ITHACA NY - Cornell Plantations and the Department of Natural Resources at Cornell University are organizing a workshop aimed at training volunteers to identify and report new hemlock woolly adelgid (Adelges tsugae) infestations. This newly arrived invasive insect pest threatens eastern hemlock trees and the biodiversity they support, causing a cascade of environmental changes for some amphibians, fish, invertebrates, and plants in response to the increased light and warmer temperatures. Hemlock woolly adelgids were first reported in the central Finger Lakes region in mid-2008, but now inhabit dozens of local sites. Early detection of new sites is a high priority, and local conservation groups are organizing volunteer surveys as a critical first step in managing this devastating invasive species.

The workshops will feature a presentation by Mark Whitmore on the adelgid’s biology and the threat it poses to local hemlock forests. Participants will visit Beebe Lake to observe hemlock woolly adelgids first-hand and gain experience in detection, monitoring, and reporting protocols. Participants will also have the opportunity to volunteer in the “Adopt-a-Hemlock” program to conduct surveys and report new infestations in local hemlock forests. The workshop will be held on Saturday, March 30h from 1:00 – 3:00 PM at Plantations’ Nevin Welcome Center in the Botanical Garden, located at One Plantations Road on the Cornell campus.

Pre-registration is not required. For more information on hemlock woolly adelgid or to report new occurrences, visit www.cornellplantations.org/hwa

Cornell Plantations is the botanical gardens, arboretum, and natural areas of Cornell University, and is a member of Ithaca’s Discovery Trail partnership. Plantations is open to the public year-round, free of charge, during daylight hours. The Brian C. Nevin Welcome Center is open Tuesday-Saturday from 11am to 4pm. For more information call 607-255-2400, visit www.cornellplantations.org and find us on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/cornellplantations

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Reminder: Deer hunting season in our area with guns, also known as “regular season” starts Saturday November 17th 2012 and ends December 9th 2012. Deer hunting continues after that with primitive weapons (archery and black powder). See NYS DEC website link below for exact dates on that. Please; whether you hunt, bike, hike or play: wear fluorescent neon colors (like “hunter orange” or “biker neon yellow”) so we can all see each other. The hunters in our area have an excellent safety record … but (for example) it is just as scary for them to think they hear a deer tromping through the woods only to discover it is a naive hiker wearing brown. So; wear neon! Oh and YES! hunting is permitted at Hammond Hill and Shindagin Hollow and generally all similar NYS forests. Deer hunting is not allowed after sunset. Regulations are stricter in areas designated “parks” like Treman or Buttermilk for example. Here is DEC’s web page with hunting dates: http://www.dec.ny.gov/outdoor/28605.html

There is a special deer hunting season closer to Ithaca in January 2013. A lot of people are asking about it. Here is the link again. There is a very detailed map and full details at this link. http://www.dec.ny.gov/outdoor/82382.html

Our new video about the environmental emergency in Cayuga Inlet in Ithaca, NY

As many know by now, the extremely aggressive invasive aquatic weed called hydrilla was found this summer in Cayuga Inlet and the mouth of Cascadilla Creek in Ithaca, NY at the south end of Cayuga Lake. Cayuga is the longest of the eleven Finger Lakes in central New York, and it is connected to other waterways through the canal system.

If not suppressed immediately

and allowed to spread, this rapid-growing pest will ruin Ithaca’s waterfront and all shallow areas of Cayuga Lake, and it could spread to a much larger area beyond.

We have produced a 15-minute video about this alarming problem and what is being done about it, featuring Holly Menninger, Coordinator of the New York Invasive Species Research Institute at Cornell Unniversity. You can see the video from a link on our blog post at http://ithacafingerlakes.com/2011/09/24/environmental-emergency-in-cayuga-inlet/ which includes other information including a map and a link about hydrilla.

Or, you can go directly to the video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NUV5QBD0XwA .

Please share

this information with others.

Thank you,

DRYDEN NY Sept 07 2011 - Neither rain nor flood could stop the people concerned about gas drilling and hungry for answers from showing up at the fire hall in Dryden Wednesday night (Sept 7). They came from Syracuse and Skaneateles, Utica and Cooperstown, and many Tompkins County towns looking for information. The forum they came to participate in, originally organized by the Dryden Safe Energy Coalition (DSEC), was hampered by area flooding when one of their speakers, a representative of Chesapeake Energy, was unable to get to Dryden. The moderator arranged for the event, Dave Veiser of WHCU, was kept busy at the radio station airing flood updates.

However, two other speakers, Bill Kappel of USGS in Ithaca, and James Northrup of Cooperstown, did complete the wet trip to Dryden and arrived on time for the meeting ready to make their presentations. A half hour before the scheduled start of the meeting, with about 45 people already in the hall, Henry Kramer of DSEC announced that he was cancelling the event.

All of the people present, including the speakers, made the request that the meeting go on. After some negotiating, and with the hall filling up with people who drove through flooded streets to hear the message Kappel and Northrup brought, it was agreed to allow the meeting to go forward although the sponsorship of DSEC was withdrawn.

