Environmental News

(05/24/12) The Adirondack Interpretive Center in Newcomb will try a new twist on the "rubber duck race" on Saturday, using rubber loons instead. The event is part of the center's celebration of its first anniversary under the leadership of the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry. Proceeds will support educational programs at the center.

The event will focus on the two most iconic symbols of human and natural history in the Adirondacks: logs and loons. Some 500 black-and-white rubber loons will be dropped into the Rich Lake outlet for a 425-yard floating race. Prizes will be awarded for those who sponsored the winners. Visitor's center program coordinator Paul Hai told Todd Moe that a California company, CelebriDucks, manufactured the rubber loons for the race.

(05/21/12) It's prime season for planting the vegetable garden. With hot, dry weather, tender new transplants and seeds need a little extra care. Cornell Cooperative extension horticulturist Amy Ivy tells Martha Foley that light, frequent watering can be key.

(05/21/12) A high school science teacher from Lake Placid wants to help the town of North Elba change the way it disposes of organic waste.

Tammy Morgan teaches biology and environmental science at Lake Placid Middle-High School. She recently delivered a preliminary report to the North Elba town board on a proposed project to install an anaerobic digester at the town-owned landfill.

As Chris Morris reports, some farms already use anaerobic digesters to process manure, but North Elba would become the first municipality on the East Coast to use this kind of technology to process food waste on site. more

(05/21/12) Every spring, a Department of Environmental Conservation biologist drives along north country highways at dawn or dusk, stopping every so often to pull over and listen. They're listening for the distinctive "peent" of the singing American woodcock, a brown speckled bird a little larger than a songbird with a long, narrow beak for pulling earthworms out of the ground.

The little game bird is under threat New York state, and the survey each year is meant to get a handle on what population trends are in this region. DEC regional spokesman Stephen Litwhiler is the happy host to several of the birds in his backyard in southern Jefferson County. He says the birds' appearance each year is his personal "harbinger of spring."

For this Heard Up North, reporter Joanna Richards donned camouflage and hid behind the birds' favorite tree in Litwhiler's backyard to get a close-up look - and listen. more

(05/18/12) John Warren, of the Adirondack Almanack, joins us Friday mornings with information about local outdoor and back-country conditions. more

(05/18/12) The Vermont Air National Guard is proposing to start training flights over the Adirondacks and Watertown area with F-35 jets.

The big, loud planes would replace the smaller, quieter F-16s the National Guard is using now --but not until at least 2015. The Guard is accepting public comments on the plan until June 1. It's held public hearings on the proposal in the Burlington area, and last night in Watertown. Joanna Richards reports. more

(05/18/12) Hydraulic fracturing involves the high-pressure injection of water and chemicals into the ground to split rock apart and release natural gas or oil. It's being used extensively in the rapidly expanding natural gas industry in Pennsylvania, but has been blamed for a range of environmental and health problems.

Just across the border, the Town of Vestal, near Binghamton, is well-placed for natural gas development. It's in one of three counties in New York considered to be in the sweet spot of Marcellus Shale development. And as the Innovation Trail's Matt Richmond reports, its location is what makes Vestal a hot spot in the larger debate about hydrofracking. more

(05/16/12) Those who love edible wild mushrooms, cousins of the grocery store variety, also enjoy the annual spring hunt for one of the most elusive -- the morel. May is morel month in the North Country.

Todd Moe joined an outing of mushroom collectors at Paul Smiths College last spring. The group held a friendly contest to see who could find and pick the largest quantity of morels. By the end of the hunt it was clear you don't have to have to go out looking for morels with a meal in mind. Just learning to identify each mycological species is a challenge.

A reminder about looking for edible mushrooms: even distinctive yellow morels have look-a-likes that are poisonous. The slightest doubt about a mushroom is warning enough not to eat it.

(05/15/12) St. Lawrence University physics professor Aileen O'Donoghue shared news of big events in the solar system in conversation with Martha Foley this morning. She explained how a solar eclipse can begin on May 21st and end on May 20th; Mars is on the move, and we'll have a once-in-a-century chance to see Venus "transit" in front of the Sun on June 5.

(05/14/12) Boxes and pots offer a great chance for small-scale and perfectly located flower gardening. Cooperative Extension horticulturist Amy Ivy has tips on how to assemble and maintain successful containers, including how to recycle potting mix from year to year. She talks with Martha Foley.