ADIRONDACK NEWS

The Department of Environmental Conservation's (DEC) New York Harmful Algal Bloom System (NYHABS) is now active, providing New Yorkers the ability to send reports of HABs to DEC electronically via a simple user- and mobile phone-friendly form.

When it comes to HABs, DEC encourages community members to “KNOW IT, AVOID IT, REPORT IT.”

KNOW IT – HABs vary in appearance from scattered green dots in the water to long, linear green streaks, pea soup, to blue-green or white coloration.

AVOID IT – People, pets, and livestock should avoid contact with water that is discolored or has algal blooms on it's surface.

REPORT IT – If community members suspect a HAB, report it through the NYHABs online reporting form available on DEC’s website. Symptoms or health concerns related to HABs should be reported to DOH at harmfulalgae@health.ny.gov.

Evergreens are under threat from a tiny, invasive insect: the Hemlock Woolly Adelgid.

This pest, no larger than the tip of a pencil, poses a major risk to the health of Adirondack forests. Without intervention, the loss of hemlocks could trigger a cascade of damaging consequences including destabilizing mountainsides, eroding river banks, and upending the ecosystems and communities that rely on them.

Dr. Nina Schoch has been working with loons for 26 years.  She recently changed her role from founder and Executive Director of the Adirondack Center for Loon Conservation (ACLC) to ACLC’s Director of Conservation and Science.

After more than three years as a specialist focused on aquatic invasive species in the Adirondacks, Brian Greene became the new leader of the Adirondack Park Invasive Plant Program (APIPP).

LJ Mills, and others, have been evaluating the ADK forest for nearly 50 years. The Adirondack Environmental Long-Term Monitoring Program (ADK-LTM) began in the 1970s to study acid rain. Now, the information-rich project is collecting vitals on the northern forest as the Earth experiences record-breaking temperatures. It’s one of many years-long monitoring projects in the park. 

NYS passed an ambitious climate law nearly 5-years ago intended to reduce and counteract fossil fuel emissions contributing to climate change. Storing carbon dioxide, a gas released from burning fuel, is key to achieving the goals outlined in the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act. Much of that can be accomplished through protecting carbon-absorbing forests across the state. 

The federal Environmental Protection Agency will no longer fund the Adirondack Park’s longest-running lake monitoring program, which for decades has tracked the region’s gradual recovery from acid rain in over 50 lakes. Adirondack water researchers and advocates have long relied on the monitoring program’s data to study acid rain and other emerging threats, such as climate change and oxygen loss.

Scientists planning a far-reaching survey of climate change want to take the temperature of Adirondack lakes — continuously and at different depths. See what Adirondack lakes can tell us about climate change.

Climate warming and lake browning – when dissolved organic matter from forests turns the water tea-brown – are making the bottom of most lakes in the Adirondacks unlivable for cold water species such as trout, salmon and whitefish during the summer.