The wild forests and mountain ranges of the Catskills are home to a plethora of unique and interesting native plant species. On February 15th, 2022 Catskill Mountainkeeper joined experts on our native ecology for a virtual tour of Mountain Top Arboretum, and a conversation about where to purchase native plants and how to introduce them around our homes. Our panelists for this webinar were:  

• Marc Wolf, Director of Mountain Top Arboretum; and
• John Thompson, Catskill Regional Invasive Species Partnership (CRISP) Coordinator at the Catskill Center.

Click "Read More" for a fantastic resource list, native plants list, and responses to all the questions we weren't able to answer due to time constraints.

Watch the Full Webinar HERE!

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Jumping Worms—also known as crazy snake worms, Alabama jumpers, and Asian worms—seriously threaten the health of our Catskills forests. On December 7th, 2021 Catskill Mountainkeeper gathered experts to discuss how the life cycles of jumping worms differ from other common worms, as well as how they impact nutrient cycling, soil health, microhabitats, and our forests. The conversation also covered measures that we all can take to report jumping worm infestations and help prevent their spread. Our panelists included:

 

•Tim McCay, ecologist with Colgate University;

•Rebecca Pinder, Associate Professor of Biological Sciences and the Environmental Studies Program at Columbia-Greene Community College; and

•John Thompson, Catskill Regional Invasive Species Partnership (CRISP) Coordinator at the Catskill Center.

https://fb.watch/9WY51UcAam/

You can also find additional jumping worm resources, compiled by our expert panelists, here.

What's eating the Catskills? Invasive pests! In this webinar with the experts form Mountainkeeper, Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies, New York State Hemlock Initiative, and the Monitoring and Managing Ash project, we dig deep into the hemlock woolly adelgid and the emerald ash borer. Watch this webinar from August 2021 to find out more about the bugs and what you can do to help!

A critically important gateway to the Catskill Park is being threatened by a proposed steel and concrete fabrication plant in the Town of Kingston. An application filed by 850 Route 28 LLC to build this facility raises multiple questions about how to conduct a fair and comprehensive environmental review under New York’s State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQRA). This webinar from June 2021 explores how the SEQRA process should proceed, and how citizens can use SEQRA to hold 850 Route 28 LLC accountable.

Ticks are everywhere. It’s hard to find someone in our region who doesn’t have a story about pulling one off themselves, their child, or their pet. But why are ticks’ habitat growing? What kinds of ticks live in New York? What diseases do they carry and what can we do to protect ourselves? Mountainkeeper dug in to this discussion with an expert panel, including our partners at Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies and the Catskill Center. Learn more in this webinar from May 2021!

In April of 2021, Mountainkeeper joined with Cornell's Waste Management Institute, White Feather Farms, and Greenway Topsoil to discuss the ins and outs of composting. It was a fantastic discussion ranging from backyard composting to municipal composting and large-scale systems. Check it out!

Visitors and locals alike are concerned about the intensive use some of our Catskills trails and swimming holes saw during the summer of 2020. To address this, Mountainkeeper pulled together an expert panel to discuss what was happening in the forest preserve and how we can approach some of the problems. In November 2020, Rocci Aguirre of the Adirondack Council, Andy Mossey of the Catskill Center Ingrid Peterec of the US National Park Service, and Katie Petronis of the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation joined to share their unique perspectives about how to protect our natural resources while welcoming visitors to the forest preserves.

In November 2020 Mountainkeeper had an excellent Conversation on a Changing World, hosted by the smart and talented Juliette Bennett and featuring Tim Guinee, actor and activist extraordinaire. In this conversation, Tim talks about speaking across issue and party lines, and shares stories about how he entered the world of activism. Check it out!