Category Archives: Wildlife & Plants

Five Rivers Environmental Education Center

Wildlife & Plants, , ,

When we first moved to the Albany, NY area in 1982 I opened my first office in Delmar, NY because I believed that is where the NY Department of Environmental Conservation was located. It actually took me several months to figure out that the main headquarters of DEC was actually several miles north of Delmar in a large building on Wolf Road, Colonie, NY. However, the State Non-gave and endangered species offices and leadership were located in Delmar at what is now called the Five Rivers Environmental Education Center. Five Rivers is located just a few miles from our home. The DEC staff located at Five Rivers, became some of my closest friends and comrades during my 5 year stint working for the National Audubon Society in the Northeast.

Five Rivers Environmental Education Center is a living museum comprising over 450 acres of fields, forests, and wetlands. Located in the Capital District, the center provides a variety of easily accessible programs and services for individuals, families and organized groups. In recognition of outstanding interpretive programming, the National Park Service has designated Five Rivers a National Environmental Study Area.

There is a visitor center with interactive displays and exhibits, built in June 2017. Before heading out on the trails, a stop in the visitor center to learn about the habitats and wildlife of Five Rivers, our history, and the green features of the new building is a treat.

Over a century ago, much of the vicinity around what is now the Five Rivers was covered by extensive orchards. As the Great Depression took hold, many hard-scrabble farms could no longer make ends meet. In 1933, the New York State Conservation Department purchased two of these farms to develop the Delmar Experimental Game Farm. At the time, populations of upland game birds and waterfowl were in serious decline. The primary mission of the facility was to learn more about the propagation and management of these species.

From 1933-36, the Civilian Conservation Corps Camp S-72 put up buildings, fences and developed access roads throughout the property to prepare the site for game farming. CCC crews also created ponds by damming the Vlomankill, using limestone blocks salvaged from the abandoned Watervliet Lock of the old Erie Canal. In succeeding years, CCC crews created several additional duck-rearing ponds and erected several additional buildings for brooding, hatching and rearing upwards of 100,000 grouse and pheasant chicks per year. Each fall, the upland game birds and waterfowl were released on state lands throughout New York. The Canada geese that nest at Five Rivers today are thought to be descended from birds originally raised here.

In 1941, the Department established a Wildlife Research Center on site to expand on-going pathology studies, as well as to field test innovative theories in wildlife management. Techniques developed on site such as aging deer via dentition, perfecting the cannon-net and modeling wildlife populations via biometrics revolutionized the wildlife management profession nation-wide.

So as to re-direct increasing public interest away from the sensitive conservation research activities on site, in 1948 staff began developing a modest exhibition of caged wildlife in the area adjacent to the main parking lot. The menagerie came to be known far and wide as the Delmar Zoo, and firmly established the site as a vibrant educational institution. Tens of thousands of families and school group visited this remarkable collection annually. In 1970 there was a major reorganization of the Conservation Department, from which the current Department of Environmental Conservation emerged. As a result of this reorganization, priorities of the Department were reoriented and the Game Farm and Zoo were closed.

Because the site had become such an important community asset, a group of concerned citizens organized and successfully convinced the state to transform the abandoned site into an environmental education center. Thereupon, the Department developed a rustic amphitheater, a series of nature trails and refurbished a former sign shop as a Visitor Center. The new facility was opened to the public in June of 1972. It was renamed the Five Rivers Environmental Education Center, a name suggested by SUNY Albany meteorologist Dr. Vincent Schaefer, to denote the five rivers which comprise the watershed within the Center’s service area, namely the Hudson, Mohawk, Hoosic and Sacandaga rivers and the Schoharie Creek.

The Nature of Things – Here and There

Wildlife & Plants, , , , , , , ,

Field Trips – It was another hot and dry week here in Upstate NY. But we did manage to get in a couple of short hikes and a couple of walks down the road and back. Most days in addition to the heat, the humidity has been very high too. We actually went to Hollyhock Hollow Sanctuary on 2 occasions last week, mostly to explore the dry creek bed. My office was at Hollyhock Hollow for 26 years and I don’t recall seeing the creek as dry as it is this year.

