Blog

There are reasons to be optimistic about the survival of the federal Clean Power Plan, following the oral arguments heard by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia in late September.

This summer along with the rest of the Northeast, the Adirondack Park has experienced a record-breaking dry season. Rivers, lakes and streams were unusually low, and farms and gardens required extra sources of water. With precipitation below average, many of us are wondering what will this do to our usually vibrant fall foliage? In short, it could go either way.

The Adirondack Council, on behalf of the BeWildNY Coalition, just released a video advertising campaign urging New York's Governor Andrew Cuomo to protect over 30,000 acres of new public land as motor-free wilderness. The video, narrated by acclaimed actress and environmentalist Sigourney Weaver, displays the magnificence of the recently purchased Boreas Ponds tract of public land.

In this season of drought, Echo Farm and Farmstead Catering in Essex seems to have solved the problem of providing their organic, pasture-raised hogs and chickens with plenty of fresh water with their solar powered pump and gravity fed watering system.

Read about the changes that have occurred in the waters of Raquette Lake as told by someone who grew up there during the summers.

The globally unique Adirondack Park is ready for new wilderness, according to the Adirondack Council's State of the Park report for 2016. The report concludes that the Adirondacks are ready for the largest expansion of motor-free wilderness in a generation. National media have been focusing attention on the upcoming Presidential election and on the hottest summer on record. But there is another story of national importance unfolding in the Adirondacks right now.

On the evening of August 29, Emily Liebelt, the Council's Clarence Petty Intern, had the pleasure of attending Essex Farm Institute's (EFI) first ever Public Forum at the Whallonsburgh Grange. People of all ages filed into the historic building to listen to keynote speaker Anthony Flaccavento, President of SCALE (Sequestering Carbon, Accelerating Local Economies).

It can be an arcane field, the Forest Preserve. Article XIV, Section 1 of the State Constitution, the "forever wild" clause, is comprised of 54 words which appear clear enough. Its authors in 1894 thought it should slam the door on those late 19th century abuses of the preserve. However, it's not so. Read David Gibson's explanation.

This summer, the Adirondack Council entered its second year of an Adirondack canvassing program with the goal of demonstrating that there is broad public support for clean water and wilderness lands in New York.

At Paul Smith's College in late July, the Adirondack Lakes Alliance hosted their second Lake and River Symposium, aiming to educate lake and river associations in watershed and lake/river management.