Contrary to what many people in other states think, New York State is not totally covered with cities and suburbs. In fact, New York is one of the most heavily forested states in the country. Nearly 62% of the state, about 18.6 million acres, is now forested. This is quite an improvement over the 19th… Continue reading The Underappreciated State Forests of New York
Category: John’s Blog
The Abundant Trout Waters of Western New York
Spring is fast approaching, and to many people that means the start of trout fishing. Recently instituted fishing regulations now allow for trout fishing year-round (October 16 to March 31, catch and release only, artificial lures only), but to many anglers, April 1 will always be the “opener.” Western New York is blessed with an… Continue reading The Abundant Trout Waters of Western New York
Honey Locusts Thorns – Relics of the Past
In nature, evolution occurs continually within each species, but the rate of evolutionary change depends on numerous variables. In species with extremely fast reproductive rates (e.g., bacteria, which can divide several times per hour) and high (but not too high) selective pressures such as a high level of predation, the rate of evolutionary change in… Continue reading Honey Locusts Thorns – Relics of the Past
The Unseen Invasion
When I was in my teens, I would get up early on relatively warm and rainy days in March and collect scores of worms, which were plentiful along sidewalks and, if it had rained hard the night before, in the street. I then placed them in containers filled with mulch and leaves I’d buried in… Continue reading The Unseen Invasion
The Amazing Solution to a Thousand-Year-Old Mystery
Spring is fast approaching, and with its arrival come many seasonal visitors to New York: Birds migrating from Central and South America arrive in vast numbers to breed and raise their chicks. They make the long journey because the days in the northern latitudes are becoming seasonally longer than in the tropics and there is… Continue reading The Amazing Solution to a Thousand-Year-Old Mystery
Welcome
After 10 long years of work (2013-2023), including driving over nearly 48,000 miles to investigate natural resource areas and taking over 40,000 photographs to document the work, our new website, Explore Wild New York!, is nearly ready to launch! Go to our login page at www.explorewildnewyork.com and add your email address to our waiting list.… Continue reading Welcome