 

 

Nature-based Communities – I have fully launched my initiative that I call the Nature-based Communities Initiative, which is a campaign to get people in regions across the country to become more connected with nature and natural resource management. I’m focusing on 3 regions myself, one here in New York, one in Florida and one in Indiana. I’m trying to practice what I preach and then report on my personal efforts in hope that others in various regions around the United States might decide to take on similar actions where they live. Want to learn more CLICK HERE

 

Conservation Landscapes – This initiative is aimed at offering information that I hope is useful for landowner/managers who might care to manage their landscapes with nature and natural resources in mind. This site and blog is essentially a series of fact sheet type posts on various topics that provides information on landscape management for people to consider using where they live, work and play. To see an example: CLICK HERE

 

The Conservation Company – In an effort to keep items out of landfills and to generate money for conservation and environmental education project, I resell items on eBay. Sales have generally been slow, and as I have heard sales has been slow for most people who are resellers. So, I have just been listing, listing, listing, and reducing prices too. CLICK HERE for my latest update on my reselling efforts.

 

Letters from a Foxhole – This project is not directly connected with nature, but it is connected with my dad. I’ve continued to post a series of Letters that Dad wrote home to his sister during his time in the Army during World War 2. If that sounds like something that might interest, you CLICK HERE to see more.

New Year – New Goals!

biodiversity, Communities, Home Landscapes, nature conservation, Neighborhoods, Parks & Sanctuaries, Wildlife & Plants

A belated Happy New Year!

I spent the last month or so of 2021 thinking seriously about what I have been doing over the past few years and have come to the decision that I have not been doing the things that I really want to do. So…I am changing my focus and my direction. What I am actually doing is “re-focusing” on my life-long mission connected with nature conservation and to get more people involved with nature where they live, work, and play. With that, I also believe that we all must truly “Think Global and Act Local.”

So, to “think global” I have created the Natural Communities Campaign. The Ultimate goal is to protect 50% of the Earth by the year 2050 as protected areas and reverse the tremendous downward spiral we are witnessing at present in the loss of biodiversity. To learn more click: Half-Earth.

An interim goal for the Natural Communities Campaign is to support the global effort underway to secure the protection of biologically rich areas of Earth to the tune of 30% of the planet by the year 2030, which is being called the 30X30 Project. Through the Natural Communities Campaign website and blog, I will be providing ongoing information about global biodiversity matters and updates on progress being made regarding the 30X30 project.

To bring the 30X30 global goal down to a national and local level, I have launched an initiative called Conservation Landscapes for America. Through the Conservation Landscapes for America website and blog, I will be providing information about the 30X30 Project in the United States and well as supporting and showcasing government agencies, non-government agencies, and private landowners who are practicing conservation landscape management on the lands and waters that they are responsible for.

 

In addition to the biodiversity-related goals, another main goal is to get more people involved in nature and natural resource management where they live, work, and play. I hope that the information provided on the two websites mentioned above will become a “one-stop-shop” of sorts for information about nature, biodiversity efforts, resources that people can use to start or grow their own nature-based initiatives at home, in their communities, their counties, regions, etc.

Finally, this Nature of Things website and blog will be managed as a “portal” to the two other websites mentioned, but the Nature of Things blog will focus on my personal nature and biodiversity efforts in three local regions in the United States; the Capital Region of New York, the Tampa Bay Region of Florida and the Southwestern Region of Indiana.

Nature in a Cemetery

Wildlife & Plants

On Saturday, June 12, I decided to take a “nature walk” in a different sort of place and at the same time stop by for a “visit” with an old friend. Albany Rural Cemetery in Loudonville, NY, is just under 500 acres and was opened in the early 1800s. Today there are over 135,000 people buried in the cemetery, including one President of the United States, 34 members of Congress, 8 presidential cabinet members, 5 New York State Governors, and 55 mayors of the City of Albany.

