NY: Adirondack environment . . . . .

[Blackhawk]

NY: Adirondack environment much improved since '70

Published: 7:18 AM - 04/19/10
Last updated: 7:19 AM - 04/19/10

LAKE GEORGE (AP) -- New York state's environmental conservation commissioner says acid rain levels in the Adirondacks have fallen and species such as moose and bald eagles have returned to the region since the first Earth Day 40 years ago.
Department of Environmental Conservation chief Pete Grannis says a recent DEC analysis found that acid rain levels dropped in all 48 Adirondack lakes that are monitored on a long-term basis.
The DEC commissioner also says wildlife such as moose, bald eagles, peregrine falcons and ospreys have established themselves in the North Country, while beaver and otter populations are flourishing.
Grannis is holding a news conference Monday afternoon in Lake George to discuss the region's environmental improvements since the first Earth Day in 1970.

http://www.recordonline.com/apps/pbc...419548/-1/NEWS
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Comments either negative or positive re this report?

Hey, conservation & keeping major enviormental polluters in check works.

When I was younger & backing in the 70's I never saw any eagles or osprey..hell I hardly seen any wild turkeys or loons..now rarely is the time I don't see loons at Adirondack ponds or lakes, turkeys just about everywhere & eagles & ospreys are more & more becoming common sightings, not just in the Adk's but throughout the state...I've seen more eagles the past two summers than the rest of my life put together.

I've yet to see a moose but alot of their comeback has mostly to do with their own relocation efforts.

I've heard we've got more beaver today than back in the height of the fur trapping days...I can't remember the last time I visited a pond in the Adk's & didn't see a lodge, and a dam & surrounding meadow or new pond in the making.

I saw an osprey just this past weekend at Spectacle Pond.

It's all a really good thing.....Glad to hear the acid rain thing is slowly but surely clearing up.

[Dick]

The EPA is starting a blog (as of today) on acid rain:

http://www.adirondackcouncil.org/EPA_AR_Blog410pr.html

As of this writing, the links don't work, however. Perhaps going online later today?

Two sites with apparently good info on the overall problem, though nothing up-to-date:
http://sites.google.com/site/acidrain1project/home
http://www.eoearth.org/article/Acid%20rain

There was a conference on the subject last month, but no specifics other than paper titles:
http://adirondackexplorer.org/the-na...tag/acid-rain/

Cranberry Lake appears to be recovering, but there are still problems, according to this article:
http://blog.syracuse.com/opinion/201...id_rain_s.html

Lots of articles, but many appear based on old data. I can't find much on current conditions. Of course I'm not a scientist. Perhaps those on the forum who are can comment more intelligently than I.

Dick

[stripperguy]

If you read some of the historical acounts of Adirondack activities in the heydays, you'll find that pollution was quite prevalent. Wide scale clear cutting and uncotrolled fishing, trapping and hunting took its toll.

Other than the acid rain decimated trout fishing, much of the flora and fauna is in better shape now than 150 years ago!!
Now, if we can just control those midwest emissions....

Originally Posted by stripperguy

If you read some of the historical acounts of Adirondack activities in the heydays, you'll find that pollution was quite prevalent. Wide scale clear cutting and uncotrolled fishing, trapping and hunting took its toll.

Other than the acid rain decimated trout fishing, much of the flora and fauna is in better shape now than 150 years ago!!
Now, if we can just control those midwest emissions....

I read a biography of French Louie not long ago that had a a scene from his life where he accidently killed a beaver & he felt really bad about it..there was so few of them @ the turn of the 20th century....

Show me one pond now, in the Adk's that has no beaver sign around it & I'll eat my own campin' shorts......

[fisher39]

In my relatively short lifetime (I'm 30), I've seen some noticeable improvements in the health of the fish in the waterbodies I frequent, which we're all on the cusp of collapsing in the 1980s when I started fishing. And of course I've seen the return of moose and appearance of turkeys.

Of course we've still got some big issues in the Adirondacks, like mercury contamination and invasive species.

Originally Posted by fisher39

In my relatively short lifetime (I'm 30), I've seen some noticeable improvements in the health of the fish in the waterbodies I frequent, which we're all on the cusp of collapsing in the 1980s when I started fishing. And of course I've seen the return of moose and appearance of turkeys.

Of course we've still got some big issues in the Adirondacks, like mercury contamination and invasive species.

The single biggest issue in the Adk's now is to try to practice low impact camping....littering in the woods is the one simple item that HAS not improved since 1970..people still leave way too much behind .....no matter how remote some campsites are....you always stumble upon someone else's sh!t......

[sp_nyp]

Originally Posted by paddlewheel

The single biggest issue in the Adk's now is to try to practice low impact camping....littering in the woods is the one simple item that HAS not improved since 1970..people still leave way too much behind .....no matter how remote some campsites are....you always stumble upon someone else's sh!t......

It isn't just camping, we are a throw away society - rooted in our addiction to convenience - which is also one of the reasons 27% of our youth are too overweight to be accepted into the military.

The borderline between convenience and laziness disappeared a long time ago.

[Hobbitling]

I'd be willing to bet that littering in the woods is less common today than it was years ago, or at least as common. It's certainly much less socially acceptable now. I find an awful lot of old bottles, cans, and other "artifacts" from long ago, while hiking around.

Originally Posted by hobbitling

I'd be willing to bet that littering in the woods is less common today than it was years ago, or at least as common. It's certainly much less socially acceptable now. I find an awful lot of old bottles, cans, and other "artifacts" from long ago, while hiking around.

