Hydro project nixed

By Patricia Breakey
Delhi News Bureau
link to article is here: http://www.thedailystar.com/local/local_story_125041544.html

The Delaware County Electric Cooperative is ending its proposed hydroelectric energy project at four reservoirs, citing insurmountable obstacles presented by New York City.

The proposed Western Catskills Hydro Project was introduced in May 2008 by the DCEC in its application to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission for a permit. The Cooperative would have utilized water released by the city from area reservoirs.

DCEC proposed building projects at the Cannonsville, Pepacton, Schoharie and Neversink reservoirs.

The group was hoping to use water spilling from the reservoirs to generate enough electricity to power 15,000 typical homes.

DCEC is a nonprofit electricity cooperative that serves 5,100 members in 21 towns in Delaware, Otsego, Schoharie and Otsego counties using 800 miles of lines.

"This is a very unfortunate situation," Greg Starheim, DCEC chief executive officer, said in a media release. "We understand and were willing to agree to terms the city proposed that would ensure protection of their water-supply interests, but despite complying with their requests, they still fought us on it."

Mercedes Padilla, DEC spokeswoman said, "We remain interested in working with the Delaware County Electric Cooperative. We believe that there is a path to allowing for hydroelectric development at the NYC reservoirs in the Catskills that would be mutually beneficial to New York City and DCEC; however, if DCEC has made a business decision to no longer pursue discussions, then we will respect their decision."

The city Department of Environmental Protection submitted a competing application for the project in November. The DEP is the New York City agency that oversees city-owned reservoirs.

FERC awarded the city the permit in March while denying the DCEC's application, citing preference to municipal applicants.

DCED appealed the FERC decision in April, but the DEP protested the appeal.

"We understood the city was interested in DCEC developing the project for the benefit of watershed communities as long as their water-supply interests were protected," Frank Winkler, DCEC president, said in the release. "Unfortunately, their actions were inconsistent with our discussions."

The DCEC's proposed Western Catskills Hydro Project would have involved installing modular-design independent intake structures on the reservoirs' dams, Starheim said.

But in a statement released in November, DEP Commissioner Emily Lloyd cited dam safety, concern about maintaining operational control of the reservoirs and the need to meet obligations set by the Supreme Court, including flow management agreements, as the reasons behind the city's application to harness hydro power.

Starheim said previously the DCEC's plan is environmentally sound and safe. It would also generate more electricity than what the DEP is proposing, which he said is based on a design from two decades ago, Starheim added.

DCEC was hoping to get final approval in 2011 and have the hydro plants open within a year or two after that.

The DEP's $600 million renovation project for the Gilboa Dam was the impetus for the idea, Starheim said.

Starheim said there are no generating facilities at the four dams included in the project.

The project was part of the DCEC's effort to explore ways to secure its entire electricity supply using renewable local energy sources.

Starheim was out of the area and couldn't be reached for comment Monday.

Patricia Breakey can be reached at 746-2894 or at [email protected].

var isoPubDate = 'May 04, 2009' 

Sullivan County sure has a lot to celebrate this year, its 200th birthday.

Mountains that touch the vast blue sky. Fields and forests so green and rich. Flowing rivers, blue lakes and more rushing streams than you can count. Some of the most passionate and talented people around.

But as anyone who lives here knows, Sullivan's future is not as inspiring as that lush landscape. Empty storefronts fill our largest eastern towns. Enrollment in every school district except one is plummeting. Our kids are leaving Sullivan because there aren't many good jobs.

So I asked you for suggestions for Sullivan's future. And boy, did you come up with answers. They did not, for the most part, include Sullivan's long-promised but never-delivered savior, a casino.

But virtually all included something Sullivan has, but hasn't taken advantage of — a plan. It's a plan — Sullivan 2020 — that aims to take advantage of its wide open spaces.

Or as Andy Weil of Summitville writes:

"Agri-tourism is what young and not-so-young want today. Not the empty promise of 'winning it big' (casinos)."

Weil mentions such attractions as the D&H Canal Park, the Basha Kill Wildlife Preserve and "easy access to several well-known trout streams."

And that's just in Sullivan's gateway town, Mamakating.

"I have lived here most of my 71 years and the era of the resort is gone," writes Doris Booth of Thompsonville. "I think local government is stuck in a time warp. All they think about is resorts."

