Anxiously awaiting more snow, in this taunting winter of 2018, I recently skied the only place I could, across the big wetland at Hemlock Rock Wildlife Sanctuary, then Microspiked up Adirondack Land Trust’s part of Coon Mountain. I was on protected land throughout this ramble in … [Read more...] about Whither Tracks in the Snow?
John Davis, Wildways Trekker
In 2011, John Davis completed TrekEast, a 7,600-mile muscle-powered exploration of wilder parts of the eastern United States and southeastern Canada—sponsored by Wildlands Network and following lines suggested in Dave Foreman’s book Rewilding North America—to promote restoration and protection of an Eastern Wildway. In 2012, John wrote an e-book series about that adventure, Big, Wild, and Connected
John Davis serves on boards of RESTORE: The North Woods, Eddy Foundation, Wild Farm Alliance, Champlain Area Trails, and Cougar Rewilding Foundation. John served as editor of Wild Earth journal from 1991-96, when he went to work for the Foundation for Deep Ecology, overseeing their Biodiversity and Wildness grants program from 1997-2002. He then joined the Eddy Foundation as a board member and continues to serve as volunteer land steward for that foundation in its work to conserve lands in Split Rock Wildway. This wildlife corridor links New York’s Champlain Valley with the Adirondack High Peaks via the West Champlain Hills. John served as conservation director of the Adirondack Council from 2005 to 2010. He is now the Executive Director of The Rewilding Institute,
About John Davis
John Davis is a wildways scout, editor, and writer. He lives with his family in Split Rock Wildway, where he care-takes Hemlock Rock Wildlife Sanctuary when not roaming farther afield. He is a volunteer land steward for Eddy Foundation, which has secured and opened to the public about 3,000 acres in the eastern Adirondacks; a board member of Champlain Area Trails and other outdoor/wildlife organizations; a co-founder of Wildlands Network; and is the Executive Director of The Rewilding Institute. He is the editor of many conservation publications and author of Big, Wild, and Connected: Scouting an Eastern Wildway from Florida to Quebec—about his 7,600-mile traverse of the proposed Eastern Wildway in 2011. His 5,000-mile traverse of the Rocky Mountains from Sonora, Mexico, to British Columbia, Canada, is featured in the film Born to Rewild. His second book, Split Rock Wildway: Scouting the Adirondack Park’s Most Diverse Wildlife Corridor is a rambling look at some of the charismatic and enigmatic wildlife thriving in the wooded hills and adjacent waterways linking Lake Champlain with the High Peaks.
Finding Original Forest
New York’s great Adirondack Park is the East’s biggest stronghold for original forest. However we define and name it — primeval, primary, ancient, old growth, and first growth being other overlapping or synonymous descriptors — natural, uncut forest is easier to find in the … [Read more...] about Finding Original Forest
Split Rock Wildlife Sightings: Black Bear, Bobcat, & Coyote!
Our latest batch of photos from Beaver Brook land, protected by Eddy Foundation and Northeast Wilderness Trust, with a proposed CATS trail through, includes these nice ones of Bobcat, Black Bear, and Coyote, as well as Turkeys, Raccoons, squirrels, and deer. Success of wildlife … [Read more...] about Split Rock Wildlife Sightings: Black Bear, Bobcat, & Coyote!
Sturgeon: Unsung Champs of Lake Champlain
Locals around Lake Champlain know well and joke often about the stories of Champ, a mythical monster of our deep blue lake. Along with a bevy of fanciful explanations for Champ sightings (cousin to Scotland’s Loch Ness Monster, among the most imaginative!), one wild possibility … [Read more...] about Sturgeon: Unsung Champs of Lake Champlain
BATS: Our Flying Mammal Neighbors
Last blog we told you the grim news of white-nose syndrome, caused by an alien fungus, and how it is decimating bat populations in the Adirondacks and across much of the East and Midwest. Here we’ll say a little more about what this means for New York’s Adirondack Park. What … [Read more...] about BATS: Our Flying Mammal Neighbors