Foliage forecast: Less sunshine = less red pigment
The many cloudy and rainy days for the past weeks don’t bode well for a great autumn show of leaf color.
Nature
Nature Walk: The toothbrush caterpillars
The high number of caterpillars dead or dying this late summer (especially fall webworms) is almost certainly attributable to the stiflingly hot and humid weather we had, and the stretches of abundant rain.
Learn how the Hudson River gave birth to the modern American environmental movement
Saturday, October 6: Book talk at Slabsides with historian David Schuyler about his new book, Embattled River. Some of the conflicts that Schuyler documents are universally known: General Electric, the PCB contamination of the Hudson and the cleanup debate, for example. Others are news – startling news – to me: a major nuclear power facility with cooling towers proposed for the Esopus/Lloyd town line in the 1970s?
See the secret gardens of Mountain Top Arboretum
Lichen Walk this Saturday, October 6: This public garden situated on 178 acres above Tannersville is a stunning nature sanctuary. The nearly finished timber-frame Education Center designed by architect Jack Sobon features 21 native tree species.
Talk on Arctic narwhal expedition
Wednesday, Sept. 26: It’s said that, in centuries past, the spiral tusks of narwhals were regarded as proof of the existence of unicorns. Marine biologists studying this elusive cetacean today are discovering that this “horn” – in fact, an overgrown tooth – has ingenious if not magical properties.
WLC’s BioBlitz will document species at Thorn Preserve
The Woodstock Land Conservancy (WLC) holds its fourth annual BioBlitz on Friday, September 21, 9 a.m. to 8 p.m., and Saturday, September 22, 8 a.m. to 3 p.m., as naturalists lead expeditions on the Thorn Preserve in eastern Woodstock, counting the species found on the 60-acre property.
Green parade and fair in New Paltz
Saturday, Sept. 15: Attendees can test drive electric cars and speak with energy efficiency and renewables experts. There will also be activities for kids, including a bicycle-decorating contest with prizes and wildlife education from Eric the Reptile Guy.
“Green Amendment” lecture at SUNY-Ulster
Monday, Sept. 17: There’s a growing rumble of popular interest in a movement to pass a “Green Amendment” or Environmental and Social Responsibility Amendment to the US Constitution. It takes varying forms, but in general would establish a constitutional right to a healthy environment, grant the natural environment “personhood” and standing in court and/or require large corporations to recertify at regular intervals that their business practices are environmentally responsible or lose their charters.
Exploring Sam’s Point
Atop the historic hamlet of Cragsmoor, home of the oldest artist colony founded in America, sits Sam’s Point: a 5,000-acre preserve that boasts not only ice caves and wild berries and a rare dwarf pine ecosystem, but also the highest point of the entire Shawangunk Ridge.
PCB cleanup in progress at Route 299 Central Hudson site
Before PCBs were outlawed by New York State in the 1970s, transformers containing the oily substance had been stored at the site.
