Tug Hill-Lewis County

(10/11/11) We continue our series, the Adirondack Attic, with Andy Flynn. You may know Andy from his series of "Adirondack Attic" books on local history. He uses the objects people make, use and leave behind to tell stories about the life and times of the region. NCPR is collaborating with Andy and his sources at the Adirondack Museum and other historical associations and museums in the region to bring these stories to air. Today, a watercolor painting by a Lowville painter from the late 19th century that celebrates fly-fishing.

(09/15/11) NCPR is media sponsor for Saturday's 7th annual Lowville Cream Cheese Festival in downtown Lowville. The event celebrates Lowville's distinction as home of the world's largest cream cheese manufacturing plant. Todd Moe spoke with Eric Virkler, Director of Economic Development and Planning for Lewis County, who says the event includes music, art, contests and lots of cheese cake.

(08/23/11) The Adirondack woodsman is a North Country archetype - brawny, independent, deeply versed in the ways of the North Woods. There are still loggers working in the forests of the Adirondacks and Tug Hill Plateau, though most are aided by chain saws and huge machinery today.

At Paul Smiths College, a summer school program is keeping the skills and ethos of the Adirondack woodsman alive. David Sommerstein reports. more

(08/10/11) The Associated Press reports state police are investigating damage to Verizon equipment that disrupted 911 emergency calls in parts of Herkimer and Onieda counties yesterday. An Oneida County dispatcher says service is up and running this morning.

Damage to a Verizon optic circuit box also knocked out landline and cell service to northern Oneida County. Lewis County Sheriff Mike Talbot told the AP some calls to his office were disrupted, but the 911 system was OK.

Verizon Communications workers were still on the picket lines across the North Country Tuesday. Local members of Communications Workers of America Local 1118 in Saranac Lake, Potsdam, Malone, Ogdesnsburg and Plattsburgh joined 45,000 other Verizon workers in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic who've been on strike since contract talks stalled on Sunday.

Chris Knight talked with a small group of Verizon field technicians who were picketing outside the company's Church Street office in Saranac Lake. more

(07/27/11) State environment officials won't remove stop logs from the village of Croghan's historic dam - at least for now. As David Sommerstein reports, the delay comes as Croghan won a $100,000 grant to begin rebuilding the dam. more

(07/26/11) Wind power projects have been controversial in the North Country ever since the Maple Ridge Wind Farm started turning in Lewis County more than five years ago. One of the big questions remains: how do wind turbines affect the local economy?

Now a team of researchers at Clarkson University has some answers. Assistant professor Martin Heintzelman and PhD student Carrie Tuttle found that wind projects can depress property values by as much as 17-percent. But, they can also have a positive effect on real estate.

The researchers collected information about 10,000 property sales in three counties, including Lewis, between the years 2001 and 2009. They mapped the sales of these properties. They mapped all the wind turbines. And they considered every factor they could think of that might be a variable in the sales price: the size of the property, the house, whether it's in a village, what was happening with the general real estate market. Professor Heintzelman spoke with Julie Grant about what they found. more

(07/25/11) Whether it's from a float plane, a little two-seater, or even one of those little commercial jets, the aerial view of the North Country is unforgettable. You can see the whole topography of the Adirondack range, topped by the high peaks. There are vast skeins of wetlands, rivers, lakes and ponds, and villages stitched together with ribbons of roadways.

The network of airstrips across northern New York is less obvious, but there are just enough to host a community of private planes and their pilots. The airfield in Boonville is typical of the smallest private airfields. It's really just that: a flat, well-mowed grassy field. But it does have its own gas pump. Here's today's Heard Up North. more

(07/22/11) Yesterday, we heard about a not-for-profit called LightHawk, which offers environmental groups private flights to help them give an aerial perspective to their "green" issues.

Today we focus on one group using that service to fight for its survival - the Tug Hill Commission. The Commission isn't exactly an environmental group. It's a state agency, and it's facing elimination in Governor Andrew Cuomo's effort to streamline government.

But the communities of the Tug Hill Plateau see the Commission as indispensable to balancing the economy and the environment in a "working forest". And more than that, they see the Commission as a potential model for other state agencies.

David Sommerstein was invited for a flight recently and has this story. more

(07/21/11) Environmental issues can be tough to convey to the public and to policymakers because they're landscape-scale. Flying high above, say, a forest, a factory, or a wetlands complex can give better perspective.

But few environmental groups can afford to pay for private flights. For 30 years, the not-for-profit Lighthawk has been bringing together volunteer pilots and environmental causes. David Sommerstein has this profile of the organization. more

(07/20/11) The Department of Environmental Conservation will remove stop logs from the historic dam in Croghan tomorrow morning. That's according to former Croghan mayor Glen Gagnier, who says he received a call from the DEC. It's been known for decades that the dam on the Beaver River in Lewis County is crumbling. The DEC classifies it as a high hazard.

But the dam holds back a reservoir that's used for recreation and firefighting. Removing the logs will lower the water level several feet. The water also powers one of the few remaining mechanically powered sawmills, the Croghan Island Mill.

The community has applied for a grant to rehabilitate the dam and install new hydropower. DEC officials say removing the stop logs will not interfere with that process, but will make the dam safer.