According to Capitol Confidential, it sounds like Assemblyman Alexander “Pete” Grannis is about to be announced as new Commissioner of the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation.
Entries from March 27th, 2007
Dr. Frank Gill to Speak at Adirondack Birding Celebration
March 27th, 2007 · No Comments · Adirondack Life, News
One of America’s leading ornithologists, Dr. Frank Gill, will be the keynote speaker for the 5th Annual Great Adirondack Birding Celebration, to be held June 1-3, 2007 at the Adirondack Park Agency Visitor Interpretive Center (VIC) in Paul Smiths. Dr. Frank Gill will give his address to birders at 8 p.m. Saturday, June 2 in the Paul Smiths VIC theater.
“We are extremely excited to have one of the biggest names in birding come to the Paul Smiths VIC for this year’s Great Adirondack Birding Celebration,” said VIC naturalist and event organizer Lydia Wright. “He literally wrote the book on ornithology.”
No kidding! This guy is a birding legend. Lydia is right, he did write the book. Check out his birding creds:
- Age 7 – First Bird identified, Song Sparrow
- 1969 – PhD Zoology, University of Michigan
- 1969-1995 – Ornithology Department, Academy of Natural Sciences
- 1996-2004 – National Audubon Society, Senior Vice President and Director of Science
- 1998-2000 – President of the American Ornithologists’ Union
- 1998 – Recipient William Brewster Memorial Award
- 2007 – National Audubon Society, Board of Directors
- Birds of North America, Life Histories for the 21st Century – Editor
- Ornithology – Author
- Birds of the World: Recommended English Names – Co-author
Did you know that Ornithology is considered the primary textbook in its field? Well it is.
The Great Adirondack Birding Celebration starts at 2 p.m. Friday, June 1 with a Boreal Ecology Hike, led by John Brown, at the Paul Smiths VIC. The welcome reception begins at 6:30 p.m., and at 7 p.m. author/naturalist Ed Kanze, of Bloomingdale, will give a presentation on “The World of John Burroughs.” At 8:30 p.m., VIC naturalists will lead an Owl Prowl on the VIC trail system.
On Saturday, June 2, birding field trips will be held from 6:30 to 11:30 a.m. Exhibitors and vendors will set up from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Afternoon programs from 1 to 4 p.m. will include a sketching and journaling workshop with artist/naturalist Sheri Amsel and an “Adirondack Birds by Habitat” presentation by nature photographer Jeff Nadler. The Teddy Roosevelt Birding Challenge will be held from 4 to 5:30 p.m. And the keynote address begins at 8 p.m. in the VIC theater.
On Sunday, June 3, birding field trips will be held from 6:30 to 11:30 a.m.
The Paul Smiths VIC features prime boreal habitat, and some of the boreal species birders will seek on the field trips include the black-backed woodpecker, three-toed woodpecker, boreal chickadee, gray jay, Bicknell’s thrush and many species of warblers.
The Great Adirondack Birding Celebration is free and open to the public. Awesome!
More Info:
Tags: bird·events·paul smiths·wildlife
Population Envy – Mine is Denser than Yours
March 22nd, 2007 · 2 Comments · News
Statistics + Experts = News
That’s right, it really is that easy. Collect a bunch of numbers, let a bunch of people with “expertise” comment, and call it news.
One of the indicators frequently cited when analyzing the state of New York is population growth. Or loss, as the case may be. Up here in the Adirondacks, it is really more of a qualitative thing. We are more concerned about brain drain. Other parts of the state are experiencing population declines which seem to be a cause for alarm. Hmmm. I kind of like the idea of people moving around, sort of a free-market of migration. Is it a cause for alarm? Frankly, I have very little clue.
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Tags: dannemora·economic development·essex county·franklin county·new york·politics·prison