News stories tagged with "tug-hill-plateau"

(07/22/11) Yesterday, we heard about a not-for-profit called LightHawk, which offers environmental groups private flights to help them give an aerial perspective to their "green" issues.

Today we focus on one group using that service to fight for its survival - the Tug Hill Commission. The Commission isn't exactly an environmental group. It's a state agency, and it's facing elimination in Governor Andrew Cuomo's effort to streamline government.

But the communities of the Tug Hill Plateau see the Commission as indispensable to balancing the economy and the environment in a "working forest". And more than that, they see the Commission as a potential model for other state agencies.

David Sommerstein was invited for a flight recently and has this story. more

(07/21/11) Environmental issues can be tough to convey to the public and to policymakers because they're landscape-scale. Flying high above, say, a forest, a factory, or a wetlands complex can give better perspective.

But few environmental groups can afford to pay for private flights. For 30 years, the not-for-profit Lighthawk has been bringing together volunteer pilots and environmental causes. David Sommerstein has this profile of the organization. more

(03/18/11) Leaders across Lewis, Jefferson, and Oneida counties are making a full court press to save the Tug Hill Commission. The 38 year-old agency provides planning, development, and natural resource management assistance to the isolated towns and villages of the Tug Hill Plateau.

The State Senate has included $1.1 million for the Commission in its spending plan. That's a 10% budget cut, on par with what other agencies are dealing with. But the Assembly is so far following Governor Cuomo's recommendation to dissolve the Commission. That's left Tug Hill leaders fighting for the agency's survival. David Sommerstein reports. more

(02/08/11) Local leaders are scrambling to save a state agency that supports the isolated communities of the Tug Hill Plateau. Governor Cuomo wants to dissolve the Tug Hill Commission in next year's budget. 15 people would lose their jobs.

The Commission serves more than 60 towns and villages in rural Lewis, Jefferson, Oswego, and Oneida counties, helping with economic development, planning, and natural resource protection. David Sommerstein reports on efforts to save the agency. more

(01/27/11) Earlier this month, you heard David Sommerstein's report on the 2010 Kite Skiing Festival on the Tug Hill Plateau. Skiers and snowboarders tether themselves to high performance kites that harness the Tug's strong winds and pull them along open farm fields.

While David was at this year's kite skiing festival, he learned there's something else you can do with a kite - kite buggying. Here's David for today's Heard Up North. more

(01/27/10) The Tug Hill Plateau enjoys the most snowfall of any place east of the Rockies. Snow has become big business in the region. Snowmobiles bring millions of dollars to the Tug Hill economy every winter. But on a recent weekend, a quieter winter sport was filling up the area motels - powered exclusively by the wind. The 3rd annual Kite Skiing Festival drew hundreds of experts and beginners alike. David Sommerstein went to learn about a relatively new sport that is trying to break into the mainstream. more

(07/24/07) A four-day tribute to U.S. and Canadian soldiers who have died in Iraq and Afghanistan will begin Friday morning in Lewis county. "Arlington North" will include nearly 4000 crosses for each member of the military killed in action since 2001. The crosses will be on display on the south slope of Snow Ridge Ski Resort in Turin, on the Tug Hill Plateau. Derek Davey, of Lowville, is organizing the weekend tribute. His son was killed in Iraq in 2005. Davey told Todd Moe that the event is intended to illustrate the human cost of war and offer a place to reflect and grieve.

(10/26/06) Congressman John McHugh and Democratic challenger Robert Johnson sparred often in a debate at Massena town hall last night. The candidates for the 23rd district disagreed on health care funding, stem cell research, and the Bush Administration tax cuts. But as David Sommerstein reports, the biggest differences were over the war in Iraq and other foreign policy.

(09/09/05) The horizon on the Tug Hill Plateau has a new look. More than twenty soaring wind turbines now dot the landscape of Lewis County. Maple Ridge Wind Farms will be the largest supplier of wind energy in New York when it goes online later this fall. David Sommerstein reports.

(08/31/05) The lives and traditions of the settlers in the central and southern Adirondacks are the subjects of a new book by William "Jay" O'Hern. The book, Adirondack Characters and Campfire Yarns, is a treasury of Adirondack history and folklore. It's a collection of familiar and seldom written-about people and customs, and includes dozens of vintage photos. O'Hern lives in rural Camden, on the Tug Hill Plateau, where he worked as an elementary school teacher for 35 years. His family has visited the Adirondacks since the 1940s, and he told Todd Moe that his favorite pastime is bushwhacking.