For Immediate Release: April 19, 2005
Contact:
Andy J. Flynn | Public Relations | Adirondack Park Agency
contact@apa.ny.gov | (518) 327-3000
Adirondack Park Agency celebrates Earth Day 2005 by recognizing volunteers at its Paul Smiths and Newcomb VICs
PAUL SMITHS, NY – It’s routine. People disconnecting from their hectic schedules to explore the natural world in Paul Smiths and Newcomb, N.Y., forgetting their worries for the moment in the wild, Adirondack Mountains. As the fresh air soaks into their skin, it doesn’t take long for them to realize that they can experience Earth Day year round at the New York State Adirondack Park Agency (APA) Visitor Interpretive Centers (VICs).
It happens when a 12-year-old girl discovers a monarch butterfly emerging from its chrysalis in the Native Species Butterfly House. It happens when a 60-year-old man sees his first black-backed woodpecker on a summer trail walk on the Boreal Life Trail. It happens when third-grade students strap on snowshoes and see their first red fox and white-tailed deer tracks in the snow. And it happens when families see eastern bluebirds settle down in the nextboxes they built for the Route 86 Bluebird Trail.
In all of these cases, volunteers from around the North Country are there, helping residents and visitors enjoy the Adirondack Park’s rich history, natural resources and recreational opportunities. The volunteer corps, totaling more than 50 for both facilities, is essential to communicating the message of environmental education at the VICs.
Park Agency Chairman Ross Whaley said, "Through our many diverse programs our volunteers enhance awareness about the unique natural resources here in the Adirondack Park. The learning atmosphere is fun, family oriented and extremely informative. On Earth Day it is most appropriate to honor these dedicated stewards and the important work they do for all of us."
The Agency is celebrating the hard work and dedication of VIC volunteers for Earth Day 2005 -- Friday, April 22 -- by placing a poster in their honor in the Agency’s boardroom in Ray Brook. This thank-you gesture symbolizes the contributions of volunteers for the past 16 years at these two environmental education and traveler orientation centers.
“The Adirondack Park Agency is pleased to recognize the hard work of the volunteers who bring a wide variety of expertise and life experience to the programs offered at our facilities,” said Agency Executive Director Daniel T. Fitts. “Working with our dedicated staff, every day is Earth Day at our VICs.”
Several of the current volunteers were there at the beginning, in May 1989, when the Paul Smiths VIC opened its doors to the public: Judy Cameron, of Upper St. Regis Lake; Jack Hinman, of Malone; Ruth Kuhfahl, of Keene Valley; Hilda Lewis, of Saranac Inn; and Mary Lyle, of Tupper Lake. These volunteers were honored in 2004 for their 15 years of service. In 1990, the same commitment began when the Newcomb VIC opened its doors.
“With a super crew of more than 40 volunteers working at Paul Smiths VIC, we anticipate many more years of generous service given by these friends,” said VIC Volunteer Services Coordinator Brian McAllister. “Yet there is always room for more volunteers.”
In 2004, 2,633 volunteer hours were donated at Paul Smiths, and 554 at Newcomb. Volunteers work with school groups, educate visitors in the Butterfly House, lead trail walks, help visitors find travel information at the front desks, manage the Paul Smiths VIC’s Edmund E. Lynch Environmental Education Resource Library, work at the special events, and complete various special projects with the staff.
VIC volunteers continue their own environmental education through the many naturalist-led walks and rambles that are given by the professional staff at the VICs. In fact, many of the Paul Smiths VIC volunteers have completed interpretive training with VIC staff members and are now Certified Interpretive Guides through the National Association for Interpretation.
Volunteers Amy and Steve Freiman, of Newcomb, have worked at the Newcomb VIC for the past six years, helping out with special events and school programs, and their main focus of involvement continues to be the Bird-of-Prey Program. They have donated many hours presenting programs, constructing bird cages, trimming beaks and talons, building jesses, and making “cage calls” to help with medical concerns. Amy Freiman is a wildlife rehabilitator and the former director of the Sweet Briar Nature Center in Smithtown. Steve Freiman is a retired elementary school teacher.
“We couldn’t offer the same high quality of service to the public without our volunteers,” McAllister said. “As a state facility, it is vital that we have these partnerships with dedicated and community-minded individuals. We are eternally grateful for their hard work.”
EARTH DAY, EVERY DAY
Visitors and residents are continually surprised to see a government agency give them the opportunity to participate in free/low-cost programs and explore a number of well-maintained scenic trails at two Adirondack nature centers, year round with no admission fee.
