Kindergartners gathered last Saturday in New Paltz to say one final goodbye to their monarch butterfly friends, and to wish them well on their long journey to Mexico. The insects had hatched on milkweed saved from mowing along the River-to-Ridge trail, collected as caterpillars and allowed to pupate under the watchful eye of Duzine students.
The Mohonk Preserve Foothills Loop Trail is now open, expanding the Mohonk Preserve Foothills trail network and extending the River-to-Ridge Trail in New Paltz. The 2.2-mile loop trail, which is free and open to the public, begins near the intersection of Pine and Butterville Roads, follows the newly established Ridgeview Road to Lenape Lane and continues around the White Oak Bend Path to Pine Road.
In 2018, the state DEC listed the Wallkill River and several of its tributaries on a draft version of its “impaired waters” list.
A New York City-based reporter is suing to stop construction on carriage roads and to create a new visitor’s center at Minnewaska State Park, saying that the land should instead be part of the State Forest Preserve where preservation is the priority over recreation. It’s instead part of the Palisades Interstate Parks Commission, created by an interstate company one attorney for the State says doesn’t need to comply with the New York constitution.
On Earth Day, April 22, you may have seen a plastic bag mummy, Plady, picking up trash while riding a mini plastic car, Toxicar, down Main Street in New Paltz. This was not an early celebration of Halloween, but performance art. Plady and Toxicar were created by the Taiwanese artist Maxine Leu, an MFA sculpture student at SUNY New Paltz, and enacted by performer Sanford Fels, a BFA sculpture student also at SUNY New Paltz.
Gazing over the patchwork landscape now under the stewardship of the Mohonk Preserve, it’s tempting – but misleading – to picture its evolution from its wild state as calm and gradual.
As we entered the thick of the coyote mating season, it was fitting that a recent Thursday night – February 14, Valentine’s Day – saw a packed Lecture Center on the SUNY New Paltz campus for a presentation titled “Coexisting with Coyotes,” with Melissa Gillmer, head zookeeper of the Trailside Museums and Zoo at Bear Mountain State Park.
The third most common tree in New York State is under assault by an invasive pest. But there’s something you can do about it.
The Wallkill Valley Land Trust has secured a conservation easement to permanently preserve and protect 57 acres in Gardiner as open space. The property, owned by Ray and Anne Allbright Smith, is a critical habitat that supports 106 documented individual Eastern Box Turtles and is recognized as an important wildlife area.
Currently numbering some 40 members, the Mohonk Preserve Volunteer Photographers provide the organization with a steady supply of new images capturing the many facets of the mountains. The images they record are used to build awareness about the Preserve.
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