How about capitalizing on some of Sullivan's living history, writes Barbara Hahl of Roscoe. With her senior club, she visits all sorts of places and learns so much about local history.

Why not here?

"...the Minisink Battlefield, Fort Delaware, the fly fishing, the hotels of the Borscht Belt, and especially the golden egg of them all, Bethel Woods ... I'll bet they would love to see an eagle soar while enjoying a picnic lunch at Stone Arch Park (in Jeffersonville) or Lake Superior (in Bethel)."

The tours would create jobs in restaurants and hotels, says Hahl, and that would mean sales and room tax.

Speaking of taxes...

Sullivan should lower its rates, says Robert Donahue of Fallsburg. Donahue, who wants casinos "for "the jobs and tourism (that) will be the greatest economic boom the county has ever seen," also wants Sullivan to make every landowner pay taxes.

As for desolate downtowns?

Monticello's Pete Gozza, the former executive director of the Sullivan County Partnership for Economic Development, says Sullivan must make itself a place others want to visit. And that means cleaning up the litter along roads, sprucing up downtowns with something as simple as flowers and creating business improvement districts for more security, maintenance and beautification — just like they're doing in Middletown or Albany.

"How long are we going to wait for the silver bullet?" he asks. "We've got to change this place ourselves. Then the investment community takes notice."

Sullivan already has so much. Its 200th birthday is the perfect time to spiff itself up, put its plan in action and celebrate itself to the world.

Steve Israel's column appears Mondays. Reach him at [email protected].

link to complete article is here:
http://www.dailyfreeman.com/articles/2009/04/29/news/doc49f7d093ab416329722697.txt

Greene IDA decries state legislation

link to complete article is here:
http://www.thedailymail.net/articles/2009/04/29/news/news2.txt

Lopez calls proposed bill a “witch hunt”

By Susan Campriello

CATSKILL — A bill in the state Legislature would jeopardize new ventures facilitated by the Greene County Industrial Development Agency, according to officials.

The most contentious provision in the bill calls for paying prevailing wages for construction and building work, which, according to Sandy Mathes, executive director of the Greene County IDA, will increase the cost of projects by one-third.

“It will make a challenging situation worse,” he said, adding that New York already has a non-competitive market for work on industrial parks.

The legislation demands that work on IDA projects be completed by contractors and subcontractors that have appropriate apprenticeship agreements.

The bill requires a company receiving funding from an IDA would have to pay its employees no less than the median hourly wage for five years after a project is completed.

IDAs would also have to make available to the public all payment in lieu of of taxes schedules, including the name of the taxpayer and payment amounts.

The bill also sets rules for appointing board members from environmental organizations, school boards, organized labor, and other groups with community interests. It also directs IDA to support three projects of less than $100,000 a year if such projects exists and also to maintain a Web site.

Mathes said his agency, and agencies across the state, follows rules set forth by the Public Authority Law. In Greene County, the IDA is subject to an independent audit and other aggressive requirements and performs State Environmental Quality Reviews.

Mathes said the requirements in the legislation will significantly decrease the efficiency of his agency.

“There is nothing in that bill that would help us,” Mathes said.

Assemblyman Peter Lopez, R-Schoharie, said he worries that the bill will gut functional IDAs in his district.

IDAs, he said, provide essential assistance for businesses in certain locations which would otherwise be unable to open.

Lopez said has heard anecdotally about problems the legislation targets within IDAs around the state, but is unaware of issues within his district.

He said the bill offers one solution for all the problems that may or may not face each IDA in the state.

“There is a tendency in Albany to overstate a case and sometimes take it beyond a rational approach and it reaches the point where it is like a lynch-mob mentality, it becomes fashionable to attach something,” Lopez said.

He worried that economy would suffer if IDAs were rendered useless.

“If we engage in this witch hunt, and we try to use this one-size-fits-all and if we try to impose an artificial wage framework that may fit in urban settings or Downstate but not our rural communities, we are going to come up empty-handed,” Lopez said.

The state Economic Development Council, the AFL-CIO and the Working Families Party were a few organizations that opposed a similar bill; that bill was rejected by the state Senate last session.

Lopez said that many hospitals and not-for-profit organizations have benefited from IDA initiatives because at times they cannot seek necessary funding through other programs.

