What's Your Nature?
Become a Nature Up North explorer to share your encounters with wild things and wild places in New York's North Country. Post your wildlife sightings, landscape shots, photos from your outings, and even your organization's events!
Just Our Nature Posts
Nature Up North 2020 Calendars for Sale
By Emlyn Crocker on
Blog: Just Our NatureNature Up North calendars are on sale at local businesses through early 2020! These printed calendars feature our favorite photos shared by community members as Encounters on natureupnorth.org in the past year. Calendars also include Nature Notes highlighting seasonal wildlife behavior local to the North Country region.
Proceeds from calendar sales benefit Nature Up North's community…
How to Make Paper with Invasive Plants
By Valeria Maldonado Ortiz on
Blog: Just Our NatureDon’t know what to do with the invasive plants in your backyard? You can make paper!
Making paper may seem like a foreign idea. You probably use paper every day, but likely haven’t made it from scratch. Making paper from materials in your backyard is easier than you think. Learning about invasives plants is also a great way to be an environmental steward. We can also create awareness of…
Saying Goodbye to Summer
By Emlyn Crocker on
Blog: Just Our NatureWhether you're paddling on the Grasse River, visiting one of our countless waterfalls, or picking up fresh veggies at a farmer's market, summer is one of the best times to be in the North Country. This summer, the four college students interning with Nature Up North got to experience that firsthand.
For almost 9 weeks this summer, our team more than quadrupled as Val, Grace, Lydia and Emily…
Cattails: A Tale of Nine Lives
By Paul J. Hetzler on
Blog: Just Our NatureThe two cats at my place have endured life-threatening traumas such as falls, fights, and the compulsory “devotions” of small children. It’s amazing the hazards they can survive. Sadly, my contacts in the veterinary field continue to assert that cats have but a single life, and that the whole nine-lives thing is just a cat tale.
However, the story about cattails having at least nine lives is no…
Wrangling Today, Protecting Tomorrow
By Lydia Dwyer on
Blog: Just Our NatureThe Canadian goose population began to decline in the 1970s due to increased harvesting. However, long-term efforts from our dedicated local Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) are successfully reversing the decline.
In late June each year, the DEC invites community members of all ages to help with the sexing, tagging, and of course, wrangling of Canadian geese at several Wildlife…
A North Country Turtle in Trouble
By Glenn Johnson on
Blog: Just Our NaturePerhaps due to their iconic shells, great longevity, and slow movements, turtles form an assemblage of about 320 species that are instantly recognized and often loved, by nearly everyone. However, according to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, turtles as a group are declining worldwide, faster than nearly every other vertebrate group. Threats include widespread habitat…
Fish Forestry
By Paul J. Hetzler on
Blog: Just Our NatureAs many anglers know, trees and trout are closely related. Not in a family sense, of course. And not like the way in which tomatoes and fish were briefly married in a 1996 experiment at Oakland, California-based DNA Plant Technology in an attempt to get a frost-tolerant tomato (or possibly a saucy fish). If it weren’t for tree cover, cold-water fish species would not survive in most of the…
Nature Up North 2020 Calendar Photo Contest
By Emlyn Crocker on
Blog: Just Our NatureIt's midsummer, and that means it's time for our annual call for submissions for the Nature Up North 2020 Calendar!
Over the years, members of the community have shared thousands of photos, observations, and stories with us online at www.natureupnorth.org/encounters. Each year in September, we select our favorite photos from the previous 12 months to highlight in our annual Nature Up North…
Meet our Summer 2019 Naturalist Interns!
By Emlyn Crocker on
Blog: Just Our NatureNature Up North is pleased to introduce our 4 summer naturalist interns, Emily, Val, Grace and Lydia. We are thrilled to have them working with us this summer to bring more public events, citizen science, and outdoor fun to the North Country community. Read below to learn more about each of them and to hear what they've been getting up to so far!
Photos: Emily Gerber (left), Val Maldonado (right…
Controlling Lily Leaf Beetle – Part I
By Paul Siskind on
Blog: Just Our NatureGardeners throughout the northern United States are likely familiar with the Lily Leaf Beetle (Lilioceris lilii), a non-native invasive insect that can quickly decimate lilies in gardens. However, the beetle also has potential to extirpate populations of native lilies. In North America, native lilies tend to grow in small, low-density populations. Native lilies alone offer the beetle a limited…