My first stop, however, was at the gravesite of Robert and Leona Train Rienow. The Rienows lived for many years on a property called Hollyhock Hollow Farm in Selkirk, New York. Mrs. Rienow passed away just a year or so before we moved to New York State, so I never met her. But, I spent many hours visiting with and talking with Robert Rienow. Upon his passing, he donated the farm to me and the Audubon Society of New York State (ASNYS), and I renamed it Hollyhock Hollow Sanctuary. Upon my retirement from ASNYS, the organization decided that they no longer wanted to be stewards of the sanctuary and have since passed ownership to the Mohawk Hudson Land Conservancy. I spent over 26 years working out of the office at Hollyhock Hollow Sanctuary, and now I believe the sanctuary is in good hands for the long-term future.

The inscription below that is on the side of the Rienow mausoleum sums up nicely the Rienow reverence for nature.

Albany Rural Cemetery is a wonderful place to walk or ride a bike through. The cemetery is full of ancient grave markers that are real works of art. A huge number of stately old trees are scattered throughout. And several lovely streams traverse the property and are bordered by large swathes of forested areas.

Former U.S. President Chester A. Arthur and his family plot is one of the more famous burial locations to be found in the cemetery. By the worn paths up to the monument, his gravesite receives a steady stream of visitors.

Although our walk through the cemetery was a mix of the beauty of nature, quietness, and solitude, I am certain that during the spring and fall migration periods, Albany Rural Cemetery would be full of life with many species of migratory birds. I do believe that I will return and confirm that.

Have you ever strolled through a cemetery as part of a nature walk? As someone interested in family history, I have spent many hours walking in cemeteries. Some people find that a bit odd, but I think it is a great way to show respect for our ancestors while enjoying the sites and sounds of nature.

A Walk in the Woods

Communities, Neighborhoods, Wildlife & Plants

After several days above 90 degrees, it cooled down nicely today. It seemed like a grand day for a walk in the woods. We decided to make a short drive to a local nature preserve that is under the stewardship of the Mohawk Hudson Land Conservancy that is just a couple of miles from your house. The preserve is called the Touhey Family Preserve. The preserve is a 49-acre gem that is a small part of what was once a huge stretch of land that had been in the Touhey family for many years.

As the area around Delmar, NY continues to grow and expand these area preserves will continue to grow in importance. The trails are nice and include a few stretches of boardwalks through more “boggy” parts of the woodlands.

There is a small graveled parking area from which the loop trail begins. There is also a short in and back trail that goes to an adjoining pond for views of ducks and other critters that live in that habitat.

The trails are nearly all through shady forested areas and very easy walking. Some areas are bordered by steep ravines providing birds-eye views of dense undergrowth areas that are great for Wood Thrush and other forest birds.

A few areas of the trail runs through moist areas of the preserve but the Conservancy has installed boardwalks on those sections of the trail to reduce erosion being caused by the hikers that frequent the preserve.

We walked the trail both in a clockwise and counter-clockwise direction so as to turn the half-mile walk into a mile walk. It was a very pleasant short venture into nature and proves once again that you don’t have to search all that far to find some great places to get back to the nature of things.

An early March stroll at Hollyhock Hollow Sanctuary

Wildlife & Plants

The temperature “soared” all the way to 45 degrees today! Believe me, that feels like a Spring day here after the long and cold past several months. There is still snow here and there on the ground and some of the huge piles found in various parking lots look to be there until the 4th of July.

Anyway, today seemed like a great day to go see if any of the Snow Drops (flowers) have begun pushing their way through the cold earth and snow. I did not actually expect to see any…but I was hopeful nonetheless. What do you know! We did find a few hardy little flowers poking through but the flower petals have not opened yet. We will go back in a few days to check on their progress.

A few months ago the present owners of Hollyhock Hollow, the Mohawk Hudson Land Conservancy planted a Redbud tree in memory of my Dad, Bruce Dodson. Since today would have been my Dad’s 96th Birthday we also decided that it would be a good day to check on the tree. It will be several more weeks before we can actually tell if the tree made it through the winter OK and hopefully blooms this year, but as far as we could tell the tree looks nice and health.