State Sen. James L. Seward (R-Oneonta) said that for years Republicans in the legislature worked to re-authorize IDA legislation that did not put forth the restrictions in the current bill.

“This legislation would hinder economic development and discourage job development, something we sorely need during these tough economic times,” he said in a statement Tuesday.

The Greene County IDA has a hand in 65 projects around the county including the Catskill Waterfront Revitalization project, the Greene Business Park, in Coxsackie, and the neighboring Kalkberg Business Park, in both Coxsackie and New Baltimore.

Lopez said some of the wage argument has grown out of conflicts between organized labor and the business communities, and employers and their workers.

Coxsackie Town Supervisor Alex Betke said that upstate communities do not have the organized labor force found in urban centers.

“We have seen a good mix of union workers and local small contractors and it has all worked out very well,” he said.

To reach reporter Susan Campriello, please call (518) 943-2100, ext. 3333, or e-mail [email protected].

link to complete article here:

http://www.midhudsonnews.com/News/2009/April09/29/stream_guages-29Apr09.html

WASHINGTON – Earlier this month, federal officials obtained assurances that 17 flood gauges along Catskills and Hudson River Valley waterways would be saved from decommissioning.

Congressman Maurice Hinchey, who was among those who won the earlier victory, met Tuesday with US Geological Survey Director Suzette Kimball in an effort to keep the remaining small number of gauges operational.

“We are still working on trying to put together the rest of the stream gauges so that we will have all of them back in shape and I am anticipating that we will be able to do that,” he said after the meeting. “The fact that we’ve got 17 of the most critical gauges back in place indicates to me that we will be able to get the few more that we need to keep this information flowing and to reduce the possibility of damages from flooding.”

Stream gauges are used by the National Weather Service to provide flood forecasting and warning information. They also help monitor the flow of waterways to support recreational activities.

Monday, April 27, 2009
Bears bounce back

---

By Colin Moore
Special to ESPNOutdoors.com
link to complete article is here:
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/print?id=4105495&type=story

	Black bears have hung in there and now their numbers are stable enough for 30 states to hold hunts.

Are black bears the new whitetail deer? They definitely have come back the way deer did in the latter half of the 20th century. Though they're far from as numerous as whitetails, their repopulation to the point where they now can be hunted in 30 states is remarkable. This year, tightly controlled bear-hunting seasons have been added in Oklahoma and Kentucky, and will involve the harvest of a couple of dozen animals. In other states with established populations, thousands of bruins will be taken without putting a dent in the number of black bears. A history of bears
Except for the upper Midwest, the hinterlands of the northern Appalachians and areas around Great Smoky Mountains National Park in eastern Tennessee, black bears had all but become extinct in most of their traditional ranges prior to this century. Though black bears still are the most common of the three species of bears in North America, their population in the United States today, with the exception of Alaska, is miniscule compared to what it was when the first Europeans landed on the continent. Settlers virtually exterminated bears, which were easier to find and kill, and more valuable, than deer. Daniel Boone, who led the first settlers to Kentucky by the land route through the Cumberland Gap, noted that in one hunting season on the Big Sandy River in 1794, he killed 155 bears. He and his wife, Rebecca, rendered the fat and sold most of the meat and hides. By the middle of the 18th century, black bears had been slaughtered or pushed into the unpopulated mountain areas of the Appalachians and in the boreal forests of Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan's Upper Peninsula. Apart from in the Appalachians, the decline of bears in the South was a long, slow process. In Florida, the vast expanse of the Apalachicola National Forest once harbored enough bears to support a limited hunting season.

	Most nuisance reports involve bears rummaging through garbage cans, robbing pet food bowls or bird feeders, even the highest of which are susceptible to a determined black bear.