Bill Kappel gave the standing room only audience an excellent understanding of the geology that lies under our feet. He talked not only about the Marcellus shale layer, but also of limestones and sandstones, the Utica and other shales. He gave good clear explanations of the fracturing process and how far the fractures may extend outside of the well bore.

James Northup talked about the very real problems that have occurred in other areas of the US where gas well development is happening, stressing that most of the problems are associated with surface spills and accidents. According to Northup, 80% of the dollar value that comes out of the ground under NY in the form of methane (natural) gas will leave the state as corporate profits and worker pay checks. Without a severance tax in NY, the state gains nothing but the income tax on royalties paid to lease signers. He told of better laws regulating the industry in TX, CO, and NM, among other states. With a Texas-sized sense of humor he brought laughter to an otherwise dark subject.

Stressing that public comments are vital to NYS Department of Environmental Conservation on the just released revised draft of the Supplemental Generic Environmental Impact Statement (rdSGEIS)** that will guide the permitting of hydrofracked gas wells, Northup also focused on home rule ordinances, saying that local road use and land use ordinances are in place out West where gas extraction by use of hydrofracking is common, and that towns in NY should adopt local land use ordinances and support Home Rule.

** Northup and Bill Huston have a guide for responding to the proposed rdSGEIS: http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=2011_SGEIS_Flaws(NY)#Strategies

William Kappel’s background and qualifications:

William (Bill) Kappel has been a hydrologist with the U.S. Geological Survey, New York Water Science Center at Ithaca, NY since 1979. Previous to that time he served as a hydrologist for the U.S. Forest Service for 5 years in the National Forests of Missouri, and the Chequamegon National Forest in northern Wisconsin. His Survey career started with two projects, the National Urban Runoff Program (NURP) in Rochester, NY and the West Valley Nuclear Waste Facility Characterization project at West Valley, NY. These studies were followed by a series of groundwater studies in the Niagara Falls region in the 1990s. At the same time the study of ‘unique’ hydrogeologic phenomena known as mudboils or mud volcanoes began south of Syracuse, NY in the Onondaga Creek Valley. This long-term study also lead to a series of several unusual hydrogeologic studies including landslides in glacial lake clays, land-surface subsidence due to various anthropogenic activities, and the use of ‘forensic’ hydrogeologic techniques to further understand the hydrogeology of these study areas - Carbon-14 age dating, dendrogeomorphology, dendrochronology. Bill has also served as Study Section Chief of the Ithaca office over this time.

James Northup’s background and qualifications:

· General partner in a 1000 acre suburban real estate development. General partner in a 40-acre development in downtown Dallas TX.

· Partner and investor in the acquisition and sale of offshore oil rigs, including the Teledyne fleet and WR Grace fleets, and an investor in oil and gas projects.

· Co-owner of Northrup Energy, which was sold to ARCO Solar, which subsequently became BP Solar, the largest solar energy company in the world.

· Served on the Governor of Texas’s Energy Advisory Council.

· Co-author of one US patent.

· Co-founder of the White Rock Boathouse, Inc., the largest rowing boathouse in the world, the Ursuline (Dallas) Crew and the Jesuit (Dallas) crew.

· Brown University, BA, Southern Methodist University 1973, MBA, Wharton School of Finance, University of Pennsylvania, 1976.

Contact: Marie McRae mmmcrae@juno.com

Dryden Resource Awareness Coalition http://draconline.wordpress.com

More on this topic on the FORUM http://canaaninstitute.org/bikeski/viewforum.php?f=11

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General Trail Use Alert; NYS DEC has finally released the statewide recreational plan for NYS forests: http://www.dec.ny.gov/press/68400.html Recreational user groups should examine the plan for language that affects their uses of state forests and send feedback to NYSDEC. For cyclists: IMBA, a national lobby group that supports sustainable mountain biking has already issued a statement. Cyclists should read the draft plan themselves and send email and snail mail comments to DEC. The plan stipulates: “Mountain bikes are permitted to travel on any existing road or trail on State Forests unless the road or trail is posted as closed for this use.” This is good! However, the plan also continues to say: “Due to environmental concerns and conflicts with other users of the state forests, mountain biking is acceptable only on trails that have been assessed and approved for such use.” This is ambiguous language and problematic for mountain bikers; NYS should remove this passage. FULL STORY MORE LINKS http://canaaninstitute.org/bikeski/viewtopic.php?p=1657#1657

Sept 30 2009 — Today The New York State DEC handed down a landmark draft supplemental environmental impact statement that determines under what conditions gas drilling can proceed in NYS. This ruling will have a monumental impact on every one of us and our region.

Titled: “Supplemental Generic Environmental Impact Statement on the Oil, Gas and Solution Mining Regulatory Program - Well Permit Issuance for Horizontal Drilling and High-Volume Hydraulic Fracturing to Develop the Marcellus Shale and Other Low-Permeability Gas Reservoirs”

This document could have a huge impact on our rural areas and fresh water supply. DEC webpage and link to actual document http://www.dec.ny.gov/energy/47554.html

DETAILS and suggestions for public comment http://canaaninstitute.org/bikeski/viewtopic.php?p=1480#1480