While we were walking about we decided to see if the old water well that was part of the orignial homestead the Dr. and Mrs. Robert Rienow owned back when the property was called Hollhock Hollow Farm would still put forth water. I had to pump for awhile to get the pump to pull up some water and the first bit was a bit brown, but it didn’t take long before crystal clear and very cold water came rushing out. I have no idea when the well was put in, but it was a long time ago. Pretty neat to see some old stuff still working I think.

The trails were mostly still snow and ice covered so we didn’t venture far from the road that runs through the sanctuary, but that was enough to get us back out into nature even if it was just a glimpse or two. Theresa ventured out for a short distance on one of the trails that was close to the Onesquethaw Creek, but it was solid ice covered and slick. I decided that I would just stand on the road and take a picture of her trying her best not to take a spill. She didn’t fall, but it was a very careful and slow walk back to the road surface for sure.

With one day of warmer tempatures, the snow is melting quickly, which makes for a rolling Onesquethaw Creek. We love to visit this sanctuary and watch the creek flow over and around the rocks and boulders as the water makes its way to the Hudson River. Although we were only at the sanctuary for about an hour, it was a much needed break from all the cold weather and high winds we have been having. Come on Spring!!!

Happy New Year!

Communities, Neighborhoods, Parks & Sanctuaries, Wildlife & Plants, , , , , , , ,

What a year 2020 has been! I am afraid that at the least the beginning of 2021 is going to be a continuation and quite possibly a bit worse until the virus vaccination is widely distributed. Theresa and I, have essentially isolated ourselves from family and friends since March 2020. However, with quite a bit of planning, we were able to at least enjoy a few family gatherings, while appropriately distanced and/or masked up.

On the other hand, we did not distance ourselves from nature. We spent considerable time hiking on trails of various nature preserves, sanctuaries, and parks. We either “re-discovered” places where we previously hiked or discovered new places that we have failed to visit in the past. So, even if we were not able to participate in many activities that we wanted to…we did have a very enjoyable past several months.

We are making plans for continued hikes in the months ahead too. Many of our “evening hikes” were just down the road where we live…but those walks were almost always memorable too, as we captured many sunset pictures, discovered new plants and animals right here in our own “neighborhood.”

I decided to put together a video that captures some of those special moments with family and in nature, which can be viewed below. These pictures are not in any particular order, but just random snapshots of fun memories during the year 2020. I have not identified within the video where the pictures were taken, but several of those special places include lands that are managed by the Mohawk Hudson Land Conservancy, Albany Pine Bush Commission, West Boggs Park, the City of Albany, NY, Rensselaer Land Trust, Schenectady County, NY, John James Audubon State Park, and several other locations as well.

Anyway…here is wishing you a great 2021 and no matter what… I hope you will get outdoors and discover and enjoy nature. The video below is just under 5 minutes in length…hope you don’t get bored!

 

Hindostan Indiana

Communities, Wildlife & Plants, , , ,

There are several places around the Dodson Family Camp that we try and visit each year that we are in the area. Most of them are places that my Dad and Mom also liked to visit often and when there were living, we all went together each visit to see if everything still looked the same from year to year and to think back about days long gone. It is interesting to think about how important nature was to those frontier people when they were settling America. And back then the “highways” toward progress always were connected with rivers.

One of those places has always been fascinating to me. I have often thought that the story of Hindostan, Indiana could form the foundation for a great novel. I know that there have been many booklets written about the place, but as far as I know, there has never been an actual novel about the place or the people who lived there.

Hindostan was founded at the falls of the East Fork of the White River in 1816. The settlement sat along the original stagecoach route between New Albany and Vincennes and was one of the only roads in the new state of Indiana, which had been a territory until 1816. By 1820, it was the largest community in what was then still Daviess County and the most promising town on the White River. The town was named “Hindostan” by a soldier, Captain Caleb Fellows, an English immigrant who had served with the British East India Company in India before he came to the United States and invested in land along the still raw Indiana frontier.

When Hindostan was “booming” there was a large mill located directly on a rock outcropping in the river. And when the water is low one can still see where the posts that supported the mill were located. Over the years this stretch of the river has always been a popular fishing spot too.