Since 1994, however, killing a bear in Florida has constituted a third-degree felony. With Florida's human population exploding from 3 million to 18 million since 1980, bears don't have much of a chance to thrive in the Sunshine State. Similarly, bears elsewhere in the Deep South are protected as threatened species, though bears are sometimes killed intentionally or accidentally by hunters, whether in fall or during the spring gobbler season. In early April, Alabama authorities arrested two members of a Mobile County hunting club for killing three black bears in the northern expanse of the Mobile River Delta. It's believed that there are fewer than 100 bears throughout the state and given the habitat limitations, the prognosis for the animal's recovery in Alabama is doubtful. A success story in the Pelican State
Perhaps the best hope for Dixie bears is to be found in Louisiana, where the topography often favors bears over humans. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), the Louisiana Department of Wildlife & Fisheries and the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries & Parks are developing a viable population of the threatened Louisiana subspecies of black bears. Before the recovery project began eight years ago, only a few dozen bears lived in Louisiana — along the coast, in the hardwood bottomlands of the Atchafalaya Basin (the largest swamp in the country) and in remote reaches of the Tensas River National Wildlife Refuge in the northern part of the state. Now, though, bear populations in Louisiana and Mississippi are recovering. Winter resettlement projects move hibernating sows (and sometimes their cubs) to new dens in protected areas where they are likely to encounter boars. "The joint efforts really began in 2001, and by 2005 we located a sow that had been bred in the area that she was moved to," says Debbie Fuller, the endangered species coordinator for the FWS in Lafayette, La. "This spring we counted seven more sows with cubs. So it's working, and for a threatened subspecies, I would say that Louisiana's black bear is doing pretty good." Fuller notes that the program aims to stabilize bear populations along the lower Mississippi River drainage, in hopes of eventually increasing it. Bear hunting is still a long way off. Elsewhere, more hunting opportunities
In the fall, Oklahoma will become the 29th state to allow hunting for black bears, as a limited bear hunt will be allowed on private lands in four southeastern counties where the Ouachita Mountains straddle Oklahoma and Arkansas. Some fortunate bowhunter will be the first person in modern times to bag an Oklahoma bear legally; since it became a state in 1907, Oklahoma has never allowed a bear season. Twenty tags will be sold over-the-counter for the archery season that begins Oct. 1, and if bowhunters don't fill the bear tags, muzzleloader hunters will have their chance later that month. There will be no modern firearms season for bears, and still-hunting or stalk-hunting without dogs are the only legal methods. You can't kill cubs, but sows without cubs are legal. Oklahoma's bear population is estimated at 800, with at least half of them in Le Flore County, one of the counties in the special hunt area. "Most of the bears we have drifted in from Arkansas, where hunting them has been legal for a long time," says Micah Holmes, the information supervisor for the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation. "But there are bears in other parts of Oklahoma, including in the area east of Tulsa adjacent to southwestern Missouri and northwestern Arkansas." Other counties may be added to the hunt area later. Holmes says that Oklahoma's bear population is young and reproducing at a healthy rate. "It's exciting for us that we have such a neat animal living in our state again and that the population is healthy enough to support hunting," says Holmes. In Kentucky, where incessant logging and hunting share equal blame for the demise of its bears, the animals are coming back in the rugged mountains of the southeast. For the first time in more than 100 years, bears will be legal game.

	The bear population in the United States is estimated at 600,000.

