The only independent, nonprofit news organization solely dedicated to reporting on the Adirondack Park.
I am very alarmed about the Department of Environmental Conservation’s “Black Bear Management Plan for New York State.” Among its proposals are to “Assess the potential benefits and concerns associated with bear hunting practices currently prohibited by the environmental conservation laws (e.g. hunting with the aid of bait or dogs, trapping with cable restraints, taking…
EVERY WEEK, reminders of the dangers of a failed energy policy rumble through the Adirondacks in the form of massive freight trains filled with oil. Carrying as much as eighty-five thousand barrels of crude in a hundred tanker cars, the trains embody a nation’s thirst for petroleum, a thirst that remains unslaked even in the…
I want to respond to the viewpoints on whether mountain bikes should be permitted in Wilderness Areas [It’s Debatable, March/April 2014]. I believe mountain bikes are the latest threat to our wild lands, and I am strongly opposed to permitting them in Wilderness Areas. However, I would disagree with Bill Ingersoll, who sees no reason…
I would like to take issue with your continuing barrage of support for a rail-trail conversion for the Old Forge-to-Lake Placid corridor [Editorial, March/April 2014]. Repetition does not strengthen your case, and one-sided, myopic thinking does not add clarity. What’s more, your support for a conversion seems to run counter to your stated goals and,…
Regarding the rails-versus-rail-trail debate: What am I missing? Why does it have to be all one or the other? Why not retain the existing tourist-train operations (at the Old Forge and Lake Placid ends) for as long as they remain viable, and develop the multi-use rail trail on the presently unused section of the right-of-way…
In the your March/April issue, reporter Brian Mann raised questions about the cost and other difficulties of converting the ninety miles of mostly unused rail corridor from Old Forge to Lake Placid into a recreational trail for biking, running, walking, and much improved snowmobiling [“Rail-trail questions”]. Whatever the challenges of converting the obsolete rail line…
THE CENTRAL PRINCIPLE of the Adirondack Park is the balance of environmental protection and economic opportunity. Protected wild lands can co-exist with human communities. Environmentally wise use of private as well as public lands need not conflict with good jobs, smart growth, and a good quality of life for the Park’s residents. The key to…
I enjoy my subscription and read with great interest all of the stories. Any article about the Newcomb area and Great Camp Santanoni are most interesting. In 1971 I left my home in Liverpool, NY, to help search for Douglas Legg, a young boy who had gone missing on that private preserve. His grandmother worked…
In the January/February issue of the Adirondack Explorer I was surprised and pleased to see an advertisement urging people to “Warm up in Downtown Glens Falls.” My wife and I have done exactly this since moving north of the city into the Adirondacks forty years ago. Early on, Glens Falls became our “go-to” place for…
It is extremely unfortunate that your paper devotes so much effort to the establishment of a bikeway on the old Lake Placid-Old Forge line. My family and friends have ridden this line in the past and hope to do so again soon. It provides an experience that we have trouble finding elsewhere, that is a…