However, by 1820, about 1,200 people lived in the new town, making it one of the largest settlements in frontier Indiana. Many lived on houseboats on the White River. The surge of the population toward new land on the Indiana and Illinois frontiers, as well as Hindostan’s location along the stagecoach route, meant that it was constantly open to carriers of the disease. The disease eventually destroyed the town.

An epidemic of yellow fever or cholera broke out in Hindostan in 1820. Water- and insect-borne illnesses were the bane of many towns on the Midwestern frontier. Situated along rivers for the purpose of easy transportation, towns were often built on flood plains that bred insects in huge numbers. The ferocity of the epidemic that struck Hindostan, however, caused the population to succumb to disease or abandon the area. By 1824, less than half the population remained in Hindostan, though many seem to have stayed in the county.

An economic depression around 1820 worked alongside the epidemic to drive people away. Some families who had bought land on credit defaulted and fled the area. Hindostan may have lost as many residents to the economic depression as to sickness. Residents who remained were unable to pay their taxes and county and local creditors foreclosed on their property.

According to rumor, a county tax collector had several thousand dollars of revenue in his possession when he fell ill during the epidemic. He was thought to have buried the money (gold and silver coins) in an iron pot for safekeeping until the illness passed. When he died, the money’s location was lost forever.

Faced with the gradual desertion of the town, the post office, which was established in 1819, was discontinued on December 29, 1830. The site of the prosperous town eventually became farmland.

In 1828, the county seat was relocated to Mt. Pleasant, several miles away. The townsite was then abandoned by most of its residents in 1853 for a nearby site, now called Loogootee, four miles from Hindostan. The county seat, however, was moved to Trinity Springs, a health spa, then to Shoals in 1871. Shoals today has a population of around 800 which puts it at about 400 people less than Hindostan before it vanished.

Fishing near Hindostan Falls has always been a popular pastime. And the State of Indiana has created a boat launch above the falls so that boaters and people who enjoy fishing can easily access the water.

 

 

I think the video below that someone did a few years back gives a pretty good overview of Hindostan Falls and the general area around the falls today.

 

 

 

Back Home Again in Indiana

Wildlife & Plants

Sunset over Boggs Lake at the Dock

Since we (along with most everyone else) have been “holed up” due to the ongoing pandemic, we have been visiting local parks and preserves and trying to keep our distance from everyone. So, I have been saving pictures that I have taken in dated file folders with the plan of making a series of blog posts about the places we have visited and things we have done over the past several months. As the weather turns colder our walking and hiking will be somewhat more of a challenge over the winter months. So, now seems like a good time to get started.

My first series of posts are going to focus on the one long-distance trip that we took this

Jude, Brody, Theresa, Jody, Eric, and Ron chowing down

year to southern Indiana back in August. Our son and daughter-in-law Eric and Jody, Jude, and Brody (2 of our 4 grandkids) decided that they needed to escape Florida for a while and decided to drive to the Dodson Family Camp that is located at the border of Daviess and Martin County Indiana. We had just about decided earlier in the year that this might be the first year that we did not make the long drive to Indiana for what has been our annual trip back home again to Indiana. But we had not seen Eric, Jody, Jude, and Brody for a long time, and this made us really want to go. We had a wonderful time visiting with them and then Theresa and I stayed for another couple of weeks.

So…we made Eric and family essentially “quarantine” for a couple of weeks in Indiana before we drove down for our trip. We all stayed at the camp and had an awesome visit and lots of fun. It has been many weeks since this trip and no bad news on the virus front came from it.