The hunt quota, says black bear biologist Steven Dobey of the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources, "is a conservative one." Over two days in December, hunters in Harlan, Letcher and Pike counties can kill a total of either 10 bears or five females, whichever level is reached first. "Research clearly shows that Kentucky's bear population can sustain a hunt," Dobey said. It was only a few years ago that Kentucky and the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation began restocking elk in Appalachia, starting with a few animals. Today, an estimated 10,000 elk roam the eastern mountains. Will the same sort of success story play out for bears? That's been the case in other states, thanks to applied science and the dedication of wildlife managers and hunters. How Eastern bears are faring
Black bears have always been plentiful in their traditional haunts west of the Mississippi River. In the Rocky Mountain states and surrounding states with woodland habitat, the populations are so healthy, hunting bears is almost taken for granted. In the eastern United States, bear populations are rebounding and range from stable to increasing except in areas where people have reduced habitat and displaced bears. A quick rundown:
Arkansas
Arkansans all but extirpated bears from what was once the self-proclaimed "Bear State" by the mid-20th century. But after decades of unrestricted hunting and destruction of habitat (with the conversion of hardwoods into farmland and excessive logging), Arkansas now has miles of protected bottomlands and swamps that buffer against humans. The state began restocking bears in the 1950s, importing bears from Minnesota and Manitoba. During a program that lasted more than 10 years, 254 bears were released into the Ouachita Mountains of the west and southwest. Gradually the population rebounded from the brink of extinction and today there are about 3,000 bears, virtually all descended from northern ancestors. Maine
Maine's 23,000 bears constitute the largest concentration of black bears in the eastern United States. Hunting seasons are long (Aug. 31-Nov. 28 for the general season, Aug. 31-Sept. 26 for the baiting season, and Sept. 14-Oct. 30 for the dog-hunting season). Permits cost $27 for residents and $67 for nonresidents. Each year hunters take a few thousand bears from arguably the least-threatened population in the country. The state's relatively harsh climate and remote inland habitat along the spine of the Appalachians ensures the bears' future. Michigan
More than 19,000 bears live in Michigan, and bear hunting is wildly popular. More than 12,000 bear licenses were issued last year; more than 55,000 hunters applied for them. Bear hunting takes place in mid-September in the northern part of the Lower Peninsula and from Sept. 10 through Oct. 26 in the Upper Peninsula. Michigan's bear population has grown substantially in recent years, especially in the U.P., where about 85 percent of bears reside. Bear populations in both Peninsulas are believed to be stable or growing, and an increasing number of bear observations in the southern part of the L.P. indicating that bears are migrating into the farm country. Until 1925, when the legislature instituted hunting seasons, people could kill Michigan bears at any time and by any means. Though the U.P.'s population was never in jeopardy, the same couldn't be said for the L.P. until bears gained the status of big-game animals. Minnesota
The bear population has declined moderately in recent years, but other than reducing the amount of hunting licenses slightly, wildlife managers aren't worried that a trend is developing. More than 2,000 bears are harvested each fall (the 2009 season runs Sept. 1-Oct. 18) and 10,000 permits will be available in 2009. Missouri
The best guess is that a few hundred bears live in the Show-Me State, the majority of them in the Ozarks south of I-44. Bears have been sighted as far north as Hannibal, but the counties where the most sightings occur are in Carter, Ripley, Reynolds, Howell, Ozark, Barry, Taney, Christian, Stone and Douglas. As is the case elsewhere, Missouri's comeback story depends largely on how bears fare in the vast tracts of state and national forests. Signs are encouraging. In February, a man riding a horse in the Busiek State Forest in Christian County reported encountering a sow with two yearling cubs &emdash; an obviously positive sign. New Jersey
Black bears are present in all 21 counties of this, the most densely populated state. The northwest corner of New Jersey, in the Catskill foothills, supports the largest number of bears. No hunting is currently allowed, and the annual political battle over bear hunting in the state is as predictable as fall weather. New York
Between 6,000 and 7,000 black bears roam the state, mainly in what are known as the Northern and Southern Bear Ranges. The Adirondack region (in the Northern Bear Range) supports the largest black bear population in the state (4,000 to 5,000 animals) the Catskill region in the Southern Bear Range contains the second largest population (1,500 to 2,000). Elsewhere, the Allegany portion of the Southern Bear Range has a smaller but growing population of bears (300-500). As is the case elsewhere in the eastern U.S., only fall hunting is allowed and a few hundred bears are taken annually. The population is healthy and expanding in numbers and range. North Carolina
Excepting the central part of the state, where the human population continues to expand, bears are faring well. The western mountains still constitute the best hunting area, but bears are migrating to the counties of the coastal plains, as nuisance complaints suggest. Pennsylvania
There were only about 4,000 bears left in Pennsylvania by the 1970s; today there are more than three times that number. Hunters annually take about 2,250 bears on average, and the past seven years have seen the state's largest bear harvests. Pike, Monroe and Carbon counties typically produce the most bears for hunters, but bear hunting is consistently good in open areas and national or state forests in the Allegheny region. South Carolina
Bears inhabit the three mountain counties adjoining North Carolina or Georgia &emdash; Greenville, Oconee and Pickens &emdash; and though bear hunting is not considered a major sport in the state, hunters do kill a couple of dozen bears each fall during an abbreviated season. Bears are becoming more numerous in coastal counties, as reflected in the growing number of nuisance bear complaints and auto collision reports. Tennessee
The prognosis is good for Tennessee's bears, which wander in and out of Georgia, North Carolina, Kentucky and South Carolina. The bulk of the population resides in 11 eastern counties. Hunters there tag a few hundred bears each fall. Virginia
In Virginia, most black bears inhabit the Blue Ridge and the Allegheny Mountains or are in the coastal Great Dismal Swamp, but they have been reported in all except the far eastern counties. The stability of the population is reflected in last fall's hunting tally, when hunters in 64 counties took a record 2,204 bears. The harvest was 35 percent higher than the previous record of 1,633 bears set in the 2006-07 bear seasons. In effect, Virginia's bear harvest has been growing at an average annual rate of 9.5 percent. West Virginia
As was the case in Virginia, West Virginia hunters notched a record year when they took 2,064 bears in 2008. That's a 14 percent increase over the previous record of 1,804 bears killed in 2007. The huge Monogahela National Forest along the eastern border with Virginia, and the western mountains adjoining Kentucky, are prime bear country. "Numerous factors contributed to the record harvest," noted Chris Ryan, the black bear project leader for the Division of Natural Resources. "Mainly it's because West Virginia has a tremendous bear population that allows for a variety of different hunting opportunities. The expansion and increase in the bear population has led to the extension of hunting seasons designed to keep counties in line with their management objectives." Wisconsin
About 13,000 bears live here, most of them in the northern third of the state. However, an increase in sighting reports in the central and southern counties suggests that the population is spreading outside the northern timberlands. More tightly controlled hunting regulations, established in 1986, are cited as the biggest reason why Wisconsin's bear population has almost tripled since then. Nuisances, Though Not Usually Dangerous
Allowing hunters to shoot bears is more than just a management tool in the East; killing a few thousand bears out of a national population estimated to top 600,000 animals might help save the species. Bears are opportunistic omnivores that don't depend on killing to survive, but tooth and claw, they have the tools to do so. To humans, they're somewhere between harmless and dangerous. When black bears come into contact with humans, the outcome is usually no more than a Kodak moment. But not always.

