News stories tagged with "wild-center"

(11/18/11) Last week, the Adirondack Daily Enterprise reported that Betsy Lowe is stepping down as Region 5 Director of the Department of Environmental Conservation.

Lowe has been one of the most influential figures in the Adirondacks over the last decade, first helping to found the Wild Center in Tupper Lake and then taking the helm in the DEC district that covers much of the Park.

Her tenure included work on some landmark projects, including the Finch Pruyn conservation deal, and some big crises, including the environmental aftermath of tropical storm Irene.

Lowe sat down this week to talk with Brian Mann about her reasons for leaving, and the future of the DEC following deep budget and staff cuts.

(06/29/11) Most people in Asia, Africa and South America eat bugs--prepared with shallots, lettuce, chilies, lime or spices. So, why not the rest of us? Seattle-based naturalist and author David George Gordon has written 19 books on a subject that makes some people squirm.

Orzo with Crickets? Three Bee Salad? Waxworm cookies? Gordon says it's all good for us. Todd Moe spoke with him as he was about to bake European house crickets for one of his favorite creepy-crawly dishes. He says it's cuisine he'll share during BuzzFest at the Wild Center in Tupper Lake this Saturday.

(02/23/11) A delegation of Adirondack high school students, community leaders and staff from the Wild Center leave for Finland on Thursday. Todd Moe talks with Saranac Lake artist and community organizer Gail Brill about traveling to Finland as part of an exchange that includes conversations about climate change, saving energy and winter recreation.

Organized by the Wild Center in Tupper Lake, Brill says the trip's goal is building international collaborations and communities in the Adirondacks learning from the Finns.

(01/14/11) Susan Morse is a lifelong "tracker." She has more than 35 years experience monitoring wildlife and interpreting wildlife habitat use. Her research has focused on cougar, bobcat, black bear, and Canada lynx.

She's done extensive research nationally, and decades of conservation work in the Champlain basin. Sixteen years ago, Morse founded Keeping Track, an organization devoted to training professional biologists and citizen scientists alike in wildlife monitoring skills.

On Jan. 21 and 22, she'll bring her expertise to the Adirondack Wild Center in Tupper Lake. Friday night, she'll give a talk and slideshow. On Saturday, she'll take Wild Center staff and others interested in joining her cadre of citizen scientists out into the field for a hands-on tracking workshop.
She spoke with Martha Foley.

(11/05/10) A new partnership between The Wild Center in Tupper Lake and teachers and environmentalists from Finland begins next week. The exchange will include conversations about climate change, saving energy and winter recreation. The goal is building international collaborations and communities in the Adirondacks learning from the Finns. Wild Center Executive Director Stephanie Ratcliffe says communities around the northern world are starting to notice climate changes that may affect winter cultures and economies. She told Todd Moe that teams from the Adirondacks, including the Wild Center, and the Science Center in Vantaa, Finland, will visit each other starting next week.

(07/29/10) Not so long ago, most kids spent as much of their summer vacations outdoors as they could. Fair weather and free time allowed an escape after months indoors at school.

But researchers as well as parents are seeing children spend more and more of their escape time in front of computers and televisions. And they're worried about the consequences.

As Brian Mann reports, there's growing evidence that a summer spent in the fields and woods isn't just fun, it's important, too.

(06/02/10) While the debate rages over pollution of outdoor wood boilers, a new generation of wood heat systems is already being rolled out.

Scientists and manufacturers say so-called "wood gasification" boilers burn much more efficiently with far less smoke and ash. A new, state-of-the-art boiler is now on-line at the Wild Center in Tupper Lake, burning wood pellets produced in Massena.

As Brian Mann reports, the manufacturer hopes to sell similar systems to businesses and government offices across the North Country.

(05/12/10) Artist, writer, naturalist and angler James Prosek made a name for himself at 19 when he published Trout: An Illustrated History, a book of watercolor paintings of trout. Prosek has traveled the world in search of his favorite fish. It's a passion that includes painting, writing and angling.

He'll give a talk based on his book, Fishing in the 41st Parallel, at the Wild Center in Tupper Lake on Saturday. His visit is part of the "Spring Outside!" free community day. He says his current work is concerned with our changing relationship to the environment and the human desire to order nature through naming.

Todd Moe spoke with Prosek from his studio in an old schoolhouse in Easton, Connecticut. He still fishes in the same pond he visited as a child, and was asked about an essay he wrote for The New York Times where he referred to fly-fishing as "nothing more than a predatory ballet."

(11/06/09) Students from two dozen high schools and colleges across the Adirondacks will gather at The Wild Center in Tupper Lake early next week for the first Adirondack Youth Climate Summit. Todd Moe talks with two teens concerned about the environment and the region's future.

(11/20/08) Researchers, local government leaders and state officials gathered this week in Tupper Lake to talk about the impact of global climate change in the Adirondacks. The conference at the Wild Center offered a snapshot of the best new science on global warming. Organizers also hope to chart local strategies for reducing carbon emissions in the region. As Brian Mann reports, they hope that cutting pollution can also lead to lower energy costs for businesses and governments.