Since this blog is mostly about nature I have included some nature pictures, but mostly “family having fun” pictures while enjoying nature too. Just a bit of background, the Dodson Family Camp borders land that is owned by the West Boggs Park, which is a “bi-county” park located in both Daviess and Martin Counties. The centerpiece of the park is Boggs Lake, which is a

Out boating on Boggs Lake

620-acre lake (along with 400 acres of land and related activities) that was created for flood control measures back in the 1970s. My parents owned the camp for many years and when they both passed,  I inherited the camp. Since then I have deeded the camp to the entire family as a Family Camp. Our 3 boys had loads of fun here with their grandparents and now our hope is that the next generation will also make some memories here. Theresa and I and our 3 boys were all born in the Indiana/Kentucky region. I was born and raised in Daviess County (Washington, Indiana specifically), Theresa was born and raised in Evansville, Indiana as well as our oldest son Kelly. Eric and Travis were born in Kentucky when we were living in Henderson, Kentucky. We moved to the Albany, NY area in 1982 so now we live around 900 miles away from the Dodson Family Camp.

Homemade Persimmon pudding courtesy of the neighbor

Anyway, there is a small woodlot between our camp and Boggs Lake and our next-door neighbors, who live there all year long are nature and outdoor-oriented people and they take care of the birds, trees, and flowers of both of our places and they also “babysit” our camp when we are not there (which is most of the time) including opening up for us when we plan a visit and close it up at the end of the season. We are lucky to have some great neighbors!

So, this first of a series of Indian posts is focused mostly on our Camp and some views of nature and fun between our cabin and the lake. Future posts will be about some of the field trips that we took while based at the Camp but venturing into the area around our “home grounds.” I hope you enjoy it.

Till next time, be safe and all the best,

Ron

 

Ruby-throated hummingbirds are common sites at the camp

Jude lands a whopper

 

My favorite view from the porch swing

 

The camp homesite

 

Eric hauls in a bass

Making Smores

 

The Albany Pine Bush

Parks & Sanctuaries, Wildlife & Plants, , , , ,

We moved to Albany County, New York in the autumn of 1982. I hate to admit that it has taken us 38 years to discover the Albany Pine Bush. Discover might be a bit harsh because we knew it was there and had attended numerous meetings in the Pine Bush Discovery Center over the years. We had even taken a couple of short walks in the preserve and one year attended the springtime Lupine Festival held at the Discovery Center.

But it was this year that we really started to explore the Pine Bush. We do not live that far from the Pine Bush Discovery Center and decided to begin our exploration at that location. Since then we have discovered that the Pine Bush Preserve includes over 3,200 acres of land, 20 miles of hiking trails that are organized around 12 different trailhead locations spread across the preserve in various “units.”

So far this summer we have visited 8 of the 12 trailhead locations and hiked on numerous trails and trail sections. Future posts in this blog will highlight each of the trailheads and trails that we visit.

The Albany Pine Bush is referred to locally as the Pine Bush and is one of the largest of the remaining 20 inland pine barrens in the world. It is centrally located in New York’s Capital District within Albany and Schenectady counties, between the cities of Albany and Schenectady. The Albany Pine Bush was formed thousands of years ago, following the drainage of Glacial Lake Albany.

The Albany Pine Bush is the sole remaining undeveloped portion of pine barrens that once covered over 40 square miles and is considered one of the best remaining examples of an inland pine barrens ecosystem in the world. By 2008 it included all parcels of the Albany Pine Bush Preserve (a state nature preserve spanning 3,200 acres, the properties that connect these protected parcels, and some of the surrounding areas that abut the preserve. The 135-acre Woodlawn Preserve and surrounding areas in Schenectady County are the western sections of the Pine Bush but separated geographically by other properties in the Albany Pine Bush Preserve in Albany County.

Historically regarded as a barren, desolate, and dangerous to cross, the Pine Bush has come to be known as a historical, cultural, and environmental asset to the Capital District and Hudson Valley regions of New York. It is home to the Karner blue butterfly, an endangered species first identified by author Vladimir Nabokov in 1944 using a type specimen from the Pine Bush. In 2014, Albany Pine Bush was designated as a National Natural Landmark by the National Park Service.

The Pine Bush is governed by the Pine Bush Commission and supported by several agencies. See who the Commission Board Members are by CLICKING HERE

Although it has taken us nearly 40 years to really discover the Albany Pine Bush, we are now making up for lost time. We are indeed lucky to live close to this special natural feature.