	Increased encounters with humans doesn't always end in a Kodak moment.

Each year, hundreds of hikers set out from either end of the 2,175-mile Appalachian Trail, and many of them will have unpleasant encounters with black bears. The start of hiking season almost has become a spring ritual for the bruins. In their feast-or-famine world, hikers are the bearers of gourmet gifts, one backpack at a time. Whether they set out from Maine or north Georgia, heading south or north, backpackers are cautioned not to keep food in their tents when they bunk down for the night. That suits the bears just fine. Often they figure out how to get to food that wasn't hoisted high enough into a tree to be unreachable. The bears come out of their winter dens lean and hungry. In March, a 6-mile section of the Trail in Georgia between Neels Gap and Tesnatee Gap was closed to hikers because of emboldened bears. An estimated 1,500 bears live in the north Georgia mountains, and though most of them keep to themselves, there are occasions when the bruins pay the ultimate price for treating hikers and campers as a food source. A bear might be trapped and relocated if it shows up in somebody's campsite. If it makes the same mistake twice, it might pay the ultimate price. Wildlife managers throughout the southern Appalachians began taking a harder line with black bears after a female hiker was killed in 2000, and a 6-year-old girl was mauled to death in April 2006. Both deaths occurred in eastern Tennessee in the Smoky Mountains. "We're no longer putting a bear back out there after recapturing it again and again for the same offense," says Scott Frazier, a biologist for the Georgia Department of Natural Resources. "Georgia's bear management plan was changed last year to reflect the modern thinking that sometimes euthanasia is necessary." Part of that thinking no doubt was based on a troubling trend reflected in recent bear attacks. Though it once was generally accepted that grizzly or brown bears were more dangerous to humans than black bears, biologists aren't so sure any more. Of the 24 bear attacks since 2000 that were fatal to humans, 15 of them involved black bears. Dangerous animals that become habituated to people and human traffic pose a greater threat than those that only occasionally, or perhaps never, come into contact with a hiker or hunter. A predator, whether cougar or bear, carries no genetic memory of people. Rather, it is something learned through experience. Hunters who frequent bear camps where bait entices bears to within shooting range know that the animals associate human scents with food, not danger. Hunters are cautioned to do whatever it takes to keep a bear from climbing up to their tree stands. Even a bear that's only curious about the thing in the tree can swipe at a hunter's leg and open a vein. Though more than half of all nuisance black bear reports involve bears rummaging through garbage cans or robbing bird feeders or pet food bowls, it's no comfort to those who have been attacked, or who have lost loved ones to bears. No doubt the mother of the 5-month-old infant who was snatched from its stroller and killed by a black bear in August 2000 in New York's Catskills has a different perspective. Bears are neither good nor bad; they're opportunistic wild animals. And in the rough-and-tumble world they inhabit, their rules for survival trump everything.

link to complete article is here: http://www.recordonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090428/ENTERTAIN/90428023

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The Belleayre Music Festival has announced its summer concert series, and there are many good shows to see.

