This is an attempt to get familiar with blogging to the Adirondack blog. If I expect you to do it, I should be able to deal with the technology and submit something myself. So far, so good.
One of the things that will keep you current on "Adirondackiana" is an online subscription to the Adirondack Almanack; go to the link and you can click on "email" in order to subscribe. The Almanack provides daily articles and links about a wide variety of issues, events and opinions broadly connected with the Adirondacks. Many well-known authors contribute regularly to the Almanack. Below I've discussed a recent issue that has cropped up, and I was first alerted to the situation through the Almanack. This news source can provide you with a wide variety of ideas about wildlife, ecology, climate, politics and economics that you can use for blog topics and for your final poster presentation.
Another source of news is the Adirondack Explorer which is the parent organization of the Almanack. Here you can find links to the latest news about the Park via links to public sources.
The Albany Times Union recently reported on a scheme to store some 300 obsolete railroad tank cars on a railroad spur owned by Iowa Pacific Holdings (IPH). This spur, which, according to the map of Essex County, runs along the Boreas River into the Adirondack Forest Preserve, as well as along the Hudson from North Creek to where the Boreas empties into the Hudson. The track apparently ends at the X on the map below. It was originally built to haul out iron and iron ore from a mine near Newcomb.
According to the article, the thirteen miles of the track in Essex county, mostly along the Boreas river, is owned by the Saratoga and North Creek Railroad, which would presumably receive some income for storing the tank cars. This thirteen mile stretch passes through the Forest Preserve, public land that is protected
The reason for storing these cars is that they no longer meet safety specifications instituted by both U.S. and Canada. The plan is to store them until they can be retrofitted or destroyed. As far as anyone knows there is no limitation to how long the cars will be stored. Nor is there any guarantee that they will ever be removed from this storage spot.
Storing these cars in the Forest Preserve is a bad idea. It violates principles set down in the NY State Constitution in 1894. Even though the railroad right of way may be private property, it's a slender intrusion into one of the most pristine areas within the Forest Preserve. Better to simply tear up the tracks.