The litter is there....and the people like you that care are there...and the outlook and people that try to make a difference are all present & accounted for but with the increase in outlaw ATV's, people in motorboats and Drive by 4-wheelers with a six-pack going on it's a losing battle...

I've got a small cabin in Essex Co....there's a long dirt & stone road going thru it from two directions....a man could buy himself diiner @ Witherbees w/ the empties you can find on the road (after you took the time picking up the last batch).....can't tell ya the amount of worm containers & cans come floating about this beautful pond either...there's that element that just don't get it & probably never will....problem is there's more of 'em...I'm probably gonna piss some people off but my experience is I've never met very many enviormentally concerned motorheads.......Ever seen the 1st campsite at Lily Pond?

[randomscooter]

Originally Posted by paddlewheel

...I'm probably gonna piss some people off but my experience is I've never met very many enviormentally concerned motorheads...

I couldn't say what the percentages are, but I certainly know many who are environmentally aware, including some forum members. One thing to consider is that even if there aren't more of them the junk thrown out by the motorized recreationalists is BIGGER, therefore more visible.

[randomscooter]

Originally Posted by paddlewheel

The single biggest issue in the Adk's now is to try to practice low impact camping....littering in the woods is the one simple item that HAS not improved since 1970..people still leave way too much behind .....no matter how remote some campsites are....you always stumble upon someone else's sh!t......

Would that be synonymous to saying that the 'carry it in, carry it out' movement that began in the '70s was a failure? If so, then LNT is doomed.

Originally Posted by randomscooter

I couldn't say what the percentages are, but I certainly know many who are environmentally aware, including some forum members. One thing to consider is that even if there aren't more of them the junk thrown out by the motorized recreationalists is BIGGER, therefore more visible.

I think the attitude with the common motorhead is that they ain't gonna sit still long enough to give a flying one-eyed sh!t that what they left behind & what it is gonna do to complicate the simple mind of a common tree hugger like myself & not a whole lot of stress goes into worrying about the whole deal......someone else will pick it up....what's the big deal

[Neil]

Before I began hiking in the High Peaks Region of the Adirondacks my understanding is that there were literally thousands of pounds of garbage left behind by hikers and campers. Tin cans, bottles name it.

If what I have read is correct then behavior has changed within the hiking sub-set of outdoors people. I have hiked throughout the area extensively over the past 5 years including on some of the more popular trails (Range trail, Van Hoevenberg) and I only occasionally see a wrapper or a hiking pole basket. The summits themselves are clean a a whistle. The only litter I notice are items people leave at lean-to's (frying pans, grills, aluminum pots).

Originally Posted by Neil

Before I began hiking in the High Peaks Region of the Adirondacks my understanding is that there were literally thousands of pounds of garbage left behind by hikers and campers. Tin cans, bottles name it.

If what I have read is correct then behavior has changed within the hiking sub-set of outdoors people. I have hiked throughout the area extensively over the past 5 years including on some of the more popular trails (Range trail, Van Hoevenberg) and I only occasionally see a wrapper or a hiking pole basket. The summits themselves are clean a a whistle. The only litter I notice are items people leave at lean-to's (frying pans, grills, aluminum pots).

I don't think litter is that much a problem with peak baggers because they tend to be on the go & travel light...it's areas in the rest of the park,especially with drive to access that it's a constant battle...and in my experience Especially with areas that allow ATV's. They tend to be the creme de crop of trash galore. Other cool.places like Crane Pond, Cheney pd., or Lily Pond, Nine Corners or Good Luck Lake..(areas w/that easy access & popularity)..one group trashes the sites, the next picks it up....sometimes it's alright , sometimes it's not...leantos also are collection bins...if everyone left a site.....no matter where, better than they found it ...litter would eventually be obliterated.....it's such a simple concept..that never stays on a steady course....the best you can do is hope for is to police your campsite & lug out other numbnuts junk....and think & hope that someday in this crowded crazy world, sharing all that is there with the constant influx of more & more folks all will treat nature like the sacred place it is and keep it pristine....always...it's really easy to do...

[Neil]

Yeah, that's why I specified the hiking sub-set.

Same problem up here in Canaday. I've seen cars (!) and beds that were tossed over river banks and left there to rust away.

Last spring a group of us hauled out tons of trash from a park north of Montreal. Trash I had stumbled upon while bushwhacking. The sources there were marijuana growers and hunters.

You should see the crap left behind where partyers hang out on Montreal's Mount Royal.

People seem to think the planet is an open air garbage dump and as it gets more expensive and complicated to get rid of stuff people will be dumping it more, not less frequently illegally, anywhwere. Tossing tires and old computers into rivers and lakes, dumping paint down the sewer etc. etc. Even dumping old canoes beside remote ponds in the Adirondacks.

Originally Posted by randomscooter

Would that be synonymous to saying that the 'carry it in, carry it out' movement that began in the '70s was a failure? If so, then LNT is doomed.

Good question....the problem is there's alot of us around from the 70's that still practice this phiosophy....we pass it on to our kids and people not in the know.....but there is also this continuing force that works against all these priciples & it's a never ending battle to do the right thing...so many times I have bushwhacked into remote ponds only to find campsites that are all set up with boats chained to trees , camp fiuriture, and junk left behind....it's discouraging....my attitude has always been ...leave it wild...& keep it that way....and let the next person escape into that "forever wild" thing that attracts us all in the first place.