A project of St. Lawrence University
A project of St. Lawrence University
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 you organization's events!
Nature Up North program blog
Nature Up North is proud to be working with the Weave News, North Country Public Radio, and The Hill News to sponsor the first annual St. Lawrence Citizen Journalism Incubator (SLCJI).
Haw berries. Photo: FreeUsePhotos, Flickr Creative Commons.
My earliest memory of St. Patrick’s Day is how angry it made my mother, who holds dual Irish-American citizenship and strongly identifies with her Celtic roots. It was not the day itself which got her Irish up, so to speak, but rather the way it was depicted in popular American culture: Green-beer drink specials at the bars and St. Patrick’s Day sales in every store, all endorsed by grinning, green-clad, marginally sober leprechauns.
Here's an example of three maple trees of similar ages, yet very different health statuses.
Planting a tree isn’t rocket science, which is good thing. If it were that complex, I’d wager we’d have a lot fewer trees lining our streets. It may not take a scientist to plant a tree correctly, but a lot of money is spent each year to buy and plant trees which may as well be leased, because they will only live a fraction of their expected lifespan.
Seems like competitiveness may be part of human DNA, but it does not always pay to be first.
No prize awaits the fastest car that passes a radar patrol, or the first person to come down with the flu at the office. And for trees, the first ones to turn color in autumn are not envied by their peers. If trees experience envy, which no one knows. The first trees to show orange and red and drop their leaves are telling us to get quotes from a tree-removal company, because they are not going to last.
The Grasse River near Taylor Park, June 2018. Photo: Jess LaMay.
Are you younger than 96 years old? Did you spend your summer here in the North Country? If you answered yes to both, then you just experienced the hottest summer on record (1922-present)! Yes, the summer of 2018 was a hot one.
The distinctive leaves of ash are compound with 5-7 leaflets. Photo: Maya Williams
Emerald Ash Borer is an invasive beetle that has killed tens of millions of ash trees since its discovery in Michigan in 2002. EAB reached St. Lawrence County in 2017. If you have ash trees on your property, it is important to plan for EAB.
A sentinel tree at Bend in the River Park in Canton. Photo: Jess LaMay
Compound ash leaves are composed of 5-7 leaflets.
Adult emerald ash borer beetles are roughly half the length of a U.S. penny. Photo: USDA, Flickr Creative Commons.
You look out your window on a mid-summer day: the sun filters through the full, bright green leaves on the big ash tree in your yard, making patterns that dance across your floor. You hear birds sing too; a pair of robins is nesting again in one of the upper branches. It’s a pretty picture, until you learn that emerald ash borer larvae (Agrilus planipennis) are slowly destroying this tree, eating away the layer just under the bark. Fast forward a few years, and the tree will be at risk of falling on your home or electric wires, and no birds will be nesting in its branches.
Yellow DEC signs like this one at Heritage Park in Canton ask concerned citizens to report any signs of emerald ash borers to local authorities.
New York State has over 900 million ash trees. They line our streets, they shade our parks, and they’re in our yards. What would happen if those 900 million ash trees, 7% of all the trees in the state, died in only a few years?
Featured photo for the month of July, 2018 Calendar
Featured Photos for the 2018 Calendar
Calling all North Country nature photographers!
Have you dusted off your camera yet this season? Well now's the time, because Nature Up North is once again hosting our annual calendar contest for nature photos that will be featured in our 2019 wall calendar.
