Judge overturns state’s rail trail decision
By Phil Brown
November 1, 2017
A Franklin County judge has shot down the state’s plan to create a rail trail between Lake Placid and Tupper Lake, but supporters say the project is not dead.
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Economy
Adirondack Hamlets-to-Huts test run postponed
September 29, 2017
By Noelle Connors Adirondack Hamlets to Huts postponed the test run of their first circuit loop from this fall to next summer. Adirondack Hamlets to Huts is a nonprofit which stems from the Adirondack Community-Based Trails and Lodging System Initiative. It is seeking to establish a network of huts and lodges in local communities connected…
From the Archives: An Interview with George Canon
June 19, 2017
Former Explorer Publisher Dick Beamish interviewed longtime Newcomb supervisor George Canon for the November/December 2007 issue. Canon died Sunday, June 18, at the age of 77.
Big plans for North Hudson
April 12, 2017
State wants to replace moldering Frontier Town at Exit 29 with $32 million Gateway to the Adirondacks By Rick Karlin Since its closure in 1998, Frontier Town could be more accurately described as a ghost town, but parts of the moldering theme park would be granted new life in a $32 million plan by…
The master trail builder
November 14, 2016
Retired Forest Ranger Steve Ovitt aims to connect North Creek with the wild lands around the community. By BILL MCKIBBEN To really understand this story, you have to bear in mind two distinctive things about North Creek. One, it butts up against the mountains much tighter than most Adirondack communities. Start on the path that…
Building on tradition
By Mike Lynch
September 16, 2016
Guideboat makers carry on a craft born in the Adirondacks in the mid-1800s. By MIKE LYNCH Building a traditional Adirondack guideboat is a complex task, with ribs carved from spruce-tree roots and with thin hull planks held in place with several thousand tiny tacks. It can take many weeks to complete one. “I grew up working with…
Deluges in forecast
By Mike Lynch
March 23, 2016
Climate change is expected to bring heavy rains, more floods, and more damage to communities. By Mike Lynch A few years ago, Paul Smith’s College scientist Curt Stager came across a rare find that he says helps tell the story of climate change in the Adirondacks: the journal of Bob Simon, a retired engineer and…
APA approves rail trail
March 9, 2016
Despite agency’s vote, train supporters say the long battle over the state-owned rail corridor is not over. By Phil Brown The Adirondack Park Agency voted 9-1 in February to approve a controversial proposal to split a state-owned rail corridor into a rail segment and a trail segment, but the debate over the best use of the corridor is…
White stuff = green stuff
By Mike Lynch
January 19, 2016
Warmer climate bodes ill for Adirondack businesses that rely on winter tourism. By Mike Lynch The most profitable months for the tourism-based businesses in the Adirondacks are without question July and August. This is when families take their summer vacations, the weather is warm, and the bugs are tolerable. But while summer is crucial for small businesses,…
Oil in them thar hills
September 9, 2015
Iowa Pacific’s plan to store empty tanker cars on tracks near the High Peaks alarms environmentalists and sets state lawyers to scrambling. By Phil Brown The Iowa-Pacific rail company took state officials and environmental activists by surprise in July when it unveiled a plan to store hundreds of drained oil-tanker cars on its tracks near…