Among those playing this year are South African group Ladysmith Black Mambazo, band leader of "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" Kevin Eubanks, Mary Wilson of the original Supremes and the Original Wailers.

Belleayre is at Belleayre Mountain Ski Center, Route 28, Highmount, NY. For more information, visit www.belleayremusic.org or call 1-800-942-6904.

 

Bellayre Music Festival schedule

Saturday, July 4 - 8 p.m.
West Point Jazz Band Knights
Belleayre Music Festival, Route 28, Highmount, NY. (800) 942-6904, ext. 1344.
E-mail: [email protected] www.belleayremusic.org

Saturday, July 11 - 8 p.m.
Michael Feinstein
Belleayre Music Festival, Route 28, Highmount, NY. (800) 942-6904, ext. 1344.
E-mail: [email protected] www.belleayremusic.org

Saturday, July 18 - 8 p.m.
John Covelli and Justin Kolb
Belleayre Music Festival, Route 28, Highmount, NY. (800) 942-6904, ext. 1344.
E-mail: [email protected] www.belleayremusic.org

Saturday, July 25 - 8 p.m.
Festival Opera - Die Fledermaus
Belleayre Music Festival, Route 28, Highmount, NY. (800) 942-6904, ext. 1344.
E-mail: [email protected] www.belleayremusic.org

Sunday, July 26 - 1 p.m.
Humpty Dumpty - Children9s Opera - Free
Belleayre Music Festival, Route 28, Highmount, NY. (800) 942-6904, ext. 1344.
E-mail: [email protected] www.belleayremusic.org

Saturday, Aug. 1 - 8 p.m.
Ladysmith Black Mambazo
Belleayre Music Festival, Route 28, Highmount, NY. (800) 942-6904, ext. 1344.
E-mail: [email protected] www.belleayremusic.org

Friday, Aug. 7 - 8 p.m.
Catskill Mountain Jazz Series
Pablo Ziegler - Trio for Nuevo Tango
Belleayre Music Festival, Route 28, Highmount, NY. (800) 942-6904, ext. 1344.
E-mail: [email protected] www.belleayremusic.org

Saturday, Aug. 8 - 8 p.m.
Catskill Mountain Jazz Series
Leny Andrade
Belleayre Music Festival, Route 28, Highmount, NY. (800) 942-6904, ext. 1344.
E-mail: [email protected] www.belleayremusic.org

Friday, Aug. 14 - 8 p.m.
Catskill Mountain Jazz Series
Kevin Mahogany
Belleayre Music Festival, Route 28, Highmount, NY. (800) 942-6904, ext. 1344.
E-mail: [email protected] www.belleayremusic.org

Saturday, Aug. 15 - 8 p.m.
Catskill Mountain Jazz Series
Kevin Eubanks
Belleayre Music Festival, Route 28, Highmount, NY. (800) 942-6904, ext. 1344.
E-mail: [email protected] www.belleayremusic.org

Saturday, Aug. 22 - 8 p.m.
The Original Wailers
Belleayre Music Festival, Route 28, Highmount, NY. (800) 942-6904, ext. 1344.
E-mail: [email protected] www.belleayremusic.org

Sunday, Aug. 23 - 1 p.m.
Uncle Rock9s Family Party
Belleayre Music Festival, Route 28, Highmount, NY. (800) 942-6904, ext. 1344.
E-mail: [email protected] www.belleayremusic.org

Saturday, Aug. 29 - 8 p.m.
Mary Wilson of the Supremes
Belleayre Music Festival, Route 28, Highmount, NY. (800) 942-6904, ext. 1344.
E-mail: [email protected] www.belleayremusic.org