Yet, that’s exactly what the Adirondack Park Agency has been giving the general public for the past 16 years. The VICs are charged with interpreting the land and wildlife of the Adirondack Park, and staff educators hope that people will walk away with a deeper appreciation of the almost 6 million acres of land the Adirondack Park Agency is responsible for protecting. The VIC mission: “to enhance public awareness of the Park’s resources and the Agency’s role in their protection.” The Agency mission: “to protect the public and private resources of the Park through the exercise of the powers and duties of the Agency as provided by law.”
It’s all about the earth. The Agency was created a year after the first Earth Day in 1970, which celebrates its 35th anniversary this Friday, and opened the Paul Smiths VIC in May 1989 and the Newcomb VIC in October 1990. Through environmental education, the VIC staff and volunteers are continually part of the worldwide movement to protect the planet’s natural resources.
“All the programs we do have some kind of environmental message about the Park,” said VIC Environmental Educator 2 Milt Adams.
Workshops and trail walks are held almost every weekend throughout the year, and even more programs are offered for the traveling public during the summer. The Native Species Butterfly House in Paul Smiths is open from mid-June to Labor Day every year. When it was constructed in 1993, it was the first one in the United States. Both VICs offer bird-of-prey programs, featuring non-releasable education birds, such as an eastern screech owl, a northern saw-whet owl, great-horned owls, red-tailed hawks and an American kestrel. Interpretive trail walks and canoe paddles are held several times a week in July and August, and a live raptor program is held daily in the summer at the Paul Smiths VIC.
The VICs also host several special events throughout the year, including the Chilly Ski Festival, the Chilly Snowshoe Festival, the Adirondack Birding Celebration, the Adirondack Wildlife Festival and the Adirondack Raptor Celebration. Summer lectures in Newcomb and Paul Smiths usually feature environmental and wildlife topics of interest.
“One only needs to walk on one of the VIC trails to be reminded of why the Adirondack Park is worth protecting,” said Executive Director Fitts.
Both VICs offer miles of scenic, bark-surfaced trails with bridges, boardwalks and overlooks that give visitors many opportunities to view Adirondack flora and fauna and take postcard-quality pictures. Interpretive leaflets help people learn about most of the natural communities found in the Adirondack ecosystem: boreal forest, marsh, peatland, hardwood forest, mixed hardwood/coniferous forest, lake, pond and coniferous wetland.
The Paul Smiths VIC is located on a 2,885-acre preserve and features 6 miles of interpretive trails and about 8 miles of backcountry trails, including the 4.1-mile (one way) hike to the top of Jenkins Mountain. The Newcomb VIC is located on a 236-acre preserve and features 2.5 miles of interpretive trails along the shores of the majestic Rich Lake.
The Paul Smiths and Newcomb VICs are both designated New York State Wildlife Viewing destinations. The Paul Smiths VIC offers endless opportunities for the public to see animals, including bald eagles, common loons, black bears, white-tailed deer, hawks, snapping turtles, river otters and great blue herons. People may see the following species, and much more, at the Newcomb VIC: common loons, red fox, hawks, mink and the occasional moose.
The Paul Smiths and Newcomb VICs are open year-round from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily except Christmas and Thanksgiving. Admission is free. The centers are supported by their not-for-profit friends group, the Newcomb-based Adirondack Park Institute, which funds curricula, special events, publications and environmental education programs at both facilities.
The Paul Smiths VIC is located 12 miles north of Saranac Lake on Route 30. The Newcomb VIC is located 12 miles east of Long Lake on Route 28N. For more information about the VICs, call Paul Smiths at (518) 327-3000 or Newcomb at (518) 582-2000, or log on to the centers’ Web site at www.northnet.org/adirondackvic.
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SIDEBAR - Earth Day events
There are two Earth Day events at the Newcomb VIC this year. On April 21, VIC staff and volunteers will be helping with the Scenic Hudson’s Great River Sweep 2005. Starting at 10 a.m., they will be cleaning up along the VIC property shorelines, as well as the VIC driveway, parking lots and trails. On April 23, the facility will be hosting the “Family: Trash Monsters” program from 1 to 3 p.m. The public is invited to make “monsters” out of recyclable material. For more information, call (518) 582-2000.
The Paul Smiths VIC held an Acid Rain Monitoring Program on April 16 and will co-sponsor a Fish Hatchery Tour from 1 to 2 p.m. on April 23. Ed Grant, of the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, will host a visit to the Lake Clear Fish Hatchery. This free program will begin at the fish hatchery. Call the Paul Smiths VIC at (518) 327-3000 for directions.