the recently published ADK/National Geographic Trails Illustrated Map of the Catskills.

Appendices detail bushwhacking basics and tandem peaks. A final appendix, Via’s “Subjective Look at the Peaks,” will delight listers with its inclusion of such entries as “Most Challenging” (among them, Little Rocky and Olderbark, both cliffs), “Best Names” (Barkaboom, Sleeping Lion), and “Scrappiest” (South Bearpen, Churchill).

Via, who resides in Slingerlands, has been drawn to mountain peaks for most of his life, mainly in the Northeast, but also in the West, including the Canadian Rockies. A member of the Catskill 3500 Club, as well as an Adirondack 46er and a New England 111er, Via’s name is also prominent on a number of other highest peaks lists. A native of Utica, he graduated from Utica College of Syracuse University and attended graduate school at the University at Albany. He has been employed as an underwriter and marketing representative for 40 years, first with Aetna Life and Casualty and then with Utica National Insurance.

LeBrun, a professional journalist for 44 years with the Hearst Corp., has also been an Albany Times Union metro columnist for 25 years, frequently writing about the outdoors and environmental issues. He is a graduate of the University at Albany and has been a teacher of journalism there for 23 years. A native of Manhattan, he now lives in the Rensselaer County village of West Sand Lake.

“The Catskill 67” is 192 pages, 6″ x 9″, and includes over 60 photographs and a dozen map and nature illustrations. It is available in softcover for $21.95 at book and outdoor supply stores, at ADK stores in Lake George and Lake Placid, through mail order by calling (800) 395-8080 (Monday through Saturday, 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.), or online at www.adk.org.

The Adirondack Mountain Club, founded in 1922, is the oldest and largest organization dedicated to the protection of the New York’s Adirondack and Catskill forest preserves. ADK is a nonprofit, membership organization that protects the forest preserve, state parks and other wild lands and waters through conservation and advocacy, environmental education and responsible recreation. For more information about ADK, visit our website at www.adk.org.

Southern Tier sees increase in bobcat population

Southern Tier sees increase in bobcat population