Saturday, Sept. 5 - 8 p.m.
ABBA
The Tour
Belleayre Music Festival, Route 28, Highmount, NY. (800) 942-6904, ext. 1344.
E-mail: [email protected] www.belleayremusic.org

Invasive algae found in third water body The Esopus creek trout stream found to contain harmful "rock snot"

link is to complete article is here: http://www.timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?storyID=794567

By BRIAN NEARING, Staff writer Click byline for more stories by writer. First published: Tuesday, April 28, 2009

SHANDAKEN — Another of the state's premier trout streams now contains an invasive algae with the unappealing nickname of "rock snot," according to the state Department of Environmental Conservation. The Esopus creek in Ulster County is the third water body in the state to contain Didymosphenia geminata — a woolly-textured, gooey brown algae that can cover stream bottoms and damage fish habitat. In 2007, rock snot turned up in the Battenkill, another well-known trout stream, in Washington County, and in the East and West branches of the upper Delaware River in the Southern Tier. It is likely the algae was brought to the Esopus by an angler or other regular user of the creek, said Steve Sanford, head of DEC's Invasive Species Office. The Esopus is also popular for kayaking and tubing. Because it is not possible to eradicate rock snot from a stream, the only way to stop its spread is by the cleaning of microscopic algae from boots, boats and other gear after leaving the water, Sanford said. "We have got to change people's habits," he said. So far, Sanford said, the algae outbreaks in the Battenkill and Delaware have had only minor impacts on fish habitat — although that could change if the outbreaks spread. Once in a creek, the algae grips rocks along the bottom, growing into thick, smothering mats that eliminate fly larvae and other small invertebrates eaten by trout and other fish. The growths, which can reach up to a foot thick, also can cover fish spawning grounds. "It is a major concern for all of our streams in the state. We have to get the word out to take precautions," said Ron Urban, state chairman of Trout Unlimited, who said he has been spraying his fishing waders with a marine disinfectant to kill any algae. The Esopus is one of the most productive wild trout streams in the Northeast. Most of its fish are wild rainbow trout and brown trout, and the state also stocks the stream with hatchery-raised browns. DEC found the algae in the vicinity of several public access sites along a 12-mile stretch of the Esopus from the "Shandaken Portal" — which transfers water to the Esopus from Schoharie Reservoir — to New York City's Ashokan Reservoir. Rock snot mats look like brown or white fiberglass insulation or tissue paper; while it appears slimy and stringy, it feels rough and fibrous, similar to wet wool and does not fall apart when handled. Over the last two years, the algae has been found in the White and Connecticut rivers in Vermont and New Hampshire, after already contaminating rivers in Arkansas, Tennessee, South Dakota and Montana, as well as British Columbia and Poland. Believed to be native to far northern regions of Europe and Asia, the algae has been on the move into warmer, more nutrient-rich water. Brian Nearing can be reached at 454-5094 or by email at [email protected]. Block that algae: Rock snot, or Didymosphenia geminata, an invasive algae that chokes trout streams, has appeared in the Esopus Creek in Ulster County. Steps to stop algae spread include removing obvious clumps of it from gear immediately upon leaving the water. Items that may have been in contact with algae can be scrubbed for at least one minute in water of at least 140 degrees, a 2 percent solution of household bleach or a 5 percent solution of salt, antiseptic hand cleaner or dishwashing detergent. Gear also can be placed in a freezer until frozen solid. If items cannot be cleaned or frozen, they must be completely dried and kept out of the water for an additional 48 hours to be safe. Any gear that has been used out of state should be treated before being put into state waters. Source: State Department of Environmental Conservation Block that algae: Rock snot, or Didymosphenia geminata, an invasive algae that chokes trout streams, has appeared in the Esopus Creek in Ulster County. Steps to stop algae spread include removing obvious clumps of it from gear immediately upon leaving the water. Items that may have been in contact with algae can be scrubbed for at least one minute in water of at least 140 degrees, a 2 percent solution of household bleach or a 5 percent solution of salt, antiseptic hand cleaner or dishwashing detergent. Gear also can be placed in a freezer until frozen solid. If items cannot be cleaned or frozen, they must be completely dried and kept out of the water for an additional 48 hours to be safe. Any gear that has been used out of state should be treated before being put into state waters. Source: State Department